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.  

Saints' Pierre Thomas leads victory over Bears

Quarterback Drew Brees and coach Sean Payton, accomplished a first yesterday in their era,
picking up a key road victory over Chicago downing the Bears 26-18 at Soldier Field.
The Saints, 5-0, joined the Denver Broncos and surprising Kansas City Chiefs as the only
remaining unbeaten teams in the NFL.
Drew Brees, who passed for 288 yards and two touchdowns to Pierre Thomas, saw his 300 or more
yards passing record halted at nine games.
Brees continued to find Jimmy Graham, who finished with 10 catches for 135 yards. Thomas
delivered nine receptions for 55 yards, including TDs of 2 and 25 yards from Brees.
The Saints 'D' played solid football again sacking Bears' QB Jay Cutler three times and
forced a key first quarter fumble, recovered by Cameron Jordan.
Garrett Hartley converted all four of his field goal attempts after the Saints stalled and
failed to pick up first downs in third-and-short yardage situations.
Chicago's Matt Forte, who starred at Slidell High and Tulane University, had a productive
game, rushing for 55 yards on 12 carries and caught four passes for 40 yards.
The Saints travel to New England this week to battle the 4-1 Patriots, who dropped their first
game of the season, falling to Cincinnati, 13-6.
Denver's Peyton Manning threw for over 400 yards and four touchdowns yesterday leading the
Broncos to a dramatic 51-48 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. Tony Romo threw for 506 yards
with five touchdowns, but he was picked off late in the fourth quarter, setting up a Broncos'
game-winning field goal.

 Saints' running back Pierre Thomas caught two TD passes from Drew Brees in a 26-18 victory over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. Photo courtesy of the New Orleans Saints.

Saints' linebacker Curtis Lofton (50) and teammates wrap up Chicago's Matt Forte during the Saints' road win to remain unbeaten at 5-0. Photo by Michael C. Hebert, New Orleans Saints.