The New Orleans Saints' 20th anniversary celebration of their 'Domecoming' game turned sour as they lost 45-24 to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night. The defeat left quarterback Tyler Shough feeling "embarrassed" and coach Kellen Moore "disappointed" and "frustrated," with boos and early exits replacing the festive atmosphere.
Falcons silence Superdome crowd early
Three plays into the game, Falcons running back Bijan Robinson silenced the electric Superdome crowd with a 59-yard touchdown run. The Saints' performance bore no resemblance to their landmark 23-3 victory against the same team 20 years ago, when the venue finally reopened after being damaged by Hurricane Katrina. On that made-for-TV night, Steve Gleason blocked a punt on the Falcons' opening possession and Curtis Deloatch recovered it for a touchdown, sending the Saints on their way.
This time, New Orleans held pre-game ceremonies commemorating those magic moments, with retired players Drew Brees, Scott Fujita, Scott Shanle, Deuce McAllister, Devery Henderson and Deloatch joining Gleason – now in a wheelchair because of ALS – on the field before kick-off to lead fans in the team's familiar 'Who dat!' chant.
Commemorations and a tough game
Irma Thomas, a New Orleans local who sang the national anthem when the dome reopened, reprised her role. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell also traveled to New Orleans to commemorate the 'Domecoming' game he attended in 2006. Earlier in the day, New Orleans mayor Helena Moreno gave Gleason a key to the city. Gleason later shared a moment with former Falcons punter Michael Koenen at the 'Rebirth' statue outside the dome which memorializes the famous punt block.
Then came the game itself – the first nationally-televised, night-time home game for the Saints in nearly two years. "It's extremely disappointing," Shough said. "It's embarrassing. I can't say enough good things about fans showing up, the entire process, what this game meant and we fell short as a team … we've got to do better on all fronts."
One of Gleason's mottos is "never punt". The Falcons seemed to take that to heart, scoring their most points since a 48-33 victory against Carolina in 2016, never punting after the first quarter and getting touchdowns on five of their last six full possessions.
Saints fall behind and can't recover
The Saints (1-3), who secured a breakthrough victory at Baltimore two weeks ago, followed that up with two straight losses at home. "We're all frustrated, all disappointed with where we're at," Moore said. "We're going to have to learn from this one and move forward."
Shough threw for 286 yards and wide receiver Chris Olave had eight catches for 116 yards, but the Saints scored on only one of their five first-half series, falling behind 24-7. After they settled for a 27-yard field goal on their opening drive of the second half, Atlanta responded with a nine-play, 74-yard touchdown drive to go ahead 31-10.
The dome started to empty out at that point, and it turned into a red-clad Falcons' fans celebration after Atlanta scored another touchdown to go ahead 38-17 with 9:50 left in the fourth quarter. "I love New Orleans. I love this place," Shough said. "And you see the energy, the passion of everybody, the culture behind this place and it sucks whenever you don't come through on the field in that way, especially against our division rivals. It hurts me. I don't want to feel like that ever again."
Injuries and missed opportunities
Playing without injured defensive end Carl Granderson, linebacker Kaden Elliss and running back Travis Etienne, among others, New Orleans struggled. Atlanta's Robinson ran for 145 yards and two touchdowns, and Brian Robinson Jr added three scoring runs.
After falling behind, New Orleans pretty much abandoned their running game, finishing with 50 yards on 19 carries. The Saints fell a game behind NFC South co-leaders Atlanta and Carolina. "We squandered an opportunity but we've got more opportunities," Shough said. "You've got to kind of take it on the chin and we'll see them again."
