The New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons are doing battle in an NFC South divisional game on Thursday night football and the two teams will square off for the second time this season and in Week 12 the game will be at the Georgia Dome and starting up at 8:25 pm and streaming online live from the NFL.com main league website.
The two teams come into the game going in very different directions and this comes after the Falcons went to the NFC championship game as the top seed in the conference last season and now they are just 2-8. The team has dealt with a number of significant injures to big time players like Julio Jones and Roddy White and that has hurt Matt Ryan and the team overall and now they will try and play spoiler in the division as the two teams get ready to meet on Thursday. The Saints have been one of the best teams in the conference and while they are in first place now, chances are they will not be taking the Falcons lightly and that is part of the leadership of Drew Brees.
The Saints have been one of the better offensive teams in the league and now they face a team struggling on defense and that likely means a big game for Brees as well as tight end Jimmy Graham. New Orleans is playing very well and has won three of the past four games, but they are about to hit the toughest stretch of their schedule as the season wears on, as they play the Panthers twice and one of those games is in Carolina, while the team also has a crucial Monday night matchup with the Seattle Seahawks that could be the game that helps decide home field advantage in the NFC for the playoffs.
The Saints are coming off of a dramatic and slightly controversial win over the San Francisco 49ers last week, as an Ahmad Brooks hit on Brees kept the Saints alive and they came through with a winning drive. The team escaped with a win and Brees had over 300 yards passing, but it was very close to being a loss and now in a short week the team must try not to give a letdown performance against a losing team before playing the Seahawks in the huge Monday night game that is coming after a bye for Seattle this week on the schedule.
The Falcons have been trying their best, but this season that has not been good enough and along with the Houston Texans they are the biggest disappointment in the league. The Saints come in ranked second in the league in passing yards per game with over 300, while the team is also ranked in the top three in passing yards per game with under 200 and that will be the biggest challenge for the Falcons on Thursday night. Brees already has over 3,000 yards passing and is on pace for over 5,000 and a nice game here would set up New Orleans for the big showdown next week with the Seahawks. The Panthers are just a game back and the team plays two of the next three against Carolina and that could help decide the NFC South.
