Darren Rizzi is a transparent individual. After beating Atlanta, 20-17, in his first game as Saints interim head coach, he shared with the public a little too much information.
“You guys know me, I’m a pretty open guy,” Rizzi told reporters after ending a seven-game losing streak for New Orleans (3-7). “This is how my day started. I get here to the stadium, down here to the Superdome, and go into the head coach’s locker room, which I’ve never used before. So, here I am, early in the morning, I go to the bathroom and this is how my day started: I clogged the toilet. And I’m like, ‘This is going to be a crappy day,’ pun intended.”
Atlanta intended to end Rizzi’s the day the way it started. But thanks to a honey badger and a poorly managed final offensive sequence, Kirk Cousins and the Falcons (6-4) were the ones walking away with a smelly loss. With two minutes in regulation and Atlanta driving for a go-ahead touchdown, Tyrann Mathieu picked off Cousins at the Saints’ 38-yard line, preserving a 20-17 New Orleans lead.
On the Falcons’ final drive, Chase Young stripped Cousins on a 19-yard sack. Atlanta recovered the fumble at its own 32-yard line with 34 seconds remaining, but the sack forced the Falcons to burn their final timeout. That’s when defensive end Payton Turner celebrated a little too prematurely in the eyes of Rizzi.
“He’s celebrating before the game’s over so I screamed at him,” Rizzi recalled. “So, he’s spraying water and I ripped his ass, quite frankly.”
Raheem Morris might want to do something similar toward his offense after the Falcons didn’t call two plays in the huddle, a mistake that ultimately cost them the game. Atlanta faced a third-and-22 from its own 39 with 28 seconds remaining. Cousins completed a pass over the middle to Kyle Pitts for 18 yards but short of the first down. On fourth-and-4, the Falcons took excruciatingly too long to get the play off and after Ugo Amadi chased Ray-Ray McCloud out of bounds, the clock had run out. And Turner knew, this time, Rizzi couldn’t yell at him.
“When the game was over, he wanted to get me back so he came up to me when I wasn’t looking and he jacked me in the back. I have a history of stingers, so my left arm went completely numb, literally went completely numb,” said Rizzi.
Atlanta was numb after compiling 468 yards of offense in the loss. Cousins passed for 306 yards and Bijan Robinson had 116 yards on 20 carries with two touchdowns, but New Orleans held the Falcons to just 5 of 14 on third downs and normally reliable Younghoe Koo missed three of four field-goal attempts, one of which the Saints blocked.
New Orleans also got a great a pair of touchdowns from Derek Carr to Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who signed with New Orleans on Oct. 22. Valdes-Scantling hauled in a 40-yard score to extend the New Orleans lead to 10-0 early in the second quarter. Then, he registered a 2-yard touchdown reception, setting up the play with a 67-yard play. He finished the day with three catches for 109 yards.
The Falcons face a tough test next week at Denver (5-5), which lost on another blocked field goal at Kansas City. New Orleans, meanwhile, hosts Cleveland (2-7) in the Saints second game since firing Dennis Allen and trading Marshon Lattimore to Washington.
For more information on the Saints and Falcons, visit the New Orleans and Atlanta team pages at ProFootballPost.com.
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