As a group, the New Orleans Saints have outscored their opponents 127-70 in four games and rank highly in several offensive and defensive stats. However, they are at risk of ending Week 5 with a losing record.
Their inability to finish two close games on back-to-back Sundays shows how misleading statistics can be.
“I still feel great about this team,” fourth-year Saints linebacker Pete Werner said Monday. “We have such a talented team — in my opinion, the best team that I’ve been a part of since I’ve been here. We’ve got all the confidence in the world because we know we’ve got the players. We just have to go out and execute.”
The Saints have been leading in all four of their games during the last two minutes. They had solid leads against Carolina and Dallas in Weeks 1 and 2, but that was not the case in Weeks 3 and 4, where they lost by a total of just five points.
In Atlanta on Sunday, the Saints outperformed the Falcons both in passing and rushing. New Orleans had 19 more offensive plays than Atlanta and held the ball for almost 36 minutes.
However, they left the field with a 26-24 loss after the Falcons’ Younghoe Koo kicked a 58-yard field goal with just 2 seconds remaining.
Two critical mistakes — one on offense and one on special teams — allowed the Falcons to stay in the game on Sunday.
Receiver Rashid Shaheed, who is usually dependable on returns, made an unusual choice to catch a punt near the 10-yard line but fumbled it into the end zone, where Atlanta recovered for a touchdown. Later, Derek Carr’s attempted screen pass was knocked into the air and intercepted for another touchdown.
