Falcons vs. Saints: 4 Ways New Orleans Can Guarantee a Victory on Monday Night

A lot is at stake for the New Orleans Saints on Monday night when their most hated rival--the Atlanta Falcons--invade the Mercedes Benz Superdome in front of a large national television audience. 

A Saints' victory would clinch the NFC South division title. A win would also keep the Saints alive for an opportunity at the No. 2 overall seed in the forthcoming NFC playoffs. 

None of this is as important to the average Saints fan as simply continuing the dominance over the Falcons that New Orleans has come to enjoy under Sean Payton. In case anyone's counting, it's a 9-2 advantage with Drew Brees flinging the ball and Sean Payton calling the shots as head coach. 

I say nothing is as important because we all know the Saints are headed for a conference championship showdown in Green Bay irregardless of what seed or the opponent played prior to getting there. 

So in reality, defeating Atlanta is the primary motivation for a night-after-Christmas victory. 

There are a number of elements the Saints must keep in mind and areas where the team must execute in order to come out of Monday night victorious and NFC South division champions. 

1. Run Downhill

One of the main reasons the New Orleans Saints barely squeaked out a victory in Week 10 against these Falcons was due to a lack of a sustained running game. 

Even at the end of the game with the lead in hand, Drew Brees was slinging the ball for first downs. But it didn't kill the clock quite as effectively as Sean Payton hoped it would. 

It may have been due to the Saints simply believing the pass was the better option, or a fear the run wouldn't work. Either way, a more balanced attack is necessary this time around. 

The Houston Texans showed it is possible to run the football against this Atlanta defense. And they did it with quick cuts and downhill running. Even the Texans struggled to run off tackle, because the Falcons defense does an incredible job of setting the edge. 

But they overpursue and give the cutback up. Darren Sproles and Pierre Thomas are best suited to run this quick zone run successfully against Atlanta. Chris Ivory should be used in small dosages in short-yardage situations, but likely will not have a ton of success against this defense. 

2. Keep Drew Brees Upright

The Falcons defense likes to mix and match their zone and man coverages--though they mostly play off man. They figure this will enable them to keep the ball in front of them and give their defensive line an opportunity to create pressure on the QB. 

The Falcons play a similar type of front to the Vikings' where they are looking to isolate one defensive end against a side of the offensive line. In Week 10, Drew Brees did a marvelous job of avoiding any significant pressure, though the offensive line had some difficult moments. 

Last week against Minnesota, the Saints offensive line was brilliant, hardly ever allowing a man to come free at all. That kind of effort is going to be needed against John Abraham and co. in Monday night's contest.

Look for similar type of protection schemes to be used, where Jed Collins is brought from the opposite side to help out on the solo defensive end. That will allow the Saints to go 4-on-3 on the strong side of the line. This should allow Brees plenty of time. 

If the Saints are able to protect Brees, Drew should have plenty of time to find wide-open receivers against the soft man or zone coverages the Falcons play. 

And the extra time will permit the receivers time for double moves, and the like, to get open for deep targets. 

3. Keep Matt Ryan off the Field at the End of the Half

Saints fans saw with their very own eyes in Week 10 what makes Matt Ryan one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the league. It's his ability to rally his team into scoring position with little time and much ground to make up. 

Few QBs are as good in the two-minute drill as Ryan. After some film review, I've identified two primary reasons. 

First, the Falcons play slow most of the game but work out of the no-huddle much of the game. When they pick up the pace, it allows Ryan to get into a rhythm quicker than with the slow pace. 

Second, and I think more importantly, the Falcons are extremely cautious in their approach to attacking defenses when playing the standard base offense. They don't believe they can protect Ryan long enough to take many significant shots down the field. 

If they do, those shots always come off play-action. And this mindset is even reflected in the types of routes the receivers run. Generally the Falcons' routes are all intermediate routes or shorter, which is great for getting the ball out of Ryan's hand, but tough for creating explosive plays. 

In the two-minute drill, the Falcons' offensive mindset changes—mostly out of necessity. 

Roddy White, Julio Jones and Harry Douglas begin running routes down the field because they know that's the only way they're truly going to score. The reason they can do this is because the Falcons are counting on prevent defenses—or defenses who are not going to bring the house at least—meaning Ryan will have time to find the open man down the field. 

It's apparent from the film study that it's primarily a mindset difference and not a lack of ability to move the ball in the base offense. 

The Falcons do most of their damage offensively in the two-minute drill, thus it's essential to run downhill and keep the ball out of Matt Ryan's hands at the end of the half or game. 

4. Play an Eight-Man Front To Stop Michael Turner

Because the Falcons are so conservative in their approach in the base offensive package, the Saints should look to be as aggressive as they possibly can be. They should play nine men in the box at times. 

Do whatever it takes to slow down Michael Turner. The Falcons aren't dumb—they know the Saints are averaging 40 points per game at home this season. With that in mind, they also know their best opportunity to slow down this explosive attack is by possessing the football as much as possible. 

What better way to do that than give it to Michael "The Burner" Turner as often as possible. With Turner's tree trunks for legs and a fullback on most running plays, the Falcons are in as good a position to defeat a seven-man box as any team in the league. 

Settling at eight with regularity is sound, as it maintains the safety on the back end New Orleans needs against play-action. But the eight also allows the Saints to play solid gap assignment football and possess an extra defender to flood an uncovered gap and throw Michael Turner down for a loss.

Of course, that guy will often be the sure-tackling Roman Harper, but on the outside, could also be Jabari Greer. And that's the other point, look for New Orleans to try to feed the ball outside where Jabari Greer is as sure a tackling corner as exists in the game of football in 2011. 

Doing so isn't too difficult—given Will Smith's propensity to chase plays away from him anyway. But it forces the linebackers to flow quickly to the sidelines with proper angling, or else, Turner could break free and down the sideline. 

If the Saints can execute well enough to slow Turner down for the first half, they should be well on their way to an easy second half of Matt Ryan chucking the ball all over the yard. If this happens, we know that significantly favors New Orleans, especially in the dome.