We play pretty good in spotlight games. I expect a sense of urgency and to not get embarrased on the national stage.

To me, the simple key to winning this game is that the Saints NEED TO SCORE POINTS IN THE 2nd and 3rd QUARTERS, not just explode big in the first quarter, go to sleep for a while, and then suddenly come alive again in the last 4 minutes of the game looking for a miracle play... Going up by a big lead in the 1st period is NOT going to "force the Falcons to pass more" and start Ryan throwing the ball wildly...trust me,the Falcons will keep dinking and dunking and Turnering, all game long, even if down by 2 scores...but if the Saints' offense gets ahead and then pulls a Rip Van Winkle in the 2nd and 3rd quarter, like they've been doing so often this year...then Ryan, Turner and the Falcons will have all night to grind their way back into the game, 5 yards at a time.

Matt Ryan and the Falcons are kinda like the Monty Python "But I'm not dead yet!" guy...they don't know when to quit. Even if they're losing, you're telling them they're dead, they'll keep on arguing with you, and singing to you, insisting "but I'm feeling much better now," until you BONK THEM ON THE HEAD, by scoring enough points ALL THROUGH THE GAME, to take them out of it...that's how the Eagles did it. Not just that they went up big by 14 early, but that they KEPT SCORING all game long, and kept their lead.


When the Broncos beat Ryan and the Falcons at home (last home loss for Ryan in the GA Dome), the Broncos didn't do anything exceptional or magical, they weren't even that good of a team...they just didn't turn the ball over and they had good offensive drives, consistently all the way through the game, they scored points methodically and then when the game got within two minutes, with the Falcons behind, Turner became irrelevant and they turned it over on downs. But the early lead was actually completely insignificant -- it's just the last two or three minutes where you can take Turner out of it if you have the lead.