Saintswrath

The race for NFC South supremacy has tightened because the New Orleans Saints have been inconsistent lately while the Atlanta Falcons have reeled off three straight victories.
The Saints, however, believe they’re poised to get their season back on track.
With the division lead at stake, first-place New Orleans looks to win consecutive games for the first time in a month by cooling off the Falcons on Sunday at the Georgia Dome.
The Saints (6-3) are one-half game ahead of Atlanta (5-3) but haven’t always looked like a division leader of late. New Orleans followed a 62-7 win over Indianapolis in Week 7 with a stunning 31-21 loss to then-winless St. Louis. The Saints rebounded from that defeat with last Sunday’s 27-16 win over a Tampa Bay team that beat them Oct. 16.
“This is a pretty critical time for us, this month of November,” said Drew Brees, who has thrown a touchdown pass in 36 consecutive games to tie Brett Favre for the second-longest streak in NFL history.
“It’s a time when a lot of teams separate themselves from the rest of the pack, and we want to be one of those teams. And this is when you want to be on a roll, so hopefully this is the start of that.”
The Saints haven’t posted back-to-back wins since a four-game run Sept. 18-Oct. 9, but they have won an NFL-best nine straight November games dating to 2009.
“This is the month in which you separate from being a playoff contender or not,” safety Malcolm Jenkins said. “Teams that win in November are usually teams that make the playoffs.”
The Falcons also have done a good job of taking care of business in November. Last Sunday’s 31-7 win over the Colts was their sixth straight November victory.
“Coming off the bye week, we wanted to make sure that we started fast and I really liked the way our team did,” coach Mike Smith said. “But for us, we’ve got to stay focused on what we need to get accomplished. We know we’re playing an outstanding football team that has lots of weapons.”
These teams, who split two matchups last season, haven’t met since Dec. 27, when Brees’ six-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham with 3:24 left gave the Saints a 17-14 win in Atlanta.
New Orleans has won four of five at the Georgia Dome, including two straight. The Falcons have suffered only two other losses in their last 22 regular-season home games.
The Saints have won eight of 10 overall in this series as Brees has thrown for 3,010 yards with 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He has 3,004 yards passing in 2011 to become the first NFL player to eclipse the 3,000-yard mark in the first nine games of a season.
Although the Saints are obviously a pass-first team, opposing defenses have had to honor a sound ground game. New Orleans, ninth in the NFL with 126.0 rushing yards per game, is 6-0 when reaching the 100-yard mark but 0-3 when held below 100.

By Matt Becker
STATS Senior Writer
NFL: Atlanta Falcons hunting New Orleans Saints' NFC South division lead | Sports | National Post

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