Drew Brees Records 5 TDs as Saints Beat Matt Ryan, Falcons in OT Shootout

If there's a third tie in three weeks, it won't be coming in Atlanta.

Drew Brees leapt over the pile from one yard out, giving the New Orleans Saints a 43-37 overtime victory over the Falcons Sunday.

Brees led the Saints 80 yards down the field on the first drive of overtime, with officials initially giving New Orleans a victory when he hit Alvin Kamara from three yards out for seemingly a game-winning touchdown. A review ruled Kamara was down just short of the goal line, and Brees snuck the ball in on the next play.

Brees finished with two rushing touchdowns, capping off the game-tying and game-winning drives using his feet. He had 396 yards and three touchdowns passing as well.

Calvin Ridley's Ascent Could Give Falcons Best 1-2 WR Punch in NFL 

First, a fun fact: Julio Jones has three touchdown receptions in his last 19 games. Calvin Ridley had three touchdown receptions in the first 33 minutes of Sunday's game and has four through his first three NFL contests.

OK, maybe it's only a fun fact if your name isn't Julio Jones and you don't own Julio in fantasy.

But I digress.

Ridley's ascent is looking like the real deal. After getting shut out in his pro debut, Ridley has recorded 11 receptions for 210 yards over the last two weeks. Rookie receiver production is always a bit hit-and-miss, but Ridley looks like a steal after dipping all the way to No. 26 overall in April's draft.

The Falcons could be on their way to having the best receiving corps in football if this continues. Ridley's performance this week should only serve to put more teams on notice that Matt Ryan is going to find him if he's open.

Jones and his fantasy owners will have their fingers crossed that means fewer double-teams in the red zone moving forward. 

Saints Desperately Need Mark Ingram II, Running Game to Return

And not at all for the sake of their offense.

The Saints offense is fine without Ingram. They've put up 40 points in two of the first three weeks, and Alvin Kamara is a bona fide superstar.

But these Saints have a look and feel more of a Saints Classic rather than the Super Bowl contenders they were a year ago. Brees is back to chucking the ball all over the field, and Kamara doesn't have a run longer than 18 yards this season. After averaging 6.1 yards per carry as a rookie, Kamara is down to 3.6 this season and has done almost all of his damage as a pass-catcher.

That is, without a doubt, correlated to Kamara having to be on the field for three downs rather than splitting time. The Saints gave Kamara 31 touches this week; he didn't top 20 once the entire 2017 season.

Adding Ingram will give New Orleans a more balanced attack that will keep Kamara fresh and the defense off the field for long stretches. While the Saints have kept their offense humming with Ingram out, it's clear the defense isn't the same as a year ago. They gave up 48 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1 and 37 more this week.

Things are bound to calm down a bit once Sean Payton can rely on his ground game the way he did in 2017.

NFC South Looks Like NFL's Most Competitive Division 

The Saints are going to need to stay balanced if they hope to keep winning in what looks like the NFL's toughest division. Ryan Fitzpatrick seems to have found some weird fountain of youth in Tampa's drinking water, the Panthers are 2-1 after a pair of wins against nondivisional opponents, and the Falcons just beat Carolina a week ago.

A 10-6 or 11-5 record is probably going to win the division because these teams are going to keep beating up on one another. 

The Falcons are going to sit in the division's basement this week despite losing two games by a total of 12 points. They're a red-zone touchdown away from defeating the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1 and a defensive stop away from winning against New Orleans this week.

Throw just about any of these four teams in the AFC South and you'd have a 12-4 runaway division champion. 

What's Next?

The Saints travel to play the New York Giants next Sunday. The Falcons host the Cincinnati Bengals.