New Orleans Saints Quarterback Tyler Shough understood the Superdome crowd’s reaction to the 45-24 loss to the Atlanta Falcons and said he would have booed the team as well.
The Saints were the second best all night against the opponent Falcons on Monday Night Football and the home fans let the players have it at halftime, while the jeers were more muted by the end, largely because most had left.
New Orleans, which fell to 1-3 on the season, never got going and trailed 24-7 after two quarters.
“I’m disappointed. More than anything, you lose like that against the Falcons and especially in a Monday night game, it sucks,” said Shough, who completed 30 of 48 passes with one touchdown and no interceptions. “There’s nothing you can say, like, ‘Oh man, it doesn’t hurt.’ It definitely does. But I know as a team we’re really close and we’re going to keep moving forward and keep looking forward.
“We have very good leadership and our leadership on the team admits that we have to improve. We have to improve, watch the film and evaluate it. That’s not hiding it. But at the same time, it’s a long season and there’s still a lot of games to play where we can do that.”
They punched us in the mouth, Sants Jordà
Defensive end Cameron Jordan acknowledged the Saints “have to be a better team” after the home rout.
“Everybody gets punched in the mouth in this game. Any Sunday. But it’s how you respond,” Jordan said. “So we lost that game. Trashbirds, we got beat, that’s what it is. We’ve got to be able to respond. That’s going to show you what kind of team we are. We could go on for days … about what we could do better. Break down film, go to next week, we’ve got to be a better team. Or that’s what we’re going to get every week.”
Although the Saints were upset, the Falcons continued their resurgence with their second win in two weeks.
After struggling in weeks one and two, the return of QB Michael Penix has breathed new life into Atlanta’s offense.
After scoring just 16 points in his first two games with Cooper Rush under center, Penix has led his team to a 35-14 victory over the Green Bay Packers followed by Monday’s win in New Orleans.
Penix and Robinsons combine to sink the Saints
Penix orchestrated an Atlanta offense that relied heavily on the running game with Bijan Robinson rushing for 145 yards and two touchdowns, while Brian Robinson Jr had 62 yards and three touchdowns.
“It’s been phenomenal, man,” said Penix’s Brian Robinson Jr. “There’s not a lot of other words I can say about the way he’s been playing. I appreciate his attitude, how he came in and just went out on the field, he’s focused and he’s ready. He doesn’t let anything that’s happened in his past get in the way of his goals and what he wants to do in the future.”