Secret behind Falcons winning season
 

They simply mimicked Saints 2009 Season..

With the exception of DOMINATING most of the opponents, they've used our 2009 formula which is, take the lead early, and slow it down and eat the clock down.
The Coaching simply compared and copied.
Looking at some of their older games i watched how they took a lead and just stepped on their opponents neck by allowing their offense on the field as less as possible, tiring their D and then letting their D wear out their opponents offense taking them off the field fast to wear the D out some more..

Ryan does A LOT of dink and dunk drop offs for short chunk drives and they convert as much as the D allows them, once they find a weakness they gun for it down the field and score..
Saints had this exact same style last year with a few differences, our ground game wasn't as good, but we had the ability to wear Defenses out or at least give them all they could take until they figure us out.. we seemed to always have the other team figured out early in the games, this year not so much..
Last year i also saw Drew on the sidelines studying the other team D looking at screen cap's, breaking down the D, this year no so much, however i now see Matt Ryan doing this for every game....

I think we've been over looking a lot of our opponents this season and thats the reason we've slipped up most of the times, but i think it's going to come down Monday Night to who knows each other's team the best and who can cause the least penalties..
This was the case in our first game as well ironically, but we also weren't at full strength and our kicker well.. nevermind..

Anyway i hope Sean is going to orchestrate his best game and not try and play relaxed and Gregg Williams got his boys fired up, the past couple of games the have been tackling with one hand, i don't know maybe im the only one that see's that but i swear it's like this team is either busy trying to strip the ball or not trying to get penalized, the tackling have been weak as hell the past couple of games.. I mean we are Marshmallow soft this year.

Its safe to say that the first time around, Our offense was nowhere near close to finding themselves - the explosiveness, the rhythm was not the same from last year.
Then since we faced the Steelers, it all seemed to click, big plays every week since firing all over the place.
The falcons have a good Running game, and a game managing passing game, we just have to make sure we play like we know we can. Explosive, exploiting the mismatches, taking advantage of every chance, no dropped balls, no missed tackles and no stupid penalties.
We go back to basic fundamentals (if the saints game can be simplified) and we win this game, this is now a must win, not bothered about well theres always next week - we HAVE TO HAVE THIS GAME!!

Having the refs in their back pocket sure hasn't hurt 'em much either...

...just sayin...

We spread the ball out. They rely on two main threats, White and Turner. White at 106 catches with two games left. Marcus was nowhere near that last season or this season. Turner has 300 carries this season. Very differnt build. If they lose either of those players I don't see how anyone can step up to those levels to fill the void.

A good formula indeed ... that and an easier schedule! That does not mean they make it to the SB, however.

We beat ourselves and it gave them the confidence to win all those games.

Yep.

Very good.

They have definitely tried to mimick our 2009 season, but it's a lot MORE than just copying what we do...as Carolina has faded away, the Falcons have pretty much designed and built large chunks of their team and coaching staff the past few years, SPECIFICALLY to beat the Payton/Brees-era Saints -- because they know Payton's kinda had their number ever since he got here. Firing their last coach; Drafting Ryan instead of Glen Dorsey; acquiring Gonzalez as a ball control/first down-making Pro Bowl TE; the additions/changes this past year in their defensive secondary....it's all pieces of a very specific puzzle, and their offense is now BUILT to manage the clock and keep Brees and Bush off the field....

These grueling ten-minute Falcon offensive drives you see, they started pretty much as soon as Turner & Ryan got there... before that, they did a lot more chucking it downfield to White, trying to score quickly, not long slooooow drives like now...Their defense with its "new and improved" secondary this year, is designed to cover Colston, Bush and our multiple receiver threats....the things they do with rotating the linebackers, is designed to keep them fresh, to keep pressure on Brees all game long...same with the big emphasis they put on interceptions, which they DID copy from us last year -- that's not because they are playing a couple of decent passing teams every year..it's because they play "INT-factory" Jake Delhomme twice a year (or thought they would), and have to face Drew's precision passing game twice...it's no big secret that interceptions are one of the only ways you beat Drew...

With maybe one or two exceptions, you can pretty much point to EVERY off season, team-building move or change the Falcons have made the past 2-4 years, and connect it to either a corresponding dominant strength of the Saints on the other side of the ball they have to get around, or a past weakness of the Clowns that was badly exposed in a specific Falcons/Saints game, and exploited by Payton. It's true!

Trades and acquisitions to maximize your divisional success is exactly what every team should be doing. That goes a long way against the teams you may only see once every 4 years or so. We just have to knock them off their pirch. That means much better play than the 1st time around.
As I sat in the Dome back in September, I couldn' t believe we didn't glue to Gonzalas on 3rd-and-8, 3rd-and-14...I was pulling my hair out (I'm bald). He kept catching 3rd-and-long 1st downs. Security just wouldn't let me go down there, suit up and go cover him. It was terrible. They are better now at what they do - so we definitely have to be better. Better pressure, better coverage, better tackling, and better offensive execution. Beating these guys sets a precedent going into the post season. Losing kind of points in a different direction.