Tag: rivalry

New Orleans Saints game previews: Week 4 at Atlanta Falcons

The New Orleans Saints will visit the divisional-rival Atlanta Falcons led by Kirk Cousins for the first time in Week 4:

Our New Orleans Saints game previews continue with a trip to Georgia for the first showdown against the Kirk Cousins-led Atlanta Falcons. Does the addition of Cousins make the Falcons as good as some believe? This will be the Saints first opportunity to dispel the narrative.

Not only will the Falcons add a new quarterback, Raheem Morris is also taking over as head coach from Arthur Smith. Smith’s final experience was being blown out by the Saints and getting mad at Dennis Allen about it. Morris comes over from the Los Angeles Rams with a defensive pedigree. He developed the Rams into an efficient red zone defense over the past 3 seasons.

Outside of the signing of Cousins, Atlanta has been very quiet this offseason. The Falcons’ second most attention-grabbing move was drafting Cousins’ replacement, Michael Penix. Signing wide receiver Darnell Moody could a solid, under-the-radar addition on the other side of Drake London. This lends itself to the biggest question of the matchups, will the Saints secondary neutralize the Falcons receiving threats?

The Falcons averaged the 11th-fewest passing yards per game in the NFL (207) in 2024. Drake London didn’t cross the century mark and Kyle Pitts still hasn’t reached the ceiling many projected for him. That’s all expected to change with the quarterback change. Bijan Robinson did meet expectations. Pairing him with an improved passing attack has many believing in Atlanta.

The rivalry’s all-time record remains tied 55-55 after splitting last year’s matchups. Fun fact: Atlanta hasn’t defeated New Orleans in consecutive games since a 3-game winning streak from 2016 to 2017. Last time a Saints victory didn’t lead to at least a 2-game winning streak in the series was 2004. The Saints won the last face-off of 2023. Do with that what you will.

  • Game information: New Orleans Saints at Atlanta Falcons
  • Location: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Ga.
  • Date: Sept. 29
  • Time: Noon CT / 1p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: FOX

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Notre Dame and USC’s Best Rivalry Photos Over the Years

Not just the best intersectional rivalry in college football, but one of the absolute best rivalries in the game as well…

The end of the Pac 12 earlier in the week along with news of USC trying to ditch LSU from their schedule this fall have put the Trojans largely in the news in recent days.

On Wednesday, national sports talker Colin Cowherd voiced his opinion that USC should take things a step further as they move to the Big Ten and discontinue their annual rivalry with Notre Dame.

Nobody here would be interested in that but as it’s in the news, we certainly discuss it.

Although you won’t confuse anyone here at Fighting Irish Wire with being a USC fan by any means, its safe to say the understanding of importance that the two programs have meant to each other historically isn’t missed.

Notre Dame and USC are slated to play this Thanksgiving weekend in Los Angeles and again next October in South Bend.

And the good lord willing, for decades and decades alternating home venues to come.

In honor of not just the best intersectional rivalry in sports, but one of the absolute best rivalries in all of college football, check out some of the very best photos of the Notre Dame-USC rivalry over the years below.

Tyrann Mathieu has a ton of respect for Bijan Robinson: ‘He’s going to be special’

Tyrann Mathieu may play for the Saints, but he knows a quality opponent when he sees one. And he has a ton of respect for Falcons star Bijan Robinson:

Tyrann Mathieu takes a lot of pride in playing for his hometown New Orleans Saints, but he knows a quality rival when he sees one. And he’s eager to compete against Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson. Mathieu pointed to the second-year pro during a recent appearance on the Green Light with Chris Long podcast when taking stock of his opponents in the NFC South.

And Mathieu offered some lofty comparisons for Robinson and his unique skill set: “Man, he’s going to be special. Marshall Faulk, you know, Edgerrin James, you know what I mean? Like, LaDainian Tomlinson, you know? And I didn’t think the Falcons really used him as good as they should have last year, but, man, he’s going to be good. He’s going to be real good.”

