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David Goldman / Associated Press
If there is a third draw in three weeks, it will not be in Atlanta.
Drew Brees crossed the finish line, giving the New Orleans Saints a 43-37 overtime win over the Falcons on Sunday.
Brees led the Saints to over 80 yards in the first attempt at overtime, with officials first allowing New Orleans to beat Alvin Kamara by three yards for a seemingly winning touchdown. A review suggested that Kamara was close to the goal line, and Brees slipped the ball to the next game.
Brees finished with two hurried touchdowns, buckling his records with the help of his feet. He also scored 396 yards and three touchdowns.
The rise of Calvin Ridley could give the Falcons the best 1-2 WR punch in the NFL
First, a fun fact: Julio Jones has three receptions in his last 19 games. Calvin Ridley had three touchdown receptions in the first 33 minutes of Sunday's game and had four touchdowns in his first three NFL competitions.
OK, maybe it's just a fun fact if you do not call yourself Julio Jones and you do not own Julio in fantasy.
But I'm misleading.
The rise of Ridley looks like the real deal. After being whitened in her professional debut, Ridley has recorded 11 receptions for 210 yards in the past two weeks. The production of rookie receivers is still a bit of a failure, but Ridley appears to be a steal after diving to 26th overall in April.
The Falcons could be in the process of having the best receiver corps in football if it continues. Ridley 's performance this week should only serve to warn more teams that Matt Ryan will find him when he is open.
Jones and his imaginary owners will have their fingers crossed, which means fewer double teams in the red zone in advance.
Saints desperately need Mark Ingram II
And not at all for their offense.
The Saints offense goes well without Ingram. They put 40 points in two of the first three weeks and Alvin Kamara is a superstar in good faith.
But these Saints look like a Saints Classic rather than the Super Bowl they were a year ago. Brees is back to throw the ball all over the field, and Kamara There is no more than 18 rushing yards this season. After averaging 6.1 yards per race as a rookie, Kamara has fallen to 3.6 this season and has done almost all his damage as a pass-catcher.
This is, without a doubt, correlated to Kamara have to be in the field for three periods rather than divide the time. The saints gave Kamara 31 keys this week; he did not rank among the top 20 times throughout the 2017 season.
The addition of Ingram will give New Orleans a more balanced attack that will continue Kamara fresh and defense off the field for long periods. Although the saints have kept their attack flouting Ingram, it is clear that the defense is not the same as it was a year ago. They lost 48 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in weeks 1 and 37 more this week.
Things will surely calm down once Sean Payton can count on his ground game as he did in 2017.
NFC South looks like the most competitive division of the NFL
The Saints will have to stay balanced if they hope to continue winning in what looks like the toughest division of the NFL. Ryan Fitzpatrick seems to have found a strange source of youth in Tampa's drinking water, the Panthers are 2-1 after two wins against non-divisional opponents, and the Falcons just beat Carolina a week ago.
A record of 10-6 or 11-5 will probably win the division as these teams will continue to fight.
The Falcons will sit in the basement of the division this week despite two losses of 12 points in total. This is a touchdown of the red zone after defeating the Philadelphia Eagles during the first week and a defensive stop against New Orleans this week.
Throw down just about any of these four teams in South AFC and you'll have a 12-4 division champion.
And after?
The Saints will travel to play the New York Giants next Sunday. The Falcons host the Bengals of Cincinnati.
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