Falcons’ report card: Defense, special teams closed out win

The Saints didn’t fold, even after the Falcons took a 19-10 lead late in the game.

“Those guys are always going to come out ready to play division games,” Morris said. “That’s what these things always are and couldn’t be more happy for the guys going out there and finishing the season off the right way.”

Here are the grades for the Falcons from the win:

Quarterback

Quarterback Kirk Cousins, who was under duress and sacked four times, completed 18-of-32 passes for 180 yards. He had a touchdown, an interception and finished with a passer rating of 69.8. Cousins may have played his last game with the Falcons. “Hard to know,” Cousins said. “Hard to know. I’d like to keep playing, but we’ll see how things play out in March or even after that.” He was asked if wants to return. “I would love to be back here,” Cousins said. “We’ll see how things play out. At this point, you kind of just see where it goes.” Grade: B

Running back

Bijan Robinson was held to 33 yards on 15 carries by the Saints’ linebackers. He caught three passes for 3 yards. Cousins’ interception came on a screen pass. Tyler Allgeier, in perhaps his last game with the Falcons, had seven carries for 16 yards. Grade: C

Wide receiver/tight end

Drake London caught 4 of 8 targets for 78 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown grab. He walked down the entire sideline and found passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach T.J. Yates and started yelling at him. “Drake is always frustrated,” Morris said. “Drake wants to go out there and beat everybody and be dominant and get things done the right way … He is a high-energy player. He is a pit bull. When you’ve got to get the pit bull to make sure he’s not always off the leash.” Tight end Kyle Pitts caught 6 of 9 targets for 58 yards. Darnell Mooney had three catches for 20 yards. Grade: B

Offensive line

The Saints defensive front controlled the line of scrimmage, kept Robinson in check and harassed Cousins. The Saints had four sacks and nine quarterback hits. The offensive line was outplayed. Grade: C-minus

Defensive line

Defensive tackle Kentavius Street made the first sack of the game. He was playing in place of Brandon Dorlus, who was out with a hamstring injury. Saints running back Audric Estime was held to 63 yards on 21 carries, or an average of 3 yards per carry. David Onyemata was a force with six tackles. Grade: B

Linebackers

James Pearce Jr. got the team’s 56th sack of the season, which broke the franchise record for most sacks in a season. He later added the 57th. He also had two quarterback hits. Pearce finished with 10.5 sacks and became the team’s first double-digit sack player since Vic Beasley had 15.5 sacks in the 2016 season. “The d-Line, the defense, we did a great job setting the record,” Pearce said. “Everybody was getting home … Three-three (Billy Bowman Jr.), when he was on the field, Glo (Dee Alford) when he blitzed it. Five-five (Kaden Elliss) and me at home and the front four just getting after it. As the season went on, that was just great for all of us.” Grade: A

Secondary

Alford had a sack and an interception to help set the sack record and pull out the win. He led the Falcons with nine tackles. Safety Xavier Watts and cornerback C.J. Henderson were second with seven tackles. Alford jumped a slant route to get his interception. Grade: A

Special teams

Kicker Zane Gonzalez made all four of his field goal kicks. Jammie Robinson blocked a punt that was recovered by Feleipe Franks to set up the Falcons only touchdown of the game. Returner Dee Thompkins averaged 21 yards on two kickoff returns and 8.7 yards on three punt returns. Pitts recovered the onside kick at the end. It was one of the best games of the season for special teams. Grade: A

Coaching

The Falcons controlled the game the entire way even though the offense was a little disjointed. The special teams contributed and the defense came up with a late turnover to briefly make it a two-score game late. Grade: B