New Orleans Saints' Sean Payton hails defensive stand

New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton has revealed that he was delighted with his side's goalline stand against the Atlanta Falcons.

Leading 23-17 with seconds left in the game, safety Roman Harper intercepted a pass from Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan in the endzone to win the game for the Saints.

Payton told reporters: "It was obviously big; it was the difference between winning and losing. We gave up some plays and some yardage and I thought after that first quarter we settled in and mixed things up. That is a real good offense we played.

"Statistically, looking at the numbers there were a lot of things we did well. I thought our third down defense was good, we held them to 3-of-10.

"We were 6-of-13 so those are big numbers when you look at drives that were continued or drives that end up resulting in a punt."

The Saints face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week.