NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
1 p.m Sunday, Superdome
Record: Saints 5-8.
This week: Saints play at Chicago on Monday Night Football at 8:30 p.m.
The skinny: Talk about being wretched. The Saints are a hot mess. Head coach Sean Payton and defensive coordinator Rob Ryan have argued on the sidelines. Their big offseason pick-up, safety Jairus Byrd, is out of the season. They are losing games at home and getting into fights. Also, no one seems to know if safety Kenny Vaccaro has been benched or if he’s actually starting on Monday. Ryan said the media benched Vaccaro.
Series history: The Falcons lead the series 48-43. Atlanta won the season-opener in a thrilling 37-34 overtime victory at the Georgia Dome. However, the Falcons under head coach Mike Smith are 1-6 in the Superdome.
State of the union: This is essentially an elimination game for the NFC South race. The Saints have dropped four of their past five games. The only victory was a 35-32 at Pittsburgh. The have dropped their last four games at the Superdome. They have been defeated by San Francisco, Cincinnati, Baltimore and Carolina. The Panthers routed the Saints 41-10 and a brawl broke out during the game. Here’s what NOLA.com columnist Larry Holder had to say about the Saints: “The usual topic surrounding the New Orleans Saints this time of year consists of postseason aspirations or playoff jockeying. It then morphs into how the team attempts to tune out that aspect of the NFL season to focus on each individual game. A vast majority of the players and coaches say they don’t pay attention to the standings in mid-December as the NFL landscape serves as a distraction. And every season it’s hard to fathom how a team ignores the ‘what happens if you win’ or ‘what happens if you lose’ possibilities. For once, I completely believe the Saints’ players and coaches can easily dismiss the playoff conversation. It honestly took me a few days into (last) week to realize the possibility of the Saints playing a football game in January remained a viable outcome. There were so many problems in the team’s 41-10 loss to Carolina in Week 14. There were so many discussions by Saints veteran players of a lack of professionalism and maturity within the team. There was so much chatter about upcoming changes to the team’s roster and every-down lineup.”
Three things: 1) The Saints enter the Bears’ game 2-1 against the NFC North with victories over the Vikings and Packers. The Falcons went 0-4 against the same division with losses to the Vikings, Bears, Lions and Packers. 2) Safety Kenny Vaccaro, who put the big hit on Matt Ryan that led to the Falcons’ offseason toughness campaign, is on the hot seat. 3) The Falcons have dropped three straight in New Orleans.
