Saints hold off Falcons in Georgia Dome

New Orleans Saints' running back Pierre Thomas rips off a big gainer in Thursday night's 17-13 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in the Georgia Dome. Thomas finished with 73 yards rushing and caught five passes for 57 yards. Photo courtesy of SBNation.

The Saints 17-13 victory over the Atlanta Falcons wasn't pretty and it wasn't a convincing outing, but nonetheless it is a key 'W' for the club.
The 9-2 Saints have some off time coming following last night's win and travel to Seattle to battle the once beaten Seahawks Dec. 2 on a Monday Night encounter.
The Saints' defense did another good job last night sacking Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan five times with Cameron Jordan recording 2 1/2 sacks to help spark the defense, which did a tremendous job pressuring the Falcons' signal caller. Jordan, who consistently puts pressure on the opposing QB, leads the team with 9 1/2
sacks.
Running back Pierre Thomas, an unsung hero on the Saints' offense, put together another solid performance in workman like fashion, rushing for 73 yards on just 10 carries. Thomas also caught five passes for 57 yards on nicely executed screen passes from Drew Brees, helping to spark the offense.
Brees finished 23-of-33 for 278 yards with touchdown passes to Ben Watson, one yard and Jimmy Graham from 44-yards out. Graham notched his sixth 100-yard receiving game, tying him with the Falcons' Tony Gonzalez, who did it in 2000 and again in 2004.  

Atlanta Falcons drop Monday Night contest

The New Orleans Saints received some help in the NFC South race last night from the New York Jets
as they edged the Atlanta Falcons 30-28 in a down-to-the-wire Monday Night Football thriller.
New York rookie quarterback Geno Smith out dueled Matt Ryan sending the Jets home victorious on
Rick Volk's game-winning field goal as time expired in the Atlanta Dome.
Smith completed 16-of-20 passes for 199 yards and three touchdowns leading the Jets to the
game-winning field goal on a late fourth quarter drive on the final possession after Ryan had
driven the Falcons down the field for a late TD to put Atlanta up 28-27. Ryan finished with 319
yards and two TDs, completing 36-of-45 attempts. Falcons' tight end Tony Gonzalez caught 10
passes for 97 yards, while Julio Jones hauled in eight receptions for 99 yards.
Atlanta slipped to 1-4 and trail the 5-0 Saints by four games in the NFC South race. The Saints
put their unbeaten streak on the line Sunday heading to Foxboro, Mass., to take on the 4-1
Patriots, who dropped their first game falling to Cincinnati 13-6 on Sunday.