The calendar in Week 3 is highlighted, marked and underlined as it always is when the Falcons square off against their arch nemeses the New Orleans Saints. This is the best rivalry in football and also one of those that’s just so tight within the margins as the Falcons lead it 58-56 through 114 historic meetings since the founding of the Saints in 1967.
New Orleans has spent the past two decades undoing a lot of the work Atlanta has done in the 40 years preceding that time period. A 26-14 mark for
the Saints since the arrival of Sean Payton and Drew Brees, in 2006, plus subsequent success after their departure closed the gap in what felt like an insurmountable Falcon lead in the all time series up until then.
That gap was actually all the way closed heading into last season, but the Birds completing their first sweep in this series since the 2016 season restored some semblance of order and has them ahead in the series once again.
This matchup will be a special one, as it marks the 20th year anniversary of the 2006 re-opening of the Superdome on Monday Night Football following the events of Hurricane Katrina. That was the first game which sparked this era of Saints dominance over the Falcons. ESPN and the Falcons were in the building for the 10-year anniversary of that same event, in 2016, and Dan Quinn’s unit spoiled the festivities with a 45-32 victory.
When these teams met last
Just like they did in all those years in the old days of the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, the Falcons and Saints came into the grudge match with terrible records (Atlanta 3-7 and New Orleans 2-8) and faltering playoff hopes, but that didn’t take away from the importance which this game always presents.
Kirk Cousins was back under center for the Birds following Michael Penix’s knee injury which would cost him the rest of the season, the week before. He matched up against rookie Tyler Shough who had taken over the reigns as the starter in New Orleans following Spencer Rattler’s poor season. Both offenses struggled throughout the first half.
Cousins threw the only two touchdowns of the first two periods, but one was to each team. He first found defacto WR1 David Sills from nine yards out, but then threw a pick six to Justin Reid on the next drive. The Falcons did work the field enough to get in position for three Zane Gonzalez field goals to take a 16-7 lead into the break, as the Saints kept shooting themselves in the foot with two Blake Grupe missed field goals and a fumble from an aborted snap.
The Saints kept up with the errors in the second half, in the form of a couple of turnovers on downs along with an intentional grounding on 3rd down from the Atlanta 1-yard-line, as the Falcons just kept biding their time until finally putting together a drive which culminated in a 49-yard Cousins to Darnell Mooney kill shot to extend the lead to two possessions in the fourth quarter, for the decisive 24-10 scoreline.
