Trying to stay perfect will be the goal of the Atlanta Falcons (5-0) tonight while the New Orleans Saints (1-4) do their best to not to be perfectly awful. The Falcons come in a little beat up, with Julio Jones nursing a hamstring injury and Devonte Freeman working with an injured toe. The Saints seem to have everybody healthy, for whatever good that will do them.
Scroll on down for the live blog or keep reading for some preview information.
Betting info
Saints +3, 54 O/U with the over at -110 and the under at 110. The money line is Atlanta -159 and New Orleans +139.
Here are my power rankings for both teams
3. Atlanta Falcons – (5-0) The Falcons needed overtime to shed a plucky Washington Redskins team, but I won’t hold that against them. Atlanta hasn’t really been tested yet, and with the Saints coming up this week, won’t be for at least another 11 days. Last week: No. 3
20. New Orleans Saints – (1-4) The good news is, if your season continues to tank, Sean Payton appears to be a pretty hot commodity in the upcoming coaching market. Last week: No. 19
And here’s some of my preview from the Thursday Night Match Up
The Falcons on Offense
Matt Ryan leads one of the most prolific offenses in the NFL to New Orleans, but few of his weapons come into the game healthy. Julio Jones is nursing a sore hamstring, No. 3 wideout Leonard Hankerson has injured ribs and fantasy football’s new anointed superstar Devonta Freeman has an injured toe. Ryan still has plenty of weapons to distribute the ball to even with those guys dinged up with Roddy White itching for a break-out performance. Rookie running back Tevin Coleman should also make the most of his return to the starting backfield.
The Saints on Offense
Regardless of what goes wrong for the Saints, they still have Drew Brees at quarterback and that’s something. What they haven’t had is the breakout season they expected from pretty much any of their other offensive players. Willie Snead has been a nice surprise in the passing game, catching 33 passes for 381 yards and a touchdown, but that’s part of the problem….
The Falcons on Defense
Dan Quinn was hired to make the Falcons tougher and better on defense and it took him all of a single offseason to do it. New starters all over and an emphasis on tackling and solid defense over pretty stats has created a solid unit across the board. Atlanta’s defense doesn’t have to shut any team down, just slow them down enough for their offense to run over them…
The Saints on Defense
The Saints have invested a lot of free agent money and a lot of draft picks to field one of the more mediocre defensive units in football. Much of the blame falls to the feet of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, who can’t see the blame past his own belly. Three of the top four tacklers on New Orleans’ defense are defensive backs which means the line and linebackers aren’t getting the job done up front….
The game is on CBS and the NFL Network at 8:25 p.m. Let’s watch. I might make some jokes.