Robinson proved to be a dangerous dual-threat running back in 2023. He ran 214 times for 976 rushing yards, scoring 4 touchdown runs, while being targeted 86 times as a receiver; he caught 58 passes for another 487 receiving yards and 4 more touchdown receptions. He’s one of five rookie running backs to have 900-plus rushing yards and 400-plus receiving yards as a rookie since 2010, and one of 16 to do so in the history of pro football. Mathieu knows his history — James (1999) and Faulk (1994) are both in that group. Tomlinson (2001) was 33 receiving yards shy of joining them.

Mathieu’s Saints have gone 3-1 against the Falcons in his two years on the team, and they were a foolish Derek Carr pick-six in scoring position from beating them in Atlanta last year. But he sees Robinson as someone who could be a problem in the years ahead.

Robinson broke out with his first multi-touchdown game as a rookie against the Saints in Week 11, scoring a 10-yard run and a 26-yard reception while totaling 123 yards from scrimmage. Mathieu and his teammates did a better job limiting his gains on the ground in the Week 18 rematch (Robinson ran 11 times for just 28 yards) but he took an early grab-and-go pass out of the backfield 71 yards for a touchdown. They adjusted, though, and he finished with 32 yards on his other 6 catches.

Don’t expect first-year Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson to make it as easy for them by splitting Robinson’s touches with other players. As Mathieu alluded to, former Atlanta head coach Arthur Smith was widely criticized for playing veterans like Tyler Allgeier and Cordarrelle Patterson ahead of the running back they drafted 8th overall. The Falcons are excited to have Kirk Cousins at quarterback after a couple of years in the desert, but they’ll be counting on Robinson to shoulder a heavy load in 2024.

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Dennis Allen doesn’t understand the Saints-Falcons rivalry, but Raheem Morris does

Dennis Allen doesn’t understand the Saints-Falcons rivalry, but Raheem Morris sure does. Atlanta’s new head coach said Tuesday: “I have hated the Saints for a long time”

It’s really unfortunate that Dennis Allen still doesn’t understand the New Orleans Saints’ rivalry with the Atlanta Falcons, but his new opponent Raheem Morris sure does. Atlanta’s new head coach offered a very different perspective from Allen on his team’s relationship with its oldest rival.

“I have hated the Saints for a long time,” Morris told The Athletic’s Josh Kendall at NFL owners meetings on Tuesday. “Started back with Sean Payton. I was hanging out at the pool the other day with Dennis Allen. I hate him just as much.”

Allen, of course, embarrassed Saints fans by apologizing for his players going rogue to run up to the score on the Falcons in the final game of their 2023 season. The man he apologized to, former Atlanta coach Arthur Smith, was dismissed from his post just hours later. And Allen’s own players have voiced their disapproval of his actions — Cameron Jordan said the only thing they should have said sorry for was not scoring even more points.

Still, Morris acknowledged that it’s all in good fun. These rivalries add passion to the game and drive competition. Even if it’s a real visceral, bone-deep hatred, it’s important for those involved to express some passion.

“It’s a fun rivalry though. It’s really fun,” Morris grinned. “I really don’t hate those guys.” Even if he’s just playing the part, at least Morris is acknowledging it’s a role he’s supposed to play. Allen hasn’t yet grasped that concept.

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Drew Brees says even retired quarterbacks are relieved by Aaron Donald’s retirement

Drew Brees says even retired quarterbacks are relieved by Aaron Donald’s big news. He wished his old rival well in retirement:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C4jF67YSNsp/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Even retired quarterbacks are happy to see Aaron Donald hanging up his cleats. Or at least that’s how Drew Brees feels. The legendary New Orleans Saints quarterback congratulated his old rival “on an unbelievable career” with the Los Angeles Rams, where Donald spent a decade sacking passers like Brees.

They went head-to-head five times, including the playoffs, with Brees’ Saints winning twice (and the less said of that playoff debacle, the better). Donald sacked Brees twice but hit the quarterback 11 times, including the infamous play that broke Brees’ throwing hand early in the 2019 season. Talk about a worthy opponent.

