The pressure on New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees was relentless.

Brees was sacked five times by the San Francisco 49ers—all in the second half—in Sunday’s 31-21 loss in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The pressure came from everywhere.

Outside linebackers Ahmad Brooks and Aldon Smith got to Brees 1.5 times each, as did defensive tackle Justin Smith. Inside linebacker Patrick Willis recorded half a sack. Brees was knocked down seven times and took 11 hits on top of the five sacks.

It wasn’t a pretty night for the offensive line, a group that was abused in the second half and gave Brees next to no time to make decisions and move the offense down the field.

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Many of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ players felt, after their 24-23 loss, that they shouldn’t have lost Sunday’s game to the Atlanta Falcons.

Right tackle Demar Dotson told Tom Krasniqi of 620 WDAE “We left some meat on the bones.”

Left tackle Donald Penn told the Tampa Bay Times, frankly, “We’re a better team than them.”

The Raymond James Stadium scoreboard said otherwise after the Falcons overcame a fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Buccaneers by one point. The Buccaneers might not have been in a situation to lose late if they had converted on some key plays during the game.

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Heading into a game against the league’s best run defense is not the time you would expect a team to break out a heavy run package. But that’s just what the Atlanta Falcons did Sunday on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Seven of Atlanta’s first 11 plays were runs, and the Falcons called 23 run plays against a team that allowed just 81.8 yards per game during the first 11 games of the season.

"We felt like we needed to try it,” said Smith in his postgame press conference. “And we felt like we could, too."

The Falcons gained just 79 yards on the ground Sunday, but they scored two rushing touchdowns in their 24-23 win over the Buccaneers.

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The Atlanta Falcons are 9-1 but definitely don’t have the feel of a team with just one blemish on its record. The difference between how the NFL Nation should feel about this team and how it actually does is vastly different.

Should Feel

The Falcons are a powerful force and the envy of every NFC team. Atlanta is a front-runner on the path to the Super Bowl.

Actually Feel

The Falcons’ record is a façade, a smoke-and-mirror show that’s covering up too many problems for Atlanta to do any damage in the postseason.

While neither end of the spectrum is completely accurate, or fair, after the Falcons barely survived an Arizona Cardinals upset bid in Week 11, the general feeling about the franchise is that it’s too soft to win a big game. Atlanta should feel fortunate to have played a soft schedule to this point.

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It's crazy to think about the success rookie running back Doug Martin is enjoying in his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

The Bucs moved back up into the first round to nab Martin and the move is looking genius as he's ranked third in the NFL in rushing with 1,000 yards and through 10 games is averaging 5.1 yards per carry.

But stat lines only tell part of the story. 

Former Tampa Bay ball carriers Warrick Dunn, Mike Alstott and Earnest Graham shared their thoughts on Martin with the Tampa Bay Times.

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Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had one of the worst games of his career Sunday when he threw a career-high five interceptions against the Arizona Cardinals.

When a quarterback makes that many mistakes, and doesn’t throw a touchdown pass either, bad things are supposed to happen. But the Falcons got the win, and Ryan joined some pretty powerful company, according to Zach Klein of WSB-TV.

Ryan went on during his postgame press conference to take full responsibility for the interceptions, but were they all really his fault?

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After the Carolina Panthers found yet another way to lose a football game, and now that they have a 2-8 record, it's easy to see how some players could get frustrated.

Since the Panthers have not been shy all season about airing dirty laundry in public, why shouldn't defensive end Charles Johnson get into the mix?

Johnson wasn't the only player to call someone out. Wide receiver Brandon LaFell questioned the play-calling on offense.

“It’s hard to say, but in that four-minute offense everyone in the stadium thought we were going to run the ball,” LaFell said to the Charlotte Observer. “It’s already hard to run the ball against a good defense like this. So when you get negative plays and put yourself in third-and-long, you are kind of kicking yourself in the butt.”

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Through their first four games, the New Orleans Saints were 0-4. Since then, the Saints are 5-1.

The difference between their abnormal start and what seem to be the true, normal Saints is five games and a .500 record.

Anyone who thought that the Saints had a chance at breaking even after their Week 4 loss was laughed at. If laughter wasn’t the answer, at least no one could have expected a .500 record by Week 11. Finishing 8-8 would have been a moral victory for the Saints after their start. Now, the only moral victory ends in a playoff spot and a run toward a Super Bowl in their own dome.

"November and December is when good teams start separating themselves from everybody else," linebacker Curtis Lofton told Larry Holder of New Orleans' The Times-Picayune. "We're just going to take it one game at a time and focus in. But no one is dumb. Everyone understands what's at stake."

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