The dirty birds refused to break after being down by 10 points at half time and a late drive by the Saints that gave them the lead 34-31 with less than 2 minutes remaining in regular time. A long field goal by the Falcons with seconds remaining sent the game into overtime which the Falcons won on another long filed goal. History will be rewritten by the New Orleans Sports Writers for the Times Picayune.
The bottom line is Ryan out performed Brees in every category that counts. Brees interception in the end zone by Atlanta eliminated another opportunity for the Saints to score points. The Saints defense did not play well and allowed some big scores with poor tackling and execution. The Falcons were better prepared to play the game.
Sports writers for the TP are already stumbling over their predictions for the game using the Saints past record against the Falcons. (13-3 under Payton and Brees) and talking about the Saints defense that was ranked 4th in the NFL last season. One loss does not make a season in this writers opinion and one year ranking does not indicate consistency. Defensive co-ordinator Rob Ryan does not have a consistent record of producing good defensive teams. New Orleans sports writers using only last years record to predict how the Saints will do on defense this year is simply apple polishing. Rob Ryan did not produce a consistent defensive teams with his previous employer, the Dallas Cowboys.
All 7 sports writers predicted a Saints win in Atlanta. Now lets see how many predict a Saints win in Cleveland next week. Will there be just one who picks the Browns? Counting Sunday's loss the Saints have now lost 5 or their last 8 games during the regular season. (Including the Play off last season) Atlanta outscored the Saints 27-14 in the second half and once again the Saints failed to finish strong like they always preach.
The Saints are a good football team. How good? That remains to be seen. When it comes to defense, forget about last years ranking, the dirty birds took care of that. Their consistency from here on in is the only thing that matters regardless what one reads in the Times Picayune.
This commentary written by John Lucia.
