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Game recap: New Orleans Saints 31, Atlanta Falcons 17

Saints extend winning streak to 10 games

Check out the game action from the New Orleans Saints Thanksgiving day game against the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday, Nov. 22.

Playing in front of their home fans for the first time on Thanksgiving, the New Orleans Saints feasted on their most bitter rival, the Atlanta Falcons, with a 31-17 victory, the team's 10th consecutive win.

The Saints (10-1) continue to set the pace in the NFC South and Thursday's win at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome allows them to stay even with the Los Angeles Rams for the top seed in the NFC.

New Orleans used the formula that has worked during the streak, Drew Brees being Drew Brees, an effective running game, Michael Thomas and an opportunistic defense.

Let's start with Brees. The Saints star threw four touchdown passes to, you guessed it, Tommylee Lewis, Austin Carr, Dan Arnold (who became the 50th Saints player to catch a touchdown pass from Brees) and Keith Kirkwood. All four players who caught touchdown passes from Brees were undrafted.

Running backs Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram were effective all game, especially up the middle. Kamara rushed for 89 yards on 14 carries while Ingram added 52 yards on 11 carries.

While Thomas didn't catch a touchdown pass he made several tough catches to extend drives and was the focal point of the Atlanta defense.

The defense flipped the script from the first game these teams played in Week 3, a 43-37 Saints overtime victory in which the Falcons receivers had their way. The Saints sacked Matt Ryan six times (Marcus Williams, Demario Davis, Sheldon Rankins, Cam Jordan twice and P.J. Williams), intercepted him once (A.J. Klein), came up with two turnovers to end Atlanta drives in the first half and forced and recovered a fumble by Calvin Ridley near the Saints goal line in the fourth quarter.

The loss dropped Atlanta to 4-7 and was its third consecutive loss to the Saints in the series. The teams have now played each other 100 times. The Saints' 10-game winning streak is the team's longest since they won 13 straight to open the 2009 season.

The Saints will play on a second consecutive Thursday as they travel to Dallas to take on the Cowboys next week. Dallas defeated the Washington Redskins earlier Thursday to improve to 6-5.

Thursday's game was the 185th together for Brees and Coach Sean Payton, moving them past the Don Shula-Dan Marino combination for second place in NFL history.

Key Saints stat leaders

Drew Brees, 15 of 22 for 171 yards with four touchdowns and one interception

Mark Ingram, 11 carries for 52 yards

Alvin Kamara, 14 carries for 89 yards

Michael Thomas, four catches for 38 yards

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