Confident Falcons ready for Saints

By Charles Odum
Associated Press

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Sep 21, 2010

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Falcons running back Jason Snelling had 129 yards rushing, 57 yards receiving and three touchdowns coming off the bench.

ATLANTA » Matt Ryan insists the Atlanta Falcons weren't thinking about the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints as they crushed the Arizona Cardinals.

It sure didn't take long for talk to shift to the Saints after the game.

The Falcons gained momentum for this week's NFC South game at New Orleans by overwhelming the Cardinals 41-7. The Falcons, led by backup running back Jason Snelling's 129 yards rushing, 57 yards receiving and three touchdowns, took a 33-11 advantage in first downs in the dominant win.

Atlanta held the ball almost twice as long as Arizona, stopped each of the Cardinals' eight third-down plays and intercepted three passes.

It was just the well-rounded performance the Falcons needed after a tough opening loss at Pittsburgh.

"We're going to be a more confident football team going into next week against New Orleans," said receiver Roddy White, who had seven catches for 78 yards and a touchdown.

Bring on the Saints.

"It's got to give us confidence, but at the same time we're going against the world champions, so we know our plates are full," said tight end Tony Gonzalez.

"We know we've got to duplicate what we did this week and maybe even keep rising up. We've got to get better."

The Falcons controlled the game against the Cardinals even after losing running backs Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood to injuries.

The Falcons had 221 yards rushing, including 64 yards in the final quarter. Atlanta limited Arizona to 29 total yards in the final 15 minutes.

Saints 25, 49ers 22

New Orleans	9	0	7	9	--	25
San Francisco	0	7	7	8	--	22

First Quarter
NO--Team safety, 13:28.
NO--Bush 6 pass from Brees (Hartley kick), 9:33.

Second Quarter
SF--Gore 12 pass from A.Smith (Nedney kick), 9:52.

Third Quarter
SF--Dixon 2 run (Nedney kick), 6:51.
NO--D.Thomas 3 pass from Brees (Hartley kick), 1:43.

Fourth Quarter
NO--FG Hartley 46, 13:31.
NO--FG Hartley 19, 2:12.
SF--Gore 7 run (V.Davis pass from A.Smith), 1:19.
NO--FG Hartley 37, :00.
A--69,732.

	NO	SF
First downs	17	24
Total Net Yards	287	417
Rushes-yards	24-50	26-142
Passing	237	275
Punt Returns	3-43	4-29
Kickoff Returns	4-90	4-63
Interceptions Ret.	2-11	0-0
Comp-Att-Int	28-38-0	23-32-2
Sacked-Yards Lost	2-17	0-0
Punts	6-46.7	3-47.0
Fumbles-Lost	1-0	4-2
Penalties-Yards	5-54	5-40
Time of Possession	32:40	27:20

RUSHING--New Orleans, P.Thomas 18-46, Bush 5-4, H.Evans 1-0. San Francisco, Gore 20-112, A.Smith 4-28, Dixon 1-2, Westbrook 1-0.

PASSING--New Orleans, Brees 28-38-0-254. San Francisco, A.Smith 23-32-2-275.

RECEIVING--New Orleans, P.Thomas 8-57, Colston 5-67, Bush 4-30, Shockey 3-37, Henderson 3-28, D.Thomas 3-10, H.Evans 1-18, Brees 1-7. San Francisco, Gore 7-56, Morgan 6-70, V.Davis 4-78, Walker 2-26, Crabtree 1-32, Byham 1-6, Norris 1-5, Zeigler 1-2.

NFL STANDINGS

AMERICAN CONFERENCE

East
	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA
Miami	2	0	0	1.000	29	20
N.Y. Jets	1	1	0	.500	37	24
New England	1	1	0	.500	52	52
Buffalo	0	2	0	.000	17	49
South
	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA
Houston	2	0	0	1.000	64	51
Jacksonville	1	1	0	.500	37	55
Tennessee	1	1	0	.500	49	32
Indianapolis	1	1	0	.500	62	48
North
	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA
Pittsburgh	2	0	0	1.000	34	20
Cincinnati	1	1	0	.500	39	48
Baltimore	1	1	0	.500	20	24
Cleveland	0	2	0	.000	28	33
West
	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA
Kansas City	2	0	0	1.000	37	28
San Diego	1	1	0	.500	52	34
Denver	1	1	0	.500	48	38
Oakland	1	1	0	.500	29	52

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

East
	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA
Washington	1	1	0	.500	40	37
N.Y. Giants	1	1	0	.500	45	56
Philadelphia	1	1	0	.500	55	59
Dallas	0	2	0	.000	27	40
South
	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA
Tampa Bay	2	0	0	1.000	37	21
New Orleans	2	0	0	1.000	39	31
Atlanta	1	1	0	.500	50	22
Carolina	0	2	0	.000	25	51
North
	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA
Chicago	2	0	0	1.000	46	34
Green Bay	2	0	0	1.000	61	27
Detroit	0	2	0	.000	46	54
Minnesota	0	2	0	.000	19	28
West
	W	L	T	Pct	PF	PA
Seattle	1	1	0	.500	45	37
Arizona	1	1	0	.500	24	54
San Francisco	0	2	0	.000	28	56
St. Louis	0	2	0	.000	27	33

Sunday
Chicago 27, Dallas 20
Atlanta 41, Arizona 7
Green Bay 34, Buffalo 7
Philadelphia 35, Detroit 32
Pittsburgh 19, Tennessee 11
Cincinnati 15, Baltimore 10
Kansas City 16, Cleveland 14
Tampa Bay 20, Carolina 7
Miami 14, Minnesota 10
Denver 31, Seattle 14
Oakland 16, St. Louis 14
Houston 30, Washington 27, OT
San Diego 38, Jacksonville 13
N.Y. Jets 28, New England 14
Indianapolis 38, N.Y. Giants 14

Yesterday
New Orleans 25, San Francisco 22

Sunday
Dallas at Houston, 7 a.m.
Buffalo at New England, 7 a.m.
Cleveland at Baltimore, 7 a.m..
Atlanta at New Orleans, 7 a.m.
Tennessee at N.Y. Giants, 7 a.m.
Cincinnati at Carolina, 7 a.m.
San Francisco at Kansas City, 7 a.m.
Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay, 7 a.m.
Detroit at Minnesota, 7 a.m.
Washington at St. Louis, 10:05 a.m.
Philadelphia at Jacksonville, 10:05 a.m.
San Diego at Seattle, 10:15 a.m.
Oakland at Arizona, 10:15 a.m.
Indianapolis at Denver, 10:15 a.m.
N.Y. Jets at Miami, 2:20 p.m.

Monday
Green Bay at Chicago, 2:30 p.m.