Tyler Shough’s Superdome Start Ends in Defeat as Falcons Overwhelm Saints
Kirk Cousins passed for 199 yards and two touchdowns in his second start this season, and the Atlanta Falcons ended a five-game skid with a 24-10 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
Taking over under center because of Michael Penix Jr.’s season-ending knee injury, Cousins completed 16 of 23 passes, highlighted by his 49-yard scoring pass deep down the middle to former Tulane standout Darnell Mooney in the fourth quarter.
The play gave Atlanta (4-7) a 24-10 lead with 11:04 left — a comfortable cushion on a day when the Falcons prevented the hapless Saints (2-9) from scoring an offensive touchdown.
New Orleans’ only TD came on Justin Reid’s 49-yard interception return in the second quarter on a pass that was tipped by Kool-Aid McKinstry. Reid’s first TD since his rookie season in 2018 briefly pulled the Saints within 10-7.
Saints rookie Tyler Shough, making his third start and first in the Superdome, completed 30 of 43 passes for 243 yards, but was often under pressure and was sacked five times. The lone interception he threw on a deep pass in the final seconds was inconsequential, but his botched handoff to Alvin Kamara in the first quarter was recovered by Dee Alford and led to the game’s opening points on Zane Gonzalez’s 56-yard field goal.
David Sills, a 29-year-old who has spent much of his career on practice squads, scored his first career touchdown on a 9-yard pass from Cousins, giving the Falcons a 10-0 lead in the second quarter.
New Orleans’ Blake Grupe missed two field goals inside of 50 yards in the first half. The first, from 38 yards, came after Mason Tipton had returned a kickoff 75 yards to the Atlanta 16. The second, from 47 yards, sailed wide right with 56 seconds left in the second quarter.
The Superdome filled with boos after the second miss, and there was audible grumbling in the stands after Cousins quickly drove the Falcons for Gonzalez’s third field goal of the game to make it 16-7 at halftime.
The Saints had a chance to close within a field goal early in the fourth quarter, but on third-and-goal, a direct snap to Taysom Hill was high, forcing Hill to run the ball down and throw it away. He was flagged for intentional grounding, and the Saints settled for a field goal to trim Atlanta’s lead to 16-10.
The Falcons rushed for 121 yards, 70 by Bijan Robinson, who also had 37 yards receiving on two catches. Mooney finished with 74 yards on three catches.
Chris Olave caught nine passes for 70 yards for the Saints.
Injuries
Falcons: Safety Xavier Watts appeared shaken up after making a touchdown-saving tackle on Shough near the goal line early in the fourth quarter. But he returned in time to make a late interception.
Saints: Kamara left with a knee injury after being pulled down awkwardly along the sidelined by Atlanta linebacker and former Saints teammate Kaden Ellis in the first quarter.
Even Amon-Ra St. Brown knows what Lions should do: Feed Jahmyr Gibbs
Amon-Ra St. Brown is like most wide receivers, he wants the ball. But as the Detroit Lions gathered on the sideline before the start of overtime, St. Brown told anyone who’d listen to put the ball in Jahmyr Gibbs’ hands.
Wide receivers coach Scottie Montgomery. Running backs coach Tashard Choice. And as he jogged out to the huddle for the first play of the extra period, right tackle Penei Sewell.
“I told Penei, ‘Penei, we’re going your way. We’re going your way and we’re about to score, Jahmyr’s about to score this touchdown,’” St. Brown told the Free Press. “This was before the play call comes out. We get in the huddle, they call a regular play that we run all the time. Boom, touchdown. It was crazy.”
Gibbs had a monster day Sunday to rescue the Lions from the brink of disaster.
He caught a career-high 11 passes for 45 yards and a touchdown, added 15 carries for a career-high 219 yards and two scores, and broke a 69-yard run on the first play of overtime to lift the Lions to a 34-27 win over the hapless New York Giants at Ford Field.
“That dude’s as good as they come in our league,” Lions quarterback Jared Goff said. “And he’s making his claim across the league as one of the best players, regardless of position, and we’re lucky to have him. I mean, he’s so electric and for him to be able to do that to supplement some of the struggles we were having was awesome.”
The Lions never led in regulation and trailed by 10 points early in the fourth quarter against the team with the worst record in the NFC but rallied for two scores in the final 10:50 of the fourth quarter to avoid a loss that might have been devastating to their playoff hopes.
WINDSOR: Jahmyr Gibbs just saved the Detroit Lions' season
The Chicago Bears won their fourth straight game Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers and lead the NFC North with an 8-3 record, and the Green Bay Packers (7-3-1) beat the Minnesota Vikings for their second straight win to stay a half-game ahead of the Lions heading into next week’s Thanksgiving showdown.
The Lions (7-4) entered Sunday in eighth place in the NFC, just outside the final playoff spot, and spent most of the game chasing a Giants team with an interim head coach, starting a backup quarterback and down its best receiver and running back on offense.
Jameis Winston threw for 366 yards and two touchdowns and caught another score on an end-around pass from receiver Gunner Olszewski to give the Giants a 27-17 lead with 12:16 to play, before Gibbs sprang into action to save the Lions.
Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (0) celebrates a touchdown against New York Giants with wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) during the second half at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025.
Gibbs broke three tackles on a 49-yard touchdown run with just under 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, and after the Lions stopped the Giants on four goal-to-go plays with under 4 minutes to play, the Pro Bowl running back picked up three first downs on the Lions’ final possession of regulation to set up Jake Bates’ 59-yard game-tying field goal.
Gibbs caught a 13-yard pass on second-and-11 from the Lions’ 5-yard line, ran for a first down on third-and-1 just after the two-minute warning and had a 12-yard catch on second-and-10 from the Lions’ 47 to put the Lions in field-goal range.
“He’s a game changer,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “He’s electric and when he found a crease he was going to the house. This was not about first downs and picking up a few yards. I mean, this guy’s going to the house and he’s got the juice to make it happen, he’s got vision. He’s a difference maker, so he was – I mean, he bailed us out today in a big way.”
Bates’ career-long field goal with 28 seconds left sent the game to overtime, and after the Giants won the overtime coin toss and elected to play defense, Gibbs delivered the knockout blow on a simple duo rushing play that’s been a staple of the Lions offense.
Right guard Tate Ratledge and center Graham Glasgow opened a rushing lane with a double-team block on defensive tackle Roy Robertson-Harris, Sewell erased linebacker Bobby Okereke with a block 5 yards downfield, and as Gibbs exploded through a hole and ran untouched to the second level, Sewell raised his arms to signal touchdown with Gibbs still 60 yards from the end zone.
“They brought pressure into the run,” Gibbs said. “Everybody did a great job picking it up like it was nothing and after that it was just (gone).”
The Giants drove into Lions territory on the ensuing possession, but Aidan Hutchinson sacked Winston on fourth-and-5 from the 27 to clinch the victory then sprinted down the field in celebration.
“I’m proud of the guys,” Campbell said. “We hung in there, we fought and we thought the next series was the one we were going to be the one that we were going to get the upper hand and we did. It’s not easy to hang in a game like that where there’s things that aren’t going perfect, but the end of the day, when we need it most, guys showed up.
“It wasn’t perfect, there are things to clean up certainly and came down to the wire, had to win in overtime, but I’ll take that win. That’s a good win.”