Ten years and ten Pro Bowls, with a Super Bowl championship to his name. Donald was the best defender in the sport during his time in the league and should be an easy choice for enshrinement at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 202, just a few years after Brees will have earned a bronze bust in 2026.

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Georgia beat writer Mike Griffith claims that “Kirby doesn’t think too much about Alabama”

Georgia beat writer Mike Griffth calls Alabama a “second-tier” team in 2024

If you ask the Georgia Bulldogs fans they will tell you it is a rivalry, if you ask an Alabama fan they’ll call it one-sided, but the fact of the matter is these are the two teams on top of the college football world. The two programs have combined to win three of the last four national titles and have posted a combined record of 99-10. Four of those ten losses have come against each other in one regular season meeting (2020), two SEC championships (2021 and 2023) and a national championship (2021).

In 2023, coming off of back-to-back national championships and riding a 29-game winning streak it looked as if the Dawgs were on their way to a three-peat before the Crimson Tide dethroned them in the SEC Championship. We didn’t know it at the time, but it would be the final meeting between [autotag]Nick Saban[/autotag] and his prodigy [autotag]Kirby Smart[/autotag]. Saban walked away with an 8-2 record against Georgia and 5-1 against Smart.

However, heading into the 2024 season many Georgia fans, including Georgia beat writer Mike Griffith don’t consider the Tide to be much of a threat in the first year under [autotag]Kalen DeBoer[/autotag].

In an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show Griffith says, “Georgia doesn’t think too much, Kirby doesn’t think too much about Alabama. Really the October 19th game at Texas is the big headache. They’re looking at that as probably the game that is going to decide the SEC next year… People talk about Texas and Georgia at the top of the SEC and then you get into the second-tier’s, the Alabama’s, the Tennessee’s, the LSU’s, Ole Miss’s and Missouri’s.”

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.

Cameron Jordan on Saints’ controversial TD vs. Falcons: ‘Say sorry we didn’t go for 50’

Cameron Jordan doesn’t see the problem with running up the score on the Falcons, much less apologizing for it: ‘Say sorry we didn’t go for 50’

The New Orleans Saints ended their season with a flourish — and then some controversy. When the second-string offense and backup quarterback Jameis Winston went rogue to get Jamaal Williams a late touchdown run over the Atlanta Falcons, Saints head coach Dennis Allen responded by apologizing to the other team for their actions.

It was a move that got him lambasted by the Saints fanbase. And one of Allen’s captains and the longest-tenured player on the team, Cameron Jordan, wants it known that he disagreed with Allen’s decision to apologize for scoring too many points on their greatest rival.

“I’m so sorry the locker room really enjoys being a brotherhood,” Jordan joked during an appearance on the Around the NFL podcast this week. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry we punished a rival team. I would do it again. In fact, I would’ve gone for two. The only thing I’m gonna have a discrepancy with is I didn’t understand the ramifications of like, ‘No, they were taking victory formation.’ The ‘Can’tlanta Failcons’ had already acquiesced. They were just trying to get it out there just like their head coach was about to get out there.”

Already unpopular among Saints fans, Allen’s determination to take a stand and tell them to stop enjoying themselves rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Whatever goodwill he earned for his first winning season in five years as a head coach went with the wind. He has more work to do to convince the team’s supporters that he’s the right man for the job, even as general manager Mickey Loomis continues to cook up bad arguments favoring Allen.

But this isn’t going away. Jordan finished his piece with “Half of my gripe was Dennis ended up saying sorry. And I’m like why would you say sorry? Say sorry we didn’t go for 50.”

It’s unfortunate, but it makes sense that Allen still doesn’t get this rivalry. He doesn’t understand why Saints players and fans dislike the Falcons because his heart’s not in it. He was born in Atlanta as the son of former Falcons linebacker Grady Allen. He grew up and into life with Texas A&M as a student, college football player, and assistant coach; the Aggies have built an unhinged program with strange culture and ideas of sportsmanship, which has defined its relationship with its biggest in-state rival by running from the Texas Longhorns to join a new conference (only for Texas to get the jump on them anyway in the expanding SEC). The sense of rivalry and bone-deep hate isn’t in him.

