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Saints look to rebound from crushing loss

Dec 10, 2007 - 11:59 AM New Orleans (5-7) at Atlanta (3-9) Monday 8:30 pm EST

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- A gamble proved costly to the New Orleans Saints, leaving them little margin for error the rest of the season.

Looking to stay in the postseason race, the Saints visit the lowly Atlanta Falcons on Monday night.

New Orleans is looking to rebound from a devastating 27-23 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last weekend that dropped them one game back of three other teams for the final wild card slot in the NFC.

On the verge of pulling within a game of the Bucs in the NFC South, a mind-bending coaching decision by the Saints' Sean Payton with less than four minutes to play backfired big time.

Holding a three-point lead and the ball near midfield, Payton called for a halfback pitch on an end-around. The pitch by Reggie Bush went awry, Tampa Bay recovered and went on to score the go-ahead touchdown with 14 seconds to play that dropped New Orleans three games back in the division.

"That was a disappointing loss and probably the worst job I have done as a head coach since I've been here," Payton said. "Obviously I regret the play call that resulted in a fumble and cost us the game. It starts with me."

New Orleans likely will need to win out to have a shot at a playoff berth, but they have a favorable schedule in the final four games, starting with the lowly Falcons.

The Saints swept Atlanta last season but had to rally in the fourth quarter, securing a 22-16 victory on Bush's 4-yard scoring reception with five minutes to play.

Bush, who has been bothered by a shin injury, has yet to rush for 100 yards this season. He managed 64 on 13 carries last week after combining to gain just 83 yards in his previous three games.

The Falcons fell behind by 21 points in last week's 28-16 loss to the St. Louis Rams.

Chris Redman replaced an erratic Joey Harrington and threw a pair of fourth-quarter TD passes before he was intercepted to end the comeback.

Playing for just the second time this season, Redman finished 16-of-24 for 172 yards - his highest single-game total since October 6, 2002.

"It feels good to be able to get back out there," he said. "It has been a long time since I was in the game atmosphere. I had to get some of the rust off, I guess. Unfortunately, we came up a bit short today."

Redman could start Sunday as the Falcons look to snap a three-game losing streak, but coach Bobby Petrino said he wanted to talk to his players first.