After a gut-punching defeat to the Las Vegas Raiders at the weekend, the New Orleans Saints are gearing up to host the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football in a huge divisional matchup. Here’s what either result could mean for the black and gold.
If the Saints win:
All games matter, and all divisional games matter that little bit more. But this particular clash has all the ingredients to be particularly season-defining at an early stage.
The Saints have categorically played better than their record shows. Getting
back to .500 and winning their first NFC South matchup of the season is absolutely crucial, and would allow the black and gold to almost start afresh, likely atop the division, and put some of the bad luck of the opening few weeks behind them.
In last week’s edition of this piece, some readers disagreed with me for labeling Week 4 a must-win in the event that New Orleans lost to Las Vegas.
Unfortunately, that scenario is upon us. And it does indeed feel like must-win territory. But Kellen Moore’s squad can restore all of the feel good factor that came after the win in Baltimore by overcoming their divisional foes and improving to 2-2 on the year.
If the Saints lose:
A loss would be truly sickening for the black and gold. However, falling to 1-3 against the Falcons in this spot wouldn’t kill the chances of winning the division, far from it.
But it would certainly nonetheless feel like a major setback. And to drop consecutive games in the Caesars Superdome to Las Vegas and Atlanta has to say something about the ceiling on this team, especially with another key injury to Travis Etienne Jr being added to the woes.
Both defeats to date have felt harsh. New Orleans has good reason to feel hard done by. But losing to Atlanta on Monday night, even in its own right, would feel like a big disappointment.
What are you expecting from the black and gold on primetime? How do you rate the Falcons after their surprise beatdown of Green Bay?
