“We’re going to have to play better than we did the last time we played Atlanta at home here on Monday night to have a chance to win this game,” says Saints head coach Sean Payton. “We turned the ball over, there’s a number of things we didn’t do well and yet we were able to overcome those things and win. We didn’t win the turnover ratio. We gave up big rushing plays, and we gave up a handful of opportunities, and to credit Atlanta they were able to take advantage of a number of those things.”
The Saints turned the ball over four times during the last meeting six weeks ago. Falcons running back Michael Turner rushed 151 yards. Turner however is just one of many Falcons that is banged up and may not play. An ankle injury likely will sideline the back, as he’s gone through just a single walkthrough practice this week. Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan missed last week’s game due to a turf toe injury, and like Turner, Ryan has just participated in a single walkthrough practice.
Perhaps the performance at Washington that required divine intervention from the football gods is the reason, but the Saints this week have pledged to not take Atlanta likely this week.
“We know that they are going to come out and play tough. They have a great scheme, and a great coaching staff that know how to put their players in position to be successful. Even though they have some injuries, whoever plays at quarterback, we know that the guy that they have now has some experience so you expect for him to get better each week,” says Saints safety Darren Sharper. “We definitely have our work cut out for us. We think their defense played well against our offense last time, and it’s always hard playing on the road.”
Under two seasons of head coach Mike Smith the Falcons have not lost consecutive home games, rather impressively the team is 12-2 in the Georgia Dome currently. “The fact is we’re going on the road playing a team that’s only lost two games at home in the last two years,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said this week. “They’re a divisional opponent and they would love nothing more than to knock us off.”
Brees also said this week that the team can, and will remain focused as talk of an undefeated season grows. One way the Saints can remain grounded is by focusing on the attainable prizes from here on out, meaning every win is a check on a check list of goals. A win this week locks up a first round bye in the playoffs. A win next week would all but secure home field throughout the post season, and then that would leave the Saints just two wins away from a perfect regular season.
It’s something that the Saints signal caller revealed this week can, and should be a team goal. “We’re here aren’t we? Who knows if we will ever get this close again, but it’s one at a time. You can’t look any further past this game, not matter who you’re playing. Obviously the more that you win, the longer you stay undefeated, the more distractions come with that. The more people are calling you, the more the media want to you, the more people want to talk about an undefeated season,” says Brees. “But this team can handle it. I think we’ve handled it well. Really six weeks ago is really when I think some of it started, the grumblings started, of hey they can do it, and now all of a sudden we’re 12-0, well let’s finish this thing the way we started. All I’ll say is this, we have an opportunity to make history.”
First things first, that’s Atlanta on Sunday, and making sure you pick up that win to secure a first round bye. “It is very big, but we can’t just think about trying to have that right now. We just got to think about what it takes to beat the Atlanta falcons again,” says Saints running back Pierre Thomas. “It’s going to be tough I’ll you that right now because we can’t have the same mistakes we made in the first game. We lost the turnover battle, and basically we can kind of saying they out hit us, but we played harder. We put points on the board and we were very efficient in third downs and that helped us out a lot.”
HOW I SEE IT
The Saints had a wakeup call last week in Washington. No matter a team’s record or injury situation, will give the Black and Gold their best shot from here on out. Saints defensive coordinator made sure, that message of getting better was heard loud and clear this week at practice. “I’ve been pretty hard on them this week. They’ve not been wanting to take me out to dinner much this week,” said Williams following a practice.
“He’s been ridding our ass. He definitely has and it’s deserved because we allowed a team, that had not been performing well, throwing the ball or scoring points and we allowed for them to have a very productive game,” says Saints safety Darren Sharper. “So it is common sense to know that we didn’t perform well and coach is going to get on us. Gregg has done that this week and we’re looking to respond with a better effort on Sunday.”
Atlanta is just tow banged up. Without Turner last week, the Falcons had just 61 yards rushing agaisnt Philadelphia. Chris Redman is not Matt Ryan, and his play last week, two interceptions with one being returned for a touchdown, had fans in the Georgia Dome chanting “We want Vick!”
I believe the Saints will look to avoid last week’s sluggish start and with the injuries to the Falcons secondary and defensive front line, it’ll be pick your poison time for the Saints offense.
38-10 Saints is your final, with the team improving to 13-0 heading into a Saturday night showdown with the Cowboys in the Superdome.
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