Saints vs. Falcons: Atlanta Remains Best Team in NFC Despite Loss to New Orleans

Monday Night Football was a return to the 1970s. Two teams played largely short ball chunk, bump and run, and blitz all night as the fate of the game was decided by a botched snap and a fumble on second down from the 1-yard line.

Without those miscues, the Falcons win.

There were other problems with the Falcons offense on Monday night. Matt "Ice" Ryan was kept under a careful leash by too-conservative Mike Smith. Airing out Ryan, who was often dared to throw by the gang-tackling Saints, would have opened things up, resulting in a different outcome. And the fumble should never have happened, as Smith went for the second time into the very center of the bunched Saints goal-line defense, failing to remember that Ryan had passed for their first touchdown and that the bunched defense leaves New Orleans very vulnerable on both flanks.

While many lauded Drew Brees, who, like Peyton Manning, seems to lead a charmed life largely because he brings his team back from his own mistakes time and again, making him a "great" quarterback in many analysts' eyes, Matt Ryan played a largely error-free game. And while the critics clam that it was Brees who was throwing the big ones down the field, in truth there was only about a yard separating Brees (average 6.2 yards per pass) from Ryan (average 5.1 yards per pass).

Another play was also notable. With Ryan's first big completion at hand, and a decided shift in momentum in Atlanta's favor, an NFL official nullified a penalty against New Orleans by calling both defensive and offensive pass interference. The ball was uncatchable by the defensive player, so there should have been no penalty. More importantly, there was no offensive interference at all. The defensive player appeared pushed at the end before the catch, but replays showed he just stumbled and that the offensive player did not touch him at all.

Later drives and many previous games show that the Saints secondary plays their defense very close. Indeed, too close for the rules. The almost certain game-winning drive for the Falcons, which resulted in a Falcons fumble on second down at the 1 in the fourth quarter, had two obvious pass interference calls, including one in the end zone that put the ball at the one.

The Saints use pass interference as a part of their defensive schemes, and dare the officials to call the penalties correctly. In many games, they are not.

With so much going in their favor, and the constantly blitzing defense tiring in the fourth quarter, Brees manufactured a drive that sealed the game for the Saints. His play had critical errors. Yet New Orleans won despite his mistakes.

In considering this game, and its implications, there is nothing that suggests that it will affect the ultimate outcome of either the seeding in the NFC or the ultimate results.

Atlanta wins at home, and they should have won this game. They will win against the NFL's weakest team next week.

New Orleans will continue to conduct their pass defense as pass interference. And if called, New Orleans will succumb to the big pass play.

And if they meet again, New Orleans will face a much more aggressive passing game. Mike Smith has certainly learned his lesson. Once he reviews the game film with Ryan, Smith will add more passing to his next game plan. As he should. Ryan can be a big play quarterback and, if he gets the calls, will easily win the next encounter against the Saints on his home field.