ATLANTA – Jonathan Vilma spotted Jason Snelling motioning to the left and immediately called a defensive audible.
New Orleans’ middle linebacker had seen the play before.
Seconds later, Vilma met Snelling at the ball, tackling the Atlanta running back a yard shy of a first down on fourth-and-two.
He also secured the Saints a first-round bye and a home game in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs in January.
New Orleans held off a late Atlanta charge 26-23 in the Georgia Dome Sunday, earning no worse than the No. 2 seed in the NFC and keeping its record unblemished by the skin of its teeth for the second week in a row.
“That was the same play they got a good chunk of yards on in the first quarter on a third-down play,” Vilma said. “They burned us with that. We made a couple of adjustments and said if we see it again, we had our adjustments. They didn’t run it until the end of the game but we still had our adjustments.”
The Saints survived with a three-point overtime victory a week ago against Washington.
That Atlanta (6-7) put up a fight isn’t a surprise. That the Falcons came so close to knocking off the NFC’s lone undefeated team without quarterback Matt Ryan or tailback Michael Turner, that was another matter.
In the end, New Orleans (13-0) relied on a defense that, until the final four minutes, made Atlanta backup quarterback Chris Redman look like a Pro Bowler. Redman finished the game 23 of 34 for 303 yards and a score, but he also threw a big interception – also by Vilma – with four minutes to play.
“I thought we settled in there with obviously some big stops defensively right there – the turnover and then the fourth down,” Saints Head Coach Sean Payton said. “It was a play that they ran earlier in the game for their first third-down conversion. They came back to it and Jon did a great job of recognizing the formation and made the stop.”
The Falcons never made this one easy for New Orleans, rolling up 392 yards and converting 5 of 10 third downs. Atlanta had fewer penalties than did New Orleans, too.
But the Saints came through with the two biggest plays when they needed them.
“I feel that we had a shot and we didn’t get it done,” Falcons tight end Ton Gonzalez said. “I can’t speak for the whole team, but I don’t care for moral victories. I’ve been a part of games like this before and you can’t make the playoffs with moral victories.”
Drew Brees finished the game 31 of 40 for 296 yards and three touchdowns, passing to seven different receivers. Two of his scores came by Reggie Bush, who finished with his best game in weeks, compiling 33 yards on six runs and 46 yards and the two scores on six catches.
A back and forth game came down to the fourth quarter and a couple of plays.
With the game tied at 23, New Orleans took over at its own 17 following an Atlanta touchdown. Four consecutive second-down conversions, a third-down make and another second-down conversion gave the Saints first-and-goal from the 10.
But Brees was called for intentional grounding on first down, a loss of 10 yards as well as downs. On second, Brees threw incomplete to Robert Meachem and on third-and-goal, Pierre Thomas was stopped for no gain.
Garrett Hartley’s 38-yard field goal was good, giving New Orleans a 26-23 lead with 4:42 to play.
On Atlanta’s first play from scrimmage on the ensuing series, the Falcons went with the Wildcat formation, but cornerback Randall Gay snuffed the play out, stopping Eric Weems 12 yards behind the line of scrimmage. On second down, Vilma came through with the interception, the Saints’ first takeaway of the game.
“We had two trick plays that were big plays in the ballgame,” Atlanta Head Coach Mike Smith said of using the Wildcat play. “Earlier in the ball game was the reverse to Weems, the catch on the quick screen wheel route to Brian Finneran and we felt like this was a play that would get us some big yards after the kickoff return.”
Yet, the Saints offense was stuffed inside the red zone and on fourth-and-seven, Hartley trotted on the field for another field goal. But Payton called for a fake and Mark Brunell’s pass to Darnell Dinkins fell incomplete.
Atlanta had the ball on its own 15 with 2:07 to play and three timeouts.
It only set up Vilma’s final game-saving play.
“Certainly, you risk not getting the three points and going up a full score but nonetheless we felt pretty comfortable with the look we were getting,” Payton said. “And they stopped it, so it was good by the defense.”
Atlanta took a 6-3 lead on two Matt Bryant field goals that book-ended a Hartley 33-yard field goal.
On New Orleans’ second series of the game, Brees hit Robert Meachem deep down the seam for a 42-yard catch. Three plays later, Bush dove into the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown and a 10-6 Saints lead.
Brees had his second touchdown pass of the day on a 3-yard strike to Marques Colston. But Garrett Hartley knocked the extra point off the right upright and the Saints led 16-6 with 51 seconds to go in the half.
Bryant tacked on three more Atlanta points just before halftime and New Orleans led at the break 16-9.
Ten plays after halftime, Brees tied Aaron Brooks’ franchise record for touchdown passes when he connected with Bush for a 21-yard score on a screen pass. The play was a bit of redemption for Bush, who fumbled a play earlier and lost nine yards. The touchdown gave New Orleans a 23-9 lead early in the third quarter.
Redman came right back, hitting Michael Jenkins on a 50-yard touchdown pass that cut the Saints lead in half. A short time later, the Falcons tied the game on Snelling’s 4-yard touchdown run.
That set up the frenetic finish.
