When fans of either the New Orleans Saints or Atlanta Falcons think about a team they HAVE to beat each season it’s the other. In this case, there’s no doubt that absolutely is true.
Indeed, for both of these teams, the road to the playoffs is clear: Beat the other and have Tampa Bay lose to Carolina, or it’s curtains on the 2023 NFL season, and quite possibly, the end of an era for a coaching staff.
Who has the advantage? If one were to go solely by games played in the series, they wouldn’t be able to find one. That’s because in the 56-year history of the teams playing one another, each team has won 54 games in the regular season. One of them is about to take a lead, and if it’s the Saints, it would be just the second time they have led in the series since they led 1-0 going into 1969 with the other time coming last season in December 2022.
Let’s look through all the games and see what we can find, including the line trends, the TV info, what uniforms the teams will be wearing, the game officials, the team and series trends, as well as some of the memorable moments in the series. (The latter of which is really tough to compile into one little post.)
TIME/TV: Sunday at noon inside the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. The game will be broadcast on CBS with an announcing team of Andrew Catalon, Tiki Barber and Matt Ryan … yes, THAT Matt Ryan.
LINE TREND: The line has remained steady throughout the week, as the Saints opened briefly as a 3.5-point favorite before it went down to -3 and remained there through Saturday afternoon. The money line for New Orleans is -165 and is +140 for Atlanta. The over/under total is 41.
WEATHER FORECAST: It might be a little chilly outside, but as always, it will be perfect inside the Caesars Superdome.
UNIFORMS: The Saints will be wearing all black with gold numbers and trim. They will don their traditional gold helmets with the fleur-de-lis and wear black socks.
The Falcons will wear their away white jerseys with black numbers and red “ATL” above the numbers along with black pants and black socks. They will wear their standard black helmets with a black falcon outlined in white.
REFEREE: John Hussey is the lead official and has been in that role since 2015. New Orleans is 8-2 all time when he officiates their games, although he hasn’t done a Saints game since December 2021 and hasn’t done a game in the Superdome since 2019.
Meanwhile, Atlanta is 3-4, and this is first Falcons game since November 2022. It also will be the second Saints-Falcons game he has officiated, with the first one coming Thanksgiving night 2018, when New Orleans moved to 10-1 with a 31-17 victory.
TEAM INFO, STREAKS
SAINTS (8-8, 4-3 at home)
The Saints are ranked 16th in the NFL in overall offense (yards gained) and 14th in points scored. They are 21st in rushing offense and 12th in passing. … The team is 13th in overall defense and sixth in points allowed. They are 21st against the run and ninth against the pass.
There are multiple negative streaks the Saints are looking to avoid with this season finale. First, if they don’t make the playoffs, it would be the first time since 2014 through 2016 they missed the postseason in three consecutive seasons and second time since missing four straight from 2001 through 2005.
Also, the Saints are looking to avoid back-to-back losing seasons since that same run of 7-9s from 2014-16.
On the positive side, Dennis Allen can finish his first winning season as a head coach in his fifth full season (sixth overall). Also with a victory, the Saints would finish their sixth winning season in seven campaigns – something they have NEVER done before.
New Orleans is trying to win back-to-back games for the fourth time this season without as many as a three-game win streak. If they accomplish this, it would be the first time they have done it in team history.
The Saints are trying to avoid losing back-to-back games to Atlanta since falling in three straight in 2016-17. In fact, they have three three-game win streaks in the series over the past 12 games played.
FALCONS (7-9, 2-6 on the road)
Atlanta is ranked 18th in the NFL in overall offense (yards gained) and 26th in points scored. They are eighth in rushing offense and 22nd in passing. … The Falcons are 11th in the NFL in overall defense and ninth in points allowed. They are 19th against the run and eighth against the pass.
As the Saints are trying to win two games in a row for the fourth time this season, the Falcons are trying to avoid losing at least two in a row for the fourth time.
Atlanta has lost 15 of their past 18 road games dating back to a 31-13 defeat in San Francisco on Dec. 19, 2021. It is the first such streak of ineptitude for them since going 3-15 on the road from September 1999 through September 2001. With a loss here, they would fall in 16 of 19, which is something they haven’t done since December 1994 through September 1997.
With a loss, the Falcons will finish exactly 7-10 for the third straight season since the NFL expanded to a 17-game regular season in 2021.
SAINTS vs. FALCONS SERIES
All-time: The Falcons lead the overall series, 55-54, but it is all tied up at 54 in the regular season, as Atlanta won the only playoff meeting, 27-20, on Dec. 28, 1991.
With 4,681 points being scored in the series, Atlanta leads 2,384-2,297.
All-time in New Orleans: Saintslead, 27-26, in the regular season and have won seven of the past 11.
All-time in Atlanta: Falcons lead, 28-27, but the Saints have won five of the past six.
SERIES BY THE NUMBERS
7: Times the Saints and Falcons have played on the final day of the regular season. Atlanta is 4-3 all time in those games, but two of those victories came in 1971 and 1973. Interestingly, Sunday will mark only the fourth time since 1988 they will finish the season against one another with the Saints having won three of those.
5: Point differential between Atlanta and New Orleans the last two times they played in the Caesars Superdome.
7: Prior to the aforementioned two games, number of consecutive games played in New Orleans between the two that were decided by double digits.
30: Difference between how many games the Saints have played against the Falcons (108) all time and the their second-most opponent – the San Francisco 49ers (78).
11: Including this game, number of consecutive times the Saints have been favored vs. Atlanta.
MEMORABLE GAMES IN THE SERIES
Sept. 25, 2006 (Saints 23, Falcons 3): OK, this is kind of cheating since we used this one last season, but hey, some call it the biggest regular-season game in franchise history. That’s because for the first time in more than 20 months, the Saints played a regular-season game in the Louisiana Superdome, and early in the contest one of the greatest moments in team history occurred.
Ninety seconds in, Steve Gleason blocked a Michael Koenen punt, which was recovered in the end zone by Curtis DeLoatch, and the first home game of the Sean Payton-Drew Brees era began in style in front of an incredibly raucous crowd and a national TV audience on Monday Night Football.
Nov. 13, 2011 (Saints 26, Falcons 23, OT): We already referenced this game, but it bears repeating – for a decision made by then-Atlanta coach Mike Smith at the Georgia Dome proved to be one of the dumbest in this long series.
The Falcons tied the score at 23 on a 27-yard field goal by Matt Bryant with 4 seconds left to send the game into overtime. After the teams traded punts, Smith faced a fourth-and-1 at his own 27. Instead of punting, he elected to send Michael Turner up the middle, who was quickly stuffed by Shaun Rogers and Will Smith.
What happened next? Well, we know what happened next. The Saints ran three plays to the Atlanta 8, including two runs by a rookie named Mark Ingram, and John Kasay kicked a 26-yard field goal for a 26-23 victory.
QUARTERBACKS IN THE SERIES
TAYLOR HEINICKE is 0-1 vs. NEW ORLEANS
Oct. 10, 2018: L, 33-22. 20-41, 248 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT.
DEREK CARR is 0-3 vs. Falcons
Nov. 26, 2023: L, 24-15. 24-38, 304 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT.
Nov. 29, 2020 (with Las Vegas): L, 43-6. 22-34, 215 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT.
Sept. 18, 2016 (with Oakland): L, 35-28. 34-45, 299 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT.
TOTALS: 80-of-117 (.684 completion percentage), 818 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT.