There aren’t many more storied rivalries than the New Orleans Saints’ historic feud with the Atlanta Falcons. The two franchises were once condemned to the NFC West, taking turns losing to the legendary San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams squads in their early days. And for a long time they were the only NFL teams in the Southeast, separated only by a seven-hour drive or a 90-minute flight. That proximity helped foster a real hate between the two fanbases, and we’re about to experience the next chapter in the long-running feud on Sunday.
Let’s run through some highlights. The Falcons beat the Saints in their lone playoff game together. To pay them back, the Saints won a Super Bowl championship first. New Orleans won a couple of times on Thanksgiving Day. Drew Brees broke the NFL’s all-time passing yards record in prime time against the Falcons. Atlanta once intercepted Brees five times in a single game; he later shook two Falcons defenders on one spin move to score a touchdown run, then closed out overtime with a goal-line leap to win the day. Saints defensive tackle Shy Tuttle intercepted Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and stiff-armed him into the turf on the return. Ryan eventually made like fan-favorite wide receiver Julio Jones and quit on the Falcons by requesting a trade out of town. Somewhere, a Saints fan right now is live-tweeting a replay of the Falcons’ 28-3 Super Bowl collapse while pretending like they’ve never seen it before.
Those are just some quick vignettes from a rivalry that’s been running for more than half a century. Annoyingly, Atlanta owns the all-time record by a razor-thin margin of 54-52, including one playoff meeting. A regular season sweep would tie things up for New Orleans, but the Saints need to start off with a Week 1 win.
Sean Payton did a lot to help close the gap between the two rivals. His teams went 21-9 against the Falcons, and the last game he ever coached for the Saints was a regular season finale in Atlanta (which the Saints won 30-20 after Trevor Siemian stepped in at quarterback for the injured Taysom Hill).
But now Payton is lounging with his good friend Jay Glazer and the other FOX Sports studio panelists on Sundays, with the Saints electing to hire Dennis Allen as their new head coach. And Allen has an opportunity to set the tone with his first game in this role. Leaving Atlanta with a win wouldn’t just start his new venture off on the right track. It would put the Saints in position to tie up the all-time series history with the Falcons when they visit New Orleans for a rematch on Dec. 18.
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