Game balls from the Saints' hard-fought Week 18 battle vs Falcons
A 2025 New Orleans Saints season came to a disappointing end with a 19-17 loss at the Atlanta Falcons . It was the first season sweep the Saints have suffered to the Falcons since way back in 2016. In the process, the Carolina Panthers were also gifted the NFC South title with an 8-9 record. The Saints ended their year at 6-11, with this defeat breaking a four-game winning streak.
Rookie quarterback Tyler Shough literally had nothing to work with offensively. A typically putrid performance from the offensive line and working with seven skill position players that weren't even on any active roster to begin the year handcuffed the unit. Nonetheless, the Saints finished with more total yards than the Falcons (340 to 208) as Shough threw for 259 yards. It was the defense that kept New Orleans in the game and nearly allowed Shough to pull off some last-minute heroics. As such, it is that unit that receives our Week 18 game balls.
Game Ball: Cameron Jordan
On the first play of Atlanta's second series, Cam Jordan busted through blockers to sack Kirk Cousins . Jordan was part of a defensive front that disrupted Cousins and pounded the Atlanta running game all afternoon. He was in on several tackles for loss or the breaking up of screen passes while hounding Cousins into a number of incompletions.Jordan ends his year with a team-high 10.5 sacks, his most since the 2021 season. It's his seventh year with double-digit sacks, passing Hall of Famer Rickey Jackson for the most in franchise history. Jordan's 132 career sacks put him in elite company on the NFL all-time list. Eight of his sacks came in the last eight games. Whether Jordan decides to retire or not remains to be seen, but he's more than shown that he has plenty of very good football left in him after 15 outstanding years of a career that should also land him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Game Ball: Carl Granderson
Granderson got the year off to a torrid start with 4.5 sacks and 6 tackles for loss in the first four games. Since then, outside of a good outing against Tampa Bay, he's been completely invisible. That changed in a resounding way on Sunday, as Granderson had possibly the best game of his seven-year NFL career.
On the first series of the game, Granderson teamed with Chase Young to sack Cousins on third down to end a Falcons drive. On Atlanta's second series, Granderson notched his first career interception with an acrobatic pick of a screen pass after outstanding recognition to end a Falcons scoring threat. Granderson remained disruptive through the last three quarters, getting in on several run stops and rushing Cousins into hurried throws while recording another sack. It was a strong end for an otherwise disappointing season for Granderson after such a promising start.
Game Ball: Chase Young
Young's team-up with Granderson on the game's first sack was just the beginning. The Falcons continued to run at him throughout the game, but with little success. For the entire game, Young set up camp in the Atlanta backfield. In the fourth quarter, he engulfed Cousins for a sack then destroyed Bijan Robinson for a loss on a screen to hasten the end of a drive. Those two plays were a microcosm of an entire day of disruption for Young, who has played outstanding football down the stretch.
Young finished his year with 10 sacks, the most of his six-year career. He did so in only 12 games, along with over 30 pressures and nearly 15 tackles for loss. Chase Young has been the Saints MVP of 2025, and at only 26 is the team's centerpiece of an exciting young defense.
Jordan, Granderson, and Young spearheaded a New Orleans defense that sacked Cousins four times, held him to only 56% completion percentage, and recorded 10 tackles for loss. The Saints held Bijan Robinson to only 43 total yards, 2.2 per carry, and 2.4 yards per touch. It was an incredible defensive effort, led by the performances of Jordan, Granderson, and Young.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Game balls from the Saints' hard-fought Week 18 battle vs Falcons
