It’s a rivalry game. None of this Falcons-Buccaneers or Falcons-Panthers nonsense, which isn’t even two decades old. We’re talking about Falcons-Saints, which dates back to the days of the old NFC West and is equal parts contentious and enraging.
Today’s a chance for the Falcons to deal yet another body blow to the Saints, putting them down at 1-2 in what might be Drew Brees’ final effective season and catapulting Atlanta into first place in the division if everything breaks right. This games matters, in other words, and ought to be as fun and stressful as hell.