And Allen’s reluctance to lean into that rivalry and engage with Saints fans (and, apparently, his own players) is going to be a storyline until something bigger happens to overshadow it. Hiring an entirely new offensive coaching staff will help. But Allen has a lot of work to do to convince fans the team he’s leading is worth lending their time and money to support. All we can do is it and see whether he can deliver.

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Matt Ryan got some long-awaited payback against Cameron Jordan

Matt Ryan got some long-awaited payback against Cameron Jordan. The ex-Falcons QB finally sacked his greatest rival:

Matt Ryan finally enjoyed some payback. The ex-Atlanta Falcons quarterback surprised his nemesis on the CBS Sports set ahead of Super Bowl LVIII, sneaking in from offstage to tackle Cameron Jordan. And the New Orleans Saints defensive end took it in stride, laughing and embracing one of his oldest rivals.

“Never have I been sacked in my life,” Jordan later wrote on social media in disbelief.

He’s normally the one sacking the quarterback. Jordan and Ryan set the record together for the most sacks of a single quarterback by a single defender (23), though it’s debatable whether Ryan is proud of his part in that accomplishment.

Either way, it’s clear that there’s a ton of respect between the two. Jordan got Ryan one last time during pregame warmups when he was on the call for a Saints game earlier this season. Ryan hasn’t made his retirement official, but he’s been working for CBS as a broadcaster in recent years, and it’s a role he’s grown comfortable in. There’s a good chance Jordan will join him on the other side of the microphone some day soon.

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Patrick Mahomes explains Chiefs’ pregame issues with Ravens kicker Justin Tucker

#Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes explains Kansas City’s pregame issues with Baltimore #Ravens kicker Justin Tucker.

Many critics viewed the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory over the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday as an upset on their way to another Super Bowl appearance. Resilience on the road in hostile environments has changed the narrative around Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes regarding road post-season games.

Mahomes is now a road warrior after going undefeated in both road playoff games this year. He was ready for the tough crowds in Buffalo and Baltimore but may not have been prepared for the hostile pregame routine conditions he faced on Sunday.

Speaking to Carrington Harrison on 610 Sports Radio show “The Drive” during his weekly check-in, Mahomes revealed the reason for the odd pregame interaction between him, Travis Kelce, and Ravens kicker Justin Tucker.

“I’ve had like seven years of doing that same warm-up routine and there’s only been, I think, like three occasions where there’s been a kicker that wasn’t necessarily moving out the way, or you thought you weren’t sharing the field in the right way,” Mahomes explained. “I mean, it was in Baltimore all three times. He does a little stuff, I think, to try to get under our skin.

“I asked him to move his stuff, and he got up and moved it, I think, two inches, but didn’t move it out of the way. And I was gonna kind of let it fly. But Travis (Kelce) got it and moved it for me. And then after that, I wasn’t gonna let them put it back down.”

The video was released shortly before the kickoff of the AFC Championship game, as it initially appeared as if Mahomes and Kelce were bullying the Ravens kicker. Mahomes providing his perspective gives the video more context and understanding.

“So it’s something that we move on,” Mahomes said. “I have a lot of respect for him (Tucker) as a player and as a kicker. One of the best kickers of all time, probably the best kicker of all time, but at the same time, you [have] got to have respect for each team. We all share the field, and we try to do that in a respectful way.”

The Chiefs will have an extra week of preparation before they play in Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, February 11th.

Gallery: Michigan State basketball wins big rivalry game over Michigan

Check out the best pictures from MSU’s rivalry win over Michigan:

Michigan State took home Tom Izzo’s 700th career win on Tuesday night, defeating arch-rival Michigan inside of the Breslin Center, 81-62.

Read the full game recap here

Check out some of the best pictures from the win: