It was a Thanksgiving night when the buttfumble became part of football lore, so it’s fitting that the butt pick also came with holiday spirit in the air.
Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore was credited with an interception of Matt Ryan in the second quarter of Sunday’s game when a pass went off of Falcons receiver Marvin Hall’s hands and settled on Lattimore’s backside. He was able to secure the ball after rolling over for the most memorable of his five interceptions this season.
“I must be living right, I don’t know,” Lattimore said, via ESPN.com. “Who doesn’t love the term ‘butt pick’ but saw that social media was already rolling with it. I don’t know. They’re gonna have to call it what they want. Hopefully it’s No. 1 on the top-10 SportsCenter. But it was a great play and we won, so that’s all I can think about.”
Lattimore’s play will get the spot on the highlight reels, but the Saints defense had a lot to crow about on Sunday. They sacked Ryan five times and stopped the Falcons from scoring twice when they had the ball on the 1-yard-line.
All of the defensive highlights came on a day that saw the Saints clinch a playoff berth that has a lot to do with the turnaround of a unit that got lit up often while the team was finishing 7-9 the last three years. More of the same in January would help the Saints’ chances of making their return to the playoffs a lengthy one.
