Is it just a coincidence the Saints have won three straight over the Falcons, a streak that began on the heels of Falcons receiver Roddy White's imbecilic, barely comprehensible tweet a few days before last December's Saints-Falcons game in the Georgia Dome?
If you're a simultaneously a fan of the New Orleans Saints and sports writing, you might have logged onto The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this morning to see what their columnists have to say about the Saints' 45-16 drubbing of the Falcons on Monday Night Football, a game punctuated by Drew Brees breaking Dan Marino's 1984 record for most passing yards in a season.
In a story headlined "Falcons get their reality check, and it's not what they expected," AJC sports blogger Jeff Schultz is brutally candid about the Dirty Birds:
There's no need to wonder how heavily to weigh six consecutive dominating quarters against Carolina and Jacksonville. As it turns out, it means only that the Falcons are better than Carolina and Jacksonville - neither of whom they'll be facing in the playoffs.
They're not as good as New Orleans. They're certainly not as good as Green Bay. It remains to be seen if they're as good as anybody in the playoff field (although they did beat Detroit. But the Falcons won't be playing them, either.)
Pecking order was firmly established Monday night. The Falcons got boat-raced by New Orleans 45-16 at the Superdome. At least, that was the score the last time anybody looked up.
Relish Schultz's full column here.
Addendum: Is it just a coincidence the Saints have won three straight over the Falcons, a streak that began on the heels of Falcons receiver Roddy White's imbecilic, barely comprehensible tweet - "The grace of god gave them tht championship so that city wouldn fall apart now and now they they hot shit in my chad voice child please. The saints win one championship and want to go crazy well yall ass aint winning this year we gone make sure tht doesn't happen" - a few days before last December's Saints-Falcons game in the Georgia Dome? We prefer to think not.
Bonus addendum (from a Christmas Eve game preview in The AJC:
"I'm not going to be looking over there in awe; looking at No. 9," Falcons linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said. "I'm just going out there with the game plan that we have and try to make some plays."...
Weatherspoon said the Falcons have to be aware of the routes the Saints are running, stick close and let the pass rush get to Brees. "That's going to help us make him hold the ball longer," Weatherspoon said. "Our defensive line is going to get after him. I already know that..."
The Falcons' defense sacked Brees only once and hit him only two other times.