Before New Orleans Saints interim head coach Darren Rizzi walked down the tunnel to the locker room, he paused and raised his gold, team-issued hat high in the air, acknowledging the fans still celebrating his successful debut at the Superdome.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling caught three passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns in his second game for New Orleans, leading the Saints to a 20-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, ending a seven-game losing streak under Rizzi.
“What an unbelievable week,” said Rizzi, a 54-year-old native of north New Jersey and long-time special teams coach, who got his first chance to be a head coach after the firing of Dennis Allen earlier in the week.
“Today doesn’t happen without complete buy-in,” Rizzi added. “This city is starving for some wins, and we were hungry to give them one — and that was awesome.”
Rizzi’s successful start as head coach came against not only the NFC South’s leading team, but also the Saints’ biggest regional rival.
Saints running back Alvin Kamara, who rushed for 109 yards and became the franchise’s all-time leading rusher, said the team had been missing something before Rizzi’s arrival, and “I feel like we got that thing.”
Kamara continued, “Rizzi came in and he had a clear message. Unity was one of the words of the week. When you’re united, you all believe and you’re all together, man, there’s so much you can do.”
Late in the game, safety Tyrann Mathieu stopped a promising Atlanta drive with an interception of quarterback Kirk Cousins at the New Orleans 38-yard line with two minutes remaining.
Atlanta (6-4) got another chance when Kamara unexpectedly dropped a third-down pass from quarterback Derek Carr along the sideline that could have clinched the game.
But just as Atlanta moved into New Orleans territory, a key play from defensive end Chase Young, who sacked and stripped Cousins, pushed the Falcons back 19 yards to their own 32-yard line with 34 seconds left. Though Atlanta recovered the ball, the play was a critical moment.
The Falcons were forced to use their last timeout and had to quickly decide whether to attempt a 60-yard field goal or keep their offense on the field. After a pass completion gave them a fourth-and-4 on the Saints’ 43-yard line with 18 seconds left, Atlanta tried a quick pass to Ray-Ray McCloud III, but he was tackled just short of the first-down marker by Ugo Amadi, and time ran out.
Despite outgaining New Orleans (3-7) 468 yards to 365 and rushing for 181 yards, Atlanta (6-4) failed to capitalize on multiple opportunities and lost the game.
Kicker Younghoe Koo missed three field goals, marking the first time in his career that he had failed on that many attempts in one game. One attempt missed wide, another was partially blocked, and a third hit the upright.
On another drive, a series of penalties pushed Atlanta back 20 yards after they had first-and-goal at the 5-yard line, which helped the Saints hold the Falcons to just a field goal.
For Atlanta, running back Bijan Robinson rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns, including a 37-yard run in the third quarter where he broke a tackle to score.
“It was certainly a tough loss,” said Cousins, who completed 23 of 38 passes for 306 yards and was intercepted once. “We had chances to take the lead late in the game and not being able to do it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. This is one that you’re sick over.”
Derek Carr, despite missing top receivers Chris Olave (concussion) and Rashid Shaheed (knee), threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns without any turnovers, his best performance of the season.
Valdes-Scantling, a two-time Super Bowl champion with Kansas City, added experience to a receiving corps that had mostly younger, less experienced players. His touchdowns were from 40 and 2 yards.
“Thankfully, we have a guy like MVS who has played a lot of football at a very high level in some big situations,” Carr said. “It felt good to be able to hit and connect on some of those, because we knew the potential was there.”
