At 1-4 and facing their undefeated division rivals, the New Orleans Saints had to be feeling a sense of desperation going into last Thursday's game against the Falcons. The Saints resisted labeling 2015 a rebuilding year after an offseason of roster turnover, but that was getting harder and harder to deny as the losses started to pile up.
Cameron Jordan breathes new life into the Saints’ defense
Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan gets retired NFL defensive end Stephen White’s Hoss of the Week award for a heroic effort against the Falcons last week.
Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
If New Orleans was going to have any chance of righting the ship this season they had to find a way to win that Thursday Night Football game against Atlanta. It wasn’t easy. Everybody had to step their game up and a few guys needed to be heroes as well.
I can't give him all the credit, but Cameron Jordan was definitely one of the heroes who showed up and showed out for the Saints and helped them get the victory in a must-win game. That's why Jordan is my Hoss of the Week for Week 6.
As usual Jordan was a beast against the run all game, so that was nothing new. He probably should’ve had at least three tackles for a loss, but on two of those plays an offensive lineman held him. Thankfully for the Saints, the officials threw the flag and walked the Falcons back 10 yards on both of those plays. Jordan did get credit for the third tackle for a loss, but it was controversial. You see, it was a horse collar tackle. A ref initially flagged it as such, but for some odd reason the officials eventually decided to pick up the flag.
Whatever. They gave it to him, so it still counts in my book.
Jordan was also active as a pass rusher. The Saints moved him around a lot, kind of like what I talked about with Fletcher Cox moving around last week, and Jordan proceeded to go up and down the line kicking ass.
He got pressure on a bootleg at left defensive end. He beat Falcons right tackle Ryan Schraeder on an inside rush that forced Matt Ryan to leave the comfort of the pocket and get sacked by Saints rookie Hau'oli Kikaha. He had a couple of really good rushes at right defensive end as the game went along as well. Hell, he even lined up as the middle linebacker and blitzed the middle of the offensive line on the last drive of the first half.
But Jordan’s best work of the night? Oh, his best work was definitely when he was lined up at left defensive tackle later in the game.
With the Saints up 24-7 heading into the fourth quarter, they knew the Falcons were going to try to mount a furious comeback, and with Atlanta’s offensive power a 17-point lead can disappear quickly. However, it is certainly a lot harder to do when your quarterback keeps getting knocked on his ass.
The Falcons ended up scoring two more touchdowns before the final seconds ticked off the clock, but Jordan's three sacks in the final eight minutes of the game (as well as a touchdown run from Mark Ingram) ensured that Atlanta would never get closer than the 10 points that ended up being the Saints' margin of victory.
I'm betting Falcons right guard Chris Chester probably wants to burn the film from the end of the game. He got completely worked by Jordan in the fourth quarter.
The first sack came with 7:56 left in the game. It was second-and-10 at the Falcons’ 20-yard line. They were having to throw the ball damn near every play at that point, trailing 31-14. Jordan took one step up the field then went inside of Chester with a rip move. When that didn’t get him free, Jordan pushed Chester right back into Ryan’s lap with a bull rush. Chester might as well have been on one of those hover boards the kids seem to love these days as he offered up little resistance.
At first Ryan pumped his arm as if he was trying to make a pass, but then he seemed to think better of it when Jordan put his big paw up to try to knock the would-be throw down. In a flash, before Ryan could try to reset and go elsewhere with the football, Jordan ran slap over him for sack and a loss of 7 yards. That drive, and the Falcons’ comeback momentum, would end with a punt a couple plays later after Ryan was sacked again on third down.
Later on with 2:46 to play and the score still 31-14, Jordan again victimized Chester for his second sack of the day.
Atlanta’s offense had already worked their way down to the Saints’ 34-yard line, holding onto a glimmer of hope if they could score fast. On first-and-10 Jordan tried another rip move inside, but Chester actually ended up sitting on that move this time. Feeling that he was about to get stuck, Jordan made a spin move back outside into the B gap. Unfortunately for Matt Ryan, that was around the same moment when he tried stepping up into the same B gap. Boom, suddenly Ryan was was taken down by Jordan for another sack, a loss of 4 yards.
The Falcons finally scored another touchdown two plays later to pull within 10 points, but that just provided Cameron with one more opportunity to get another sack.
After the Saints went three-and-out with three running plays, Atlanta got the ball back with only 24 seconds left in the game. That’s not enough time to do much of anything, especially down two scores, but Jordan didn’t want to leave any doubts.
On the first play of the drive, Jordan used the same chop-arm over move on Chester that he had tried several times that night. This time it actually worked. Not content to just sack Ryan, Jordan swiped the ball out of his hands and recovered the fumble.
Thanks for coming out, goodnight!
At 2-4, the Saints are still cellar dwellers in a pretty weak NFC South, but there’s still a lot of football left. There is still a chance that they can make the playoffs this year, as crazy as it sounds, if they can get things going through the final 10 games. It could very well be that their improbable win over the division-leading Falcons last week ends up being a catalyst to change the fortunes of their season.
Then again, maybe not.
If things do turn around, they will look back and say it all started with a huge game out of Jordan to help them get back on track. If he didn’t come through for the Saints in that game, especially in crunch time, I’m not sure that they still come away with a win.
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