Saints Save Best for Last in 10-7 Victory : NFC: Steve Walsh connects with Eric Martin on six-yard pass play with 2:10 left for go-ahead touchdown against Falcons.

The New Orleans Saints’ trade for quarterback Steve Walsh is looking better and better.

Walsh, acquired in September from Dallas, connected with Eric Martin on a six-yard touchdown pass play with 2:10 left Sunday to lift the Saints to a 10-7 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

The Saints improved to 5-6. The Falcons are 3-8.

“Thank God that games are four quarters long and last 60 minutes, because it was a nightmare before that,” said Walsh, who completed 22 of 37 passes for 181 yards.

Atlanta quarterback Chris Miller, who completed 18 of 31 passes for 192 yards, connected with receiver George Thomas on a 51-yard touchdown pass play with 7:06 left.

Thomas, who had caught only four passes all year, beat Vince Buck in the New Orleans’ coverage and outran him to the end zone to give Atlanta a lead that lasted less than two minutes.

Walsh accounted for 67 yards of the ensuing 86-yard drive to the final touchdown. There also was a 15-yard penalty for a late hit and Craig Heyward rushed for the rest.

Walsh said he never saw Martin catch the go-ahead touchdown.

“It was a blitz, and I just tried to buy enough time to give Eric a chance to make his move,” he said. “I was flat on the ground and I heard the crowd roar.”

Falcon kicker Greg Davis had one last opportunity to send the game into overtime, but he missed a 51-yard field-goal attempt wide right with 1:08 left.

“Obviously, we didn’t want it to go into overtime, but we were prepared,” Walsh said. “Fortunately, the defense shut them down again. One more time.”

The Saints took a 3-0 lead on the final play of the first half on a 20-yard field goal by Morten Andersen.

It seemed for a while that the score would stand up as there were six three-play drives by each team during the game.

“We were three-and-out so many times,” Martin said. “But the defense kept getting us the ball time after time after time.

“Our offense was struggling. We came together for that last drive.”

Atlanta Coach Jerry Glanville said it was a disappointing loss, but a good game for a spectator.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been involved with one where I thought 22 people were playing as hard as they could play,” he said. “Unfortunately, we came up short.”