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ATLANTA (AP) — On the day he became the NFL’s career leader
in completed
passes
Qadree
Ollison Jersey , Drew Brees‘ biggest plays came as a runner.Brees’ 1-yard
run capped an 80-yard touchdown drive to open overtime that lifted the New
Orleans Saints to a 43-37 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.That came after
his 7-yard score late in the fourth quarter forced the overtime. After the
Saints won the coin toss, Brees and the Saints held the ball for more than seven
minutes.Brees jumped over the pile on a quarterback keeper after his apparent
3-yard TD pass to Alvin Kamara was overturned. A review determined Kamara’s knee
was down before he crossed the goal line. Brees scored on the following play,
giving the Saints (2-1) the win.“This was a wild one,” said Brees, who passed
for 396 yards and three touchdowns and ran for two scores. Kamara had 15 catches
for 124 yards and ran for 66 yards.Brees’ biggest play before the winner might
have been his improbable 7-yard scoring run with 1:15 remaining that forced
overtime. He ran to his left and then spun to avoid tackle attempts by Brian
Poole and Robert Alford.“At some point, I felt they were coming to take my head
off and I could probably spin out of it,” Brees said, adding he now has film
evidence to show the youth flag football team he coaches that “spin moves work.
Spin moves are good.”With his 14th completed pass, the 39-year-old Brees broke
the record of
6
Ed Oliver
Jersey ,300 career completions set by Hall of Famer Brett Favre. Brees set
the mark with a 17-yard pass to Michael Thomas in the second quarter.“I’m just
very grateful,” Brees said. “I hope there’s a lot more coming. I just think
about all the people who have had a hand in that. A lot of hands have caught a
lot of passes. … They are all a part of this.”Atlanta’s Matt Ryan had his first
career game with five scoring passes. Calvin Ridley became the first Atlanta
rookie with three scoring catches. That wasn’t enough for the Falcons (1-2)
against Brees and the high-scoring Saints, who gained 534 yards.Ryan bemoaned a
lost opportunity when the Falcons were forced to punt when stopped at the
Atlanta 44 with 25 seconds remaining in overtime.“We had chances to finish the
game today and we didn’t do that,” Ryan said. “That’s disappointing.”Saints
coach Sean Payton called the defensive stop “a huge part of the win.”Ryan passed
for 374 yards, including 146 to Ridley, who had seven receptions, including a
75-yard TD.Ridley’s third scoring catch against the Saints was a 9-yarder early
in the third quarter that held up following a review.Ryan’s five touchdown
passes tied the team record set by Wade Wilson on Dec. 13, 1992, at Tampa
Bay.The fifth scoring pass to Mohamed Sanu came after Saints defensive tackle
David Onyemata was called for unnecessary roughness on Matt Bryant’s 29-yard
field goal. With the
penalty
Cody
Ford Jersey , the Falcons’ offense came back on the field.Ridley beat P.J.
Williams on his first two scoring catches, an 18-yarder in the first quarter and
the 75-yarder in the second quarter.The Saints made a defensive switch, moving
Ken Crawley into coverage on Ridley. Crawley was called for pass interference on
a deep incompletion to Ridley early in the third quarter that gave Atlanta a
first down at the New Orleans 5. On second down from the 9, Ridley’s third
scoring catch gave the Falcons a 21-16 lead.Brees completed his first four
passes, including a 19-yard scoring pass to Ted Ginn Jr. on the Saints’ opening
drive.INJURY REPORTSaints reserve cornerback Patrick Robinson was carted from
the field early in the third quarter with a left ankle injury. He did not
return.Falcons safety Ricardo Allen left early in overtime with a left calf
injury. He was helped to the sideline and then driven on a cart to the locker
room. … Reserve cornerback Justin Bethel injured a knee in the third quarter. …
Atlanta rookie linebacker Foyesade Oluokun left in the fourth quarter with an
ankle injury.THOMAS THRIVINGThomas had 10 catches for 129 yards. His 38 catches
are the most by an NFL player in his team’s first three games to start a season.
His 28 catches through two games also were a record.PASSING MONTANARyan’s
75-yard scoring pass to Ridley was his 34th career TD pass against the Saints,
the most by any quarterback. He surpassed Joe Montana’s 33 TD passes against New
Orleans. Ryan added three more, leaving his total at 37.DROPS FOR GINNGinn
dropped a sideline pass on a second-quarter drive that ended with a 49-yard
field goal by Will Lutz bouncing off the left upright and over the cross bar.
Later in the quarter, Ginn juggled a pass for an incompletion as he ran out of
bounds on the Atlanta sideline. He finished with three catches for 12 yards.UP
NEXTSaints: at New York Giants next Sunday.Falcons: Play their third straight
home game against the Cincinnati Bengals next Sunday. The Los Angeles Dodgers
and Chicago Cubs waited and waited and waited Monday night. When the lights
malfunctioned again and the forecast called for more rain, they finally said
enough.
The rematch of the last two NL Championship Series was postponed by a mixture
of poor weather and a limited power outage at Wrigley Field. It will be made up
Tuesday afternoon as part of a day-night doubleheader.
It was sunny and hot in Chicago for most of
Monday
Devin
Singletary Jersey , but clouds began to roll into the area about two hours
before the scheduled first pitch. An initial downpour stopped at one point and
the grounds crew pulled the tarp off the field, only to put it back on after a
short stretch.
There was also trouble with three banks of lights on the first-base side of
the iconic 104-year-old ballpark that went on and off a couple times, in
addition to some lights in the stands on the third-base side that were out when
the game was called after a nearly 3-hour delay.
”It appears to be a limited power outage in the ballpark which is impacting
the right-field light operation,” Cubs spokesman Julian Green said. ”Obviously
can’t play baseball without a full bank of lights in the ballpark.
Notwithstanding the lights, we’re also dealing with a pretty heavy storm system
in the area, which we’re projected to get more rain here.”
Green said they don’t know the root cause of the power outage, but it appears
to be in the ballpark itself and not in the surrounding neighborhood. He said
the plan is to have ballpark fully operational by the start of the first game on
Tuesday.
”But a lot of work needs to happen tonight to make sure we can do that,”
Green said.
This is Los Angeles’ only scheduled trip to Chicago this season.
”It’s out of our control,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. ”It’s one of
those times when we spent a lot of time
here
Dawson
Knox Jersey , but there’s nothing else we could have done.”
Kenta Maeda, Monday night’s scheduled starter for Los Angeles, will get the
ball for the opener of the doubleheader. Rich Hill will come off the disabled
list to start Game 2.
Hill was placed on the DL on May 20 with a blister on his left middle finger,
a recurring problem for the veteran left-hander.
The Cubs employed the same plan, with Tyler Chatwood going in the opener and
Mike Montgomery staying in place for the previously scheduled game. Montgomery
is 2-1 with a 1.14 ERA in four starts since he was inserted into the rotation
after Yu Darvish was sidelined by right triceps tendinitis.
The Dodgers are making their first appearance at Wrigley since they advanced
to the World Series with an 11-1 victory over the Cubs in Game 5 of the NLCS on
Oct. 19. The same teams also met in the 2016 NLCS, with Chicago advancing on its
way to its first championship since 1908.
—
Jay Cohen can be reached at
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