NEW ORLEANS — The Saints dominated most of the game but had to sweat out late Falcons possessions after the offense stagnated to take the team’s ninth straight win, 21-16 over Atlanta Sunday.
The win, coupled with a loss by the Chicago Bears, clinched a playoff spot for the Saints.
A late pass to Julio Jones was thrown behind him on a fourth down with just under two minutes to go and a Hail Mary as time expired fell helplessly to the ground, killing the Falcons’ desperate comeback attempt.
However, it was a game that shouldn’t have come down to that.
“I was proud of how we kind of hung in there and battled it out,” said Saints head coach Sean Payton.
On a day that ESPN reported that Drew Brees was making good progress on his rib injury, Taysom Hill showed that he could throw the ball effectively, hitting 27 of 37 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns, compiling a 107 quarterback rating.
"As long as we're winning football games, I'm happy," said Hill after the game. "As I was preparing for this week, I have a lot of respect for Matt Ryan... and they have weapons, they're explosive. We needed some offensive productivity today."
But Hill also continued to have his fumbling problem, losing one late with the Saints deep in Falcons territory and close to sealing the game and another one with just under two minutes remaining that, fortunately for the Saints, found its way out of bounds before the Falcons could recover.
"The ball security when he's a runner has to get better," Payton said of Hill. "He'll figure it out."
The Saints earlier had missed a field goal and had some key third down drops that killed drives, but Taysom was more decisive than he had been in previous games and hit on several clutch passes of mid-range length.
The Saints offense was balanced with 232 yards passing and 207 yards rushing on the day.
Michael Thomas caught 9 passes for 105 yards, while Alvin Kamara ran for 88 yards on 15 carries. Hill had 83 yards rushing on 14 carries.
