Saints QB Derek Carr threw for 264 yards and four scores as New Orleans did everything they could to steal the NFC South on the final day.
Unfortunately for the Saints, the Bucs squeaked passed the Panthers and sewed up the division ending their season.
Saints head coach Dennis Allen was sugar-coating anything after the game. “Our record is what our record is and we’ve earned whatever comes our way,” Allen said.
Saints looking forward after smashing Falcons
For New Orleans they will to early in the season where they only managed to go 3-7 after winning their opening two games. While some teething issues are to be expected, that kind of hole can be almost impossible to recover from. And so it proved.
The Falcons have their own issues with head coach Arthur Smith potentially on the outs after flip-flopping between his starting QB’s all season as he looked for a spark to ignite a horrible lack of scoring.
It wasn’t meant to be for the Falcons and, like the Saints, they will have the whole off-season to think about what went wrong.
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Downs | 14 | 27 |
| Passing 1st downs | 11 | 13 |
| Rushing 1st downs | 3 | 12 |
| 1st downs from penalties | 0 | 2 |
| 3rd down efficiency | 4-11 | 3-10 |
| 4th down efficiency | 0-1 | 1-1 |
| Total Plays | 60 | 66 |
| Total Yards | 389 | 400 |
| Total Drives | 13 | 12 |
| Yards per Play | 6.5 | 6.1 |
| Passing | 311 | 246 |
| Comp-Att | 25-34 | 22-28 |
| Yards per pass | 8.9 | 7.9 |
| Interceptions thrown | 2 | 0 |
| Sacks-Yards Lost | 1-7 | 3-18 |
| Rushing | 78 | 154 |
| Rushing Attempts | 25 | 35 |
| Yards per rush | 3.1 | 4.4 |
| Red Zone (Made-Att) | 1-3 | 4-6 |
| Penalties | 8-75 | 3-15 |
| Turnovers | 3 | 0 |
| Fumbles lost | 1 | 0 |
| Interceptions thrown | 2 | 0 |
| Defensive / Special Teams TDs | 0 | 0 |
| Possession | 26:10 | 33:50 |
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