The Falcons are 5-0, but have little time to celebrate.
On a normal relax and rewind day, the Falcons were back at work getting ready to face the struggling New Orleans Saints (1-4) at 8:25 p.m. on Thursday at the Mercedes- Benz Superdome.
“We have a short week here to find an edge for this Thursday,” Falcons tight end Jacob Tamme said. “We’re going on the road and those are always tough. We have to find that edge in the next few days and be ready to roll.”
The Falcons swept the Saints last season on their way to a 6-10 mark. The Saints have started off slow and are coming off a 39-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
“It’s going to be another challenge,” Falcons left tackle Jake Matthews said. “Nothing is going to come easy. We have to play hard. We can’t change anything that we’ve been doing at this point.”
With the thrilling 25-19 overtime win over Washington, the Falcons became the first 5-0 team in league history to trail in the fourth quarter of four games.
While shifting their focus to the Saints, the Falcons paused briefly to savor the surprisingly fast start to the season, that’s now full of promise.
“Geez, I don’t think I’ve been on a 5-0 team in my whole life,” Matthews said. “This is incredible. There is nothing like it.”
The Falcons point to the coaching staff doggedly stressing the fundamentals of the game.
“I think it just goes right back to the basics,” Matthews said. “We have to keep doing what we’re doing. Every week, we have to keep working as hard as we’ve been working to prepare ourselves for these moments. We are really confident that we are going to go out and execute when those moments come.”
Falcons coach Dan Quinn has the team believing that it can pull games out of the fire. His talks about finishing off games has been well-received.
“The game is never won in the first quarter,” cornerback Desmond Trufant said. “It’s 60 minutes for a reason. If you’ve got to go past 60, it’s in overtime. …We just have to keep it rolling.”
Everybody feeds off each other. Offense, defense and special teams. It’s all one collective unit. There were plays made all over. I’m just happy that we won.”
Quinn has been indoctrinated in the Falcons and Saints rivalry.
“I have been briefed,” Quinn said. “It’s one of the fun parts about the NFL. We’re looking forward to it.”
The Falcons believe they are built to handle the short week.
“Both of our systems, there’s not so much that we just throw in new each week,” Quinn said. “We just want to be detailed in how we do it.”
The Saints are led by quarterback Drew Brees, who’s had shoulder problems this season.
“We know they have some featured players for sure, both offensively and defensively,” Quinn said. “For years, Sean (Payton) and has his crew have been tough to go against as you could imagine. The way they use receivers. The way they used tight ends. They are really tough at running back. Then defensively, all of the different packages that they have. We have our work cut out for us for sure.”
Quinn is warning the team not to be fooled by the Saints’ record.
“We have tons of respect for them,” Quinn said.
The Falcons push rush will be on the sport in New Orleans. The Falcons have just six sacks on the season.
“Like any good quarterback, can you get him off his spot,” Quinn said. “That’s a factor. Will our pass rush be effective enough to get him to move and get the hits that we need to affect him.”
The Falcons don’t plan to try bait or trick Brees, who’s a master of the pump-fake.
“He’s seen all of the coverages,” Quinn said. “He knows all of the routes. He knows where to go with the ball. Sometimes, those are the quarterbacks who are the most dangerous.”
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