3 takeaways from NOLA Saints’ Week 18 win vs Falcons

For the first time in NOLA Saints history, they played in a Week 18 regular-season game, facing the Falcons in Atlanta. This was a massive game for New Orleans, as they had to win but also hope for the 49ers to lose their game against the Rams.

Well, as Saints fans’ Twitter feeds transformed into a Rams fan’s feed, we watched as the Rams got off to a 17-0 start but then choke it away and allow the 49ers to tie things up in the third quarter. From there, the Rams scored again, but San Francisco tied it up in the final minute to force overtime.

San Francisco went on to win the game and clinch the final playoff spot in the NFC. It was a huge punch in the gut for the Saints but at the end of the day, they only have themselves to blame. They lost games they should have won and that was the difference right there.

Here are the takeaways from the Saints’ 30-20 win over the Falcons to finish the season at 9-8.

NOLA Saints took care of business, but won’t make playoffs

We all knew what was at stake on Sunday — The Saints had to win and hope for the 49ers to lose in order to punch their tickets to the playoffs. We were all forced to root for the Rams and it was a dirty feeling and hey, once again, the Rams did what they could to screw NOLA. It’s become a not-so-fun tradition in the NFL.

Taysom Hill injured

After an incredible start to the game for Taysom Hill, the elusive quarterback went down with an injury and did not return for the rest of the game. That paved the way for Trevor Siemian to take over and he did a fine job leading this team to a victory.

Before Hill was injured, he went 7-of-9 for 107 yards and a touchdown while rushing for another 18 yards off of five carries. Siemian threw for 71 yards off of nine completions and looked decent considering what he was up against.

Hill’s injury is another one to add to his long list of injuries this season and the dude has proven how tough he is. Hopefully, he can take the offseason to rest up and be that swiss army knife in 2022.

Defense shines again

Aside from one missed tackle by Malcolm Jenkins, the defense continued their dominance, holding the Falcons to 13 points and keeping Matt Ryan to under 200 yards passing. The Falcons couldn’t get much going all day long and that’s because the Saints defense was constantly pressuring him. He was sacked three times and hit seven times.

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It’s disappointing that, considering all this team went through and how close they came to making it, the Saints won’t be in the postseason. They finished 9-8 despite an abundance of injuries, COVID issues, hurricanes, and starting four different quarterbacks throughout the season.

This defense was so good and it’d have been fun to watch them in the playoffs but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. The Rams couldn’t stop the 49ers’ run and that proved to be the difference.