Falcons have their ‘Jordan rules' for Brees

The Saints can clinch the title with a win Monday. The Falcons need to win Monday and Jan. 1 against Tampa Bay and then hope the Saints lose to Carolina in the regular season final.

Quarterback Drew Brews is the trigger man, but the Saints will use four running backs, several wide receivers and have the best young tight end in the league in Jimmy Graham. They average 456.7 yards per game and 331.4 yards passing, both tops in the league.

Understandably, their rushing attack is sometimes overlooked.

“They have a four-headed monster,” Falcons middle linebacker Curtis Lofton said. “All of their running backs are very talented. Those guys are all pretty special.”

In the previous meeting, a 26-23 Saints' win in overtime, the Falcons shut down New Orleans' rushing attack. They held the Saints to 41 yards on 16 carries.

Darren Sproles, their dangerous multi-purpose back, was held to a yard rushing on two attempts and 2 yards receiving on four catches.

“Sproles’ big thing is when he gets out in space, he makes big plays,” Lofton said. “It was a part of the linebackers’ job to track him in space, close in space and just tackle. We tackled really well in the first game.”

In the passing attack, the Saints have four receivers with more than 50 catches. They also have dangerous speed receivers in Robert Meachem and Devery Henderson. Meachem has a 67-yard touchdown and Henderson has a 79-yarder this season.

In the Saints win at the Georgia Dome, the Falcons couldn’t control wide receiver Marques Colston and Graham.

Colston, who’s 6-foot-4, 220-pounds, caught eight passes for 113 yards. All of his receptions went for first downs and he made three of them on third down.

“Well, he’s such a big, athletic receiver and he can get you on some matchups that you aren’t going to be very favorable with,” Smith said. “Eventually, when you’re trying to defend those guys, you’re going to have some situations where those guys are going to get some one-on-one coverages and, hey, they’re good enough that they’re going to make their plays.

“That’s really what’s happened. People have tried to go focus on other areas and when they do that, then [Colston's]  the guy that’s got the advantageous matchup and he’s been making those plays.”

Graham, the former University of Miami basketball player who played one year of football in college, is the Saints leading receiver. He's caught 87 passes for 1,171 yards and nine touchdowns.

He caught seven passes for 82 yards and a touchdown in the earlier meeting.

“Sean Payton is a mastermind when it comes to match ups, he’s really good at getting me matched up one-on-one with a linebacker or with a safety or split out with a corner,” Graham said. “We have really been able to capitalize on that.”

Linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, who was a key factor in shutting down Sproles, found himself in a matchup with Colston on a third down-and-5. He had to scramble to cover him down the field.

“They kind of took it down the field a little bit more than normally,” Weatherspoon said. “Normally they just try to get the yardage, but he ended up making a good play. We are definitely aware of the challenge that we have.”

Smith and defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder have been successful at slowing down the Saints. The last four games have all been won by field goals and the Saints have just managed 26, 17, 24 and 26 points.

The 26 points is their third-lowest output this season.

“There is such good solid personnel around Drew, you’ve got to move into some other areas like what they like to do in certain situations with certain personnel,” VanGorder said. “You have to concentrate on situation football. But boy, there are too many productive players to focus in on one here or there. The situations will allow you to do that better than just going in and saying ‘let’s stop Jimmy Graham’ or ‘let’s stop Sproles.’ ”