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Atlanta Falcons: Forget the records, Saints will be huge test

By Adnan Ikic

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If you look at the schedule in the NFL for Week 6, you’d see a 5-0 team matching up with a struggling 1-4 team on Thursday Night Football. This will be one of those games, however, where you can throw the records out the window.

That aforementioned matchup will be between the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints, at the Louisiana Superdome. Last year, before the critical Week 16 match between these teams, I wrote about why this was the biggest rivalry in the NFL. I stand by that. You can read that article here.

Below is an excerpt from that article, and it is something that applies to this Thursday’s upcoming divisional matchup:

"No matter how bad the year was, beating the arch rival made it all the more bearable. That was evident in 2012, when the Saints were dealing with the repercussions of bounty gate and had started the season off 0-4. They were 3-5 heading into a week 10 showdown against the last remaining undefeated team in the NFL, the Atlanta Falcons (8-0).They won that game in the Superdome, and for at least that week, they didn’t care about the fact that they were still in a position to miss the playoffs, all that mattered was that they beat Atlanta and halted an undefeated run."

Much like that 2012 season which was magical for Atlanta and a nightmare for New Orleans, the Falcons have come sprinting out of the gate, while the Saints have stumbled. Atlanta is 5-0, and New Orleans is 1-4. This will be the biggest game for either team so far this season, and the Saints would love nothing more than to end their arch rivals’ undefeated run for the second time in four years.

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The Falcons, meanwhile, would love to go 6-0, with a very soft part of their schedule ahead of them before the Week 10 bye. Following this game, Atlanta will have games against the Titans (1-4), Buccaneers (2-3) and 49ers (1-4). A win over the Saints would put 9-0 within reach.

The 1-4 Saints have their backs against the wall, following a blowout loss to the Eagles, and the beginning of a season which has seen them lose two division games already. They know that if they lose to the division-leading Falcons, their slight hopes for a division crown will disappear. Needless to say, a cornered animal is as its most dangerous.

A win for the Saints, however, will see them maintain some semblance of hope within the division, especially if the Carolina Panthers (4-0) lose in Seattle this Sunday.

But going back to the beginning of this article, the records will be thrown out for this one. The Saints know that even if they play out a season where they finish 2-14, that would be OK as long as those two wins were against the Falcons. Atlanta can finish this season 14-2, but they would have a bad taste in their mouth if those two losses came at the hands of New Orleans.

This is a battle, not just for a hard earned win in the NFL, but also for bragging rights between two cities that have been competing with each other since the 19th century.

Next: Stock up, stock down after Falcons beat Redskins

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