The New Orleans Saints season is over with their head coach fired and the best defensive player already traded. It is time to turn your attention to mock drafts and hypotheticals of how to dig yourself out of this cap mess if you're a New Orleans fan. With that said, the Falcons cannot afford to overlook a Saints team that now has nothing to lose and wants nothing more than to ruin the season of their hated rival.
This is a roster stocked with proud veterans who aren't going to roll over even with the front office punting on the season. The Falcons will get this team's absolute best shot after the worst loss of the 2024 season. A shot the Falcons must be ready to counter with history and bragging rights on the line.
The Atlanta Falcons have all-time bragging rights going into Sunday with a 55-54 record over New Orleans
Atlanta's chance to get back at New Orleans for the Drew Brees and Sean Payton era is now. With the team digging themselves into too far of a cap hole to dig out of in the next two seasons the Falcons can build a nice lead in the all-time record. More importantly, the NFC South appears to be a two-team race, not only for this season but for the foreseeable future.
This game has even more importance when you consider Atlanta will travel to Denver for their final game before the bye. Facing Sean Payton and a tough Denver defense that has a huge home field advantage this game is far more important than it appears at first glance.
Not only are you fighting for playoff positioning and the historical advantage over your hated rival, but this game is huge for the NFC South race. With Tampa having an all-time easy schedule to finish out the season now is the time Atlanta must take care of the layups on their schedule burying Tampa and continuing to make this New Orleans season turn back the clock to their previous irrelevance.