Week 6 ‘Thursday Night Football’: Saints win 31-21, hand Falcons their first loss of the season

Michael Mauti made a big impression early in the Saints-Falcons game, all but taking the ball right out of the Falcons punter’s hands and returning it for a touchdown.

If you’re thinking that play looks familiar, then you’re probably thinking of Steve Gleason’s effort in 2006. Saints-Falcons, at the Superdome, just a little over a year after Hurricane Katrina.

Phil Simms can provide some funny, candid words from time to time. And in his description about the Atlanta Falcons team in the early stages of their Thursday night game against the Saints, he made an interesting observation: “There’s no fat guys on this Atlanta team.”

Very candid, Phil.

The Saints are 1-4 coming off a 39-17 loss to Philadelphia in a game that was tied until the middle of the third quarter. But the Saints gave up 29 points in the second half and their only touchdown after halftime came on a last-second garbage score. While it’s true that offensive struggles have caused the Saints’ defense to get behind and spend far too much time on the field, that side of the ball has had glaring issues, too. As a unit, the defense is last in the league with 409 yards allowed per game, and ranks 29th in points allowed per game.

That, along with a stronger defense under new head coach Dan Quinn, has kept the team undefeated through Week 5.

The defense and run game kept the Falcons in the game against Washington -- and ultimately won it in overtime -- which is something that you never would have been able to say about Atlanta last season, when it ranked 24th in rushing and allowed the most yards in the league.

New head coach Dan Quinn and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan have completely transformed this team on both sides of the ball, and with another victory on Thursday, the Falcons will match their entire win total from last season ... in the middle of October.