Saints-Falcons: New Orleans Marches Into Atlanta and Remains Undefeated

On Sunday, the Atlanta Falcons went into the game against the Saints with their backs against the wall. Their starting quarterback was in street clothes, their Pro Bowl running back was sidelined, and their top offensive lineman, Harvey Dahl, was ruled out before the game.

So without half of your starting offense going against an undefeated rival you should just concede and go home right? That's why they play the game.

From the opening kickoff to the final ticks of the fourth quarter, this was a game worth the price of admission. I should know, I paid a lot to go see it.

See, after being a Falcons fan my entire life this was the first time for me in the Georgia Dome. It felt very strange to enter a stadium where the black and red jerseys were more prominent than the opposing teams. I've been to many games in the past, but mainly in New Orleans and Dallas. This was a day I looked forward to witnessing for months.

Then reality set in. No Ryan, Turner, Dahl or Peele. No way could the Falcons bring me a victory in my first ever game in the Georgia Dome. Boy was I surprised the way the game turned out.

The first half was pretty much what I expected to see. Drew Brees was almost perfect, the Saints held all the momentum, and even Reggie Bush looked good. The Falcons tend to make over-rated players look like Pro Bowlers. Ask Panther fans about Delhomme after he's played the "birds in black".

When the second half kicked off, the Falcons were down 16-9 and the Saints took the opening kickoff down the field for another Reggie Bush score. My first trip was going to end badly. The "WHO DAT's" were out in full force as well. Spouting jeers and rubbing the Falcons fans' faces in their undefeated team's success.

We all know New Orleans is and always will be a mecca for the gifted and successful. You'd think after so many years of winning championships they would show a little more class in their success. Wait, nevermind they sucked worse than Atlanta in their history.

No wonder they are so dillusional, they simply do not know how to act. But I digress, this is about the team and not those fans who can't act like they've been there before since they haven't...

The Falcons tightened their belts, lowered their shoulders, and gave the Saints all they had in the second half of the game. They scored on back-to-back possessions to tie the game at 23-23.

The Saints drove downfield, but stalled and were forced to kick a go-ahead field goal. With the game at 26-23, the Falcons had plenty of time left in the fourth quarter to drive downfield and either tie or take the lead.

This is where our story gets weird. On 1st-and-10, the Falcons came out in a Wildcat offense with Jerious Norwood in the shotgun. Norwood then proceeded to hand off to Eric Weems coming around the back on a receiver reverse. The Saints sniffed it out perfectly. The result was a 12-yard loss and the Falcons then faced a 2nd-and-22.

The next formation the Falcons came out in was read immediately by the Saints defense and linebacker Jonathan Vilma stepped in front of Chris Redman's pass to give control back to the Saints.

"It was obvious, while we were getting ready to run that play that they were coming off the edge," said Head Coach Mike Smith.

"Really, I’ll take responsibility for that. It should be my responsibility as the head coach to call time out and make sure that we don’t run that play. Either we call time out or put it in the hands of the Lord and hopefully we can run around a blitzing corner. I take full responsibility for that play. It’s not on the players. There is nothing in our system for us to get out of that play. It’s something that I should have handled."

The air in the stadium was let out and the crowd started heading towards the exits. Not me. I paid too damn much for the overpriced tickets and I expected better. No, I demanded better! I wasn't planning to leave with my head down while Bourbons finest shouted their heckles to the Falcons faithful.

I was going to be proud of the backups' ability to keep in the game and the defense's job holding the Saints to their second lowest point total of the season.

That's when something weird happened. The Saints, already in Falcons territory, stalled on the 15 yard line and setup for a field goal to go up by six. But that tricky Sean Payton, he thought it would be cute to fake it with 82 (guessing here...) year old Mark Brunnell which didn't quite work out.

The Falcons had the ball back, time on the clock and only down by three. A touchdown to win, field goal to tie and two minutes on the clock. It's go time.

That's when the wheels fell off the bus. The play-calling had become predictable. The bunch formations Mike Mularkey utilized limited options and the Saints defenders read it like an open book. On 4th-and-2, the Falcons came out bunched and the Saints read screen.

Once again, linebacker Vilma sniffed out the screen and hit running back Jason Snelling one yard short of the first down. The game was over, the Saints remained undefeated.

Leaving the stadium, I was a bit numb from it all. My expectations going in were the Falcons would lose by two touchdowns. When I left I couldn't help but be optimistic about the future. For a team on it's last leg, it fought all the way to the end.

If the Falcons can manage to win their final three games they will have achieved their first ever back to back winning season in it's much maligned history. Based on how they played the best team in the NFC on Sunday, that is certainly within the realm of possibility.

One game at a time, and that kicks off at 1pm EST on Sunday in New York against the brutal Jets defense.