There have been plenty of weird moments in the history of the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons, as their histories are intertwined since the Saints joined the NFL in 1967 – one season after their eventual hated rivals’ initial season.
We have “Big Ben” in November 1978, when Steve Bartkowski found Alfred Jackson for a miracle 57-yard touchdown catch and run down the right sideline (after the ball was tipped by Wallace Francis) as time expired in the Superdome for a Falcons victory.
Everyone remembers Jess Phillips scoring a late touchdown for the Saints for a 14-13 victory in September 1974 at Tulane Stadium that helped New Orleans end a nine-game losing streak in the series – a game in which quarterbacks Pat Sullivan and Archie Manning COMBINED to pass for 131 yards.
There’s the lone playoff game between the two when New Orleanian Michael Haynes, who grew up a diehard Who Dat and later would play for his hometown Saints, scored the game-winning touchdown for the Dirty Birds in the Superdome on Dec. 29, 1991. Indeed, the Falcons were “too legit to quit.”
In more recent times, there are some overtime games won by the Saints, including 43-37 in September 2018 when Drew Brees leapt over the top of the pile to finish off a 15-play, 80-yard drive, in which the Falcons never touched the ball.
Oh, and one of Who Dats’ favorites was when then Atlanta coach Mike Smith decided to go for it in OT from his own 29 on Nov. 23, 2011, and Michael Turner was stuffed. Four plays later, John Kasay kicked a 26-yard field goal for the 26-23 game winner.
BUT, on Sunday, in a game that means everything for both teams, one of the members of the announcing crew for CBS will be Matt Ryan. Yes, THAT Matt Ryan. The quarterback who helped give Saints fans fodder for a lifetime of ribbing in a 28-3 Falcons victory in Super Bowl LI … Oh wait, we mean a 34-28 Atlanta loss to the New England Patriots. (Never gets old, does it?)
Indeed, the same quarterback who went 10-17 against New Orleans in his career.
Why did the network decide to send him with play-by-play broadcaster Andrew Catalon and fellow color analyst Tiki Barber to the Superdome, where the 14-year veteran collected more bruises and hits to his ego than anywhere else in his career?
Because maybe some exec has a sense of humor? Let’s see Sunday if Ryan does.