For the Atlanta Falcons, It’s Now Or Never
The Atlanta Falcons must play a perfect game to beat Saints. They need rewind the clock to week three of the NFL season. They were clicking on all cylinders in a game against the Tampa Bay Bucs torching their defense for 56 points. The defense put on their best performance not allowing the Bucs to score until the fourth quarter when the game was no longer in doubt.
That was the past. December 21st is the future. It’s the biggest game of the season. It is a must win and it’s against you divisional rival New Orleans Saints in their building. It won’t be easy and if the dirty birds don’t show up to play all four quarters they will not get the outcome they want if coach Smith will allow me to borrow his line for a moment. The Saints will be playing at the top of their game and they remember their first loss of the season suffered at the hands of the Falcons in the Georgia Dome.
The Atlanta Falcons have shown us glimpses of a team capable of playing with anyone in the league. The second half against the Green Bay Packers was inspiring. The first half against the Lions was about as good as you can expect a team to play. Their first quarter offensive explosion against a very good defense the Arizona Cardinals have was very impressive. At this point none of that matters. They have to put it all together at this point. Honestly they have no choice. The defense appears to be stronger as the season goes on after only giving up 47 yards to one of the best running backs in the league in Le’Veon Bell while holding the Steelers offense to 20 points. Pittsburg defense was responsible for one of those scores as Matt Ryan threw a damaging pick 6 in the second quarter.
The most important thing for the Falcons at the current moment is beating the Saints in New Orleans. The winner of that game will have a very good chance of winning the NFC south. There are some other circumstances for both teams but it’s simple for the birds, win out and get into the playoffs where anything can happen. The most important thing now is for the Falcons to get on a roll. If they can do that they will beat the Saints and have a chance to clinch the division the following week. They should be highly motivated to be fortunate enough to still be in the hunt for a playoff berth with a 5-9 record. Falcons Fans have waited long enough to learn if this team can truly be a contender or if they are pretenders. Get it done Falcons, the city is behind you! And most of them will be making the journey to Louisiana including myself.