NFL Week 1 Game Recap: New Orleans Saints 27, Atlanta Falcons 26

It didn’t start pretty, but ultimately the New Orleans Saints eked out the 27-26 Week 1 win over the Atlanta Falcons after a Will Lutz 51-yarder with 29 seconds remaining. The Falcons have a lot of positives to take from their performance, but that means very little when it doesn’t impact the win column. 

Offensive spotlight: Boy, is it good to see Michael Thomas back healthy. While he did drop a couple of passes, Thomas hauled in five of eight targets for 57 yards and two scores in his first game back from injury. They eased him in, playing him nearly exclusively in passing situations. Of his 35 snaps on the day, 33 were pass plays. 

Defensive spotlight: The Saints' new safety duo made their presence felt Sunday. Marcus Maye didn’t allow a reception on his lone target, while Tyrann Mathieu allowed one catch on two targets for one yard.

Rookie spotlight: Drake London was as advertised as the first receiver off the board in the 2022 NFL Draft. He led the Falcons with five catches on seven targets for 74 yards. While he did have a drop, that was never an issue for him at USC.

Offensive line spotlight: One of the biggest surprises of the Falcons' performance was how well their offensive line fared in pass protection. On 37 pass-blocking snaps, they allowed all of three pressures on the day combined. Arthur Smith did a good job of protecting them with play action on 18 of those 37 pass plays.

Betting Summary

Box Score

Passing

Rushing

Receiving