Bird Bath

The Falcons scored touchdowns on five straight possessions, then turned to their defense to seal a wild, 45-32 win over the Saints Monday night.

Tevin Coleman ran for three touchdowns and rookie linebacker Deion Jones returned an interception 90 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter as the Falcons blew it open.

For as good as Coleman was it was his Falcons backfield mate, Devonta Freeman who led everyone with 152 rushing yards. Freeman also caught a 13-yard touchdown pass, and Coleman produced 47 receiving yards and 42 rushing yards.

The Falcons move to 2-1 and are alone atop the NFC South. The Saints fall to 0-3.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw for 376 yards and three touchdowns. Tight end Coby Fleener scored his first Saints touchdown and had seven catches for 109 yards, but a depleted Saints defense just couldn’t get off the field and couldn’t get Freeman down.

The Falcons racked up 217 rushing yards and didn’t commit a turnover.

Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan threw for 240 yards and two touchdowns. Julio Jones had one catch, but Ryan and the Falcons were in charge of the game with the exception of the first 10 minutes.

The Saints moved the ball all night and outgained the Falcons but never seemed to recover from an early misplayed punt by R.J. Harris that turned into Coleman’s first touchdown and, even after rallying, couldn’t recover from the interception return by Jones that made it a 20-point game.