BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — The New Orleans Saints did everything teams shouldn’t do when being down a larger number of starters in a 26-24 loss to the Atlanta Falcons Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Falcons took the game's first lead on a disastrous turn of events. After forcing Atlanta to punt on its first drive, a normally sure-handed Rashid Shaheed muffed the punt on a fair catch. The Falcons would recover the ball in the endzone for a touchdown.  The Saints responded to the early adversity, tying the game on the ensuing drive with a 2-yard touchdown run by Taysom Hill. Then, cornerback Paulson Adebo intercepted Atalanta quarterback Kirk Cousins on the following drive.  The New Orleans offense cashed in to start the second quarter with Hill finding the endzone for the second time of the day to take a 14-7 lead. Hill would leave the game in the second quarter with an abdominal injury. Sunday was Hill’s first game back after missing the last one with a chest injury.  After holding the Falcons to a field goal, the Saints continued to get in their own way, with quarterback Derek Carr throwing a pick-six, giving Atlanta a 17-14 lead at halftime. It’s the second pick-six Carr has thrown at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in two seasons. The Saints entered the fourth quarter down 20-17 after both Atlanta and Saints kickers made field goals. LSU football starts hot, cruises to 42-10 win over South Alabama By the fourth quarter, injuries started to pile up for the Saints. New Orleans was already without center Erik McCoy, right guard Cesar Ruiz, receiver A.T. Perry and linebacker Demario Davis entering the game. Receiver Chris Olave and running back Alvin Kamara both played despite battling injuries. Then in the game, New Orleans lost linebacker Willie Gay, Jr., and Tyrann Mathieu due to injuries along with Hill.  Atlanta added a field goal in the fourth quarter to take a six-point lead. The Saints had a chance to win the game but turned the ball over on downs in the red zone with just under 4 minutes to go while trailing 23-17. The Saints still got their chance to win the game and they capitalized. Running back Alvin Kamara bullied his way into the endzone to give the Saints a 24-23 lead with a minute to go. Atlanta kicker Younghoe Koo increased the Falcon's lead with a 58-yard field goal. Latest News Chastain passes Truex on late restart to win NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway Highway shooting in Baton Rouge leaves one dead, car crash leads to others hurt Kris Kristofferson, country music superstar and actor, dies at 88 Lawmakers race to avoid farm bill disaster Bistro Byronz Mid-City location reopens as Brasserie Byronz, serves French-American cuisine and cocktails