Saints vs. Falcons - Unbiased assessment

I think the Falcons FO was too hasty with their Julio pick. They are a very good team, but they were more than one piece away from the superbowl. Their D needed to improve a lot to make them Super Bowl winning quality. I'm surprised they went all out to get Julio.

The Saints however were the better team (well after everyone had time to get back healthy) I understand the Ingram move and using next year's first because we needed the strong running game to get us back to that next level. We had a top 5 D and improved it greatly (on paper at least).

I think the Saints win both games against ATL, but I think it'll be a very close game in Atlanta.

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Tampa Bay is not a team to be over looked at all.

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I agree but I still think there a year away from really being at Atl and NO's level

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The Who Dat Nation in general seems to be pleased with many FO moves both in the draft and free agency.

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Very true.

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Our Mark Ingram to their Julio Jones on paper seems to be a wash.

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Disagree here. Ingram will have more touches and more opps to score and can control the clock. Edge Saints.

I believe the Saints are in the birds brain. 2-0 vs the birds this years.

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Our success against the Dirty Birds is the only thing standing in our way of playing the Packers or Eagles in the NFCCG.

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Maybe...maybe not.

Saints win the div. and sweep the birds and I don't give a sh#t what they do this year.

I think Julio might mean more to them this year than Ingram does for us, but I'm not sure about that. I think Wild Thing is right. We were better than them last year and should have won both games. I think we had a better offseason. I think with our new DTs and Michael Turner coming off injury, we should dominate them in the rushing game on both sides. Their passing offense will give our secondary fits if we have injuries there, which we always seem to have. But our offense will not be one-deminsional like theirs and our D looks to be significantly better than theirs. Also, we have had huge success against them recently and throughout history. The Dirty Birds are going to lose the division to us this year.

We all know that Atlanta will not get the breaks that they did one season ago. We will find out just how mentally tough they are as a team when those breaks don't go their way & they really do have face adversity. So far, with Matt Ryan as QB & Mike Smith as head coach, the Falcons have faltered when its mattered the most.


There's no doubt in my mind Atlanta's offense will be more explosive & they will have more big plays this season with drafting of J.Jones & J.Rogers. I think some people are over looking the pick of Rogers but, out of the backfield, he will add an element that they haven't had in the past few years. Rogers speed & pass catching ability will just add more of a headache to deal with IF Atlanta uses him properly.


With that said, just because I believe they will be more explosive, doesn't mean I think they will be better offensively. Where I believe Atlanta will have problems is in their running game & at tight end. Turner has reached a point where he has had a ridiculous amount of carries the last 3 seasons. His running style & all those carries are about to catch up with him. I can really see Turner hitting the wall similar to how Larry Johnson did in Kansas City a few years back. When he hits that wall, his production will fall fast & hard. I really believe that we will see signs of that this year. Matt Ryan has benefited greatly from Turner's running ability off of play action. If teams won't have to fear the run, Ryan will have less success off of play action leading to more incompletions, forced throws, INT's & sacks because he will have to "eat the ball" more.

Also Tony Gonzales has been Ryan's security blanket the last few seasons. Towards the end of last season, Gonzales basically became a nonfactor. Father time catches up with everyone eventually. Even the legendary Brett Favre found this out & he found it out the hard way. I expect Tony's game to continue to fall off this season. If things play out like this, then Atlanta's offense will ride squarely on Matt Ryan's shoulders. This will let everyone know if all the hype behind Ryan has been truly been warranted. My guess is that its not & people will realize he isn't as elite as he has been made out to be.

With that said, I believe we beat their one dimensional asses in both meetings. I we are better upfront offensively & defensively compared to the Falcons. We are also better & have more depth in the secondary then Atlanta.

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So far, with Matt Ryan as QB & Mike Smith as head coach, the Falcons have faltered when its mattered the most.

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I hear this a lot on here, please explain. On the new QB rating from last season they have Ryan ranked #4. Three seasons into his career, they guy has been pretty damn good.

I think we (Saints) won the offseason, and I think we can go 2-0 against them (them might win 1, but won't sweep).

I believe our defense is tooled specifically to stop Atlanta's offense, with a suddenly stout line squashing the run, and lots of talent in the secondary. If we can get some pressure on the QB from our ends (and we invested a #1 in the draft for that), then that will swing the balance to our favor in that matchup.

Our offense vs their defense- Ingram and Sproles should be an upgrade over our injured list of RBs last yr. I don't see how Atlanta did anything that would improve their chances of stopping us.

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It matters most in the playoffs. An 0-2 playoff record speaks for itself.

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Aaron Rodgers also was winless before last years super bowl run.
I.E. bringing up playoff records for a QB who's young into his career is wetaded.


Saints and Falcons will split this year.


Also, there sure is a lot of hate on this board for the Falcons. Like unhealthy hatred. I find it funny since our FO is so garbage, we completely sucked in the draft and FA and our team is old and crappy.

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tthere sure is a lot of hate on this board for the Falcons

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no, just their fans