Tale of the Tape: Brees, Ryan square off in N.O.
 

Heading into their second matchup with the Saints this season, the Falcons will look to duplicate their last performance –- minus one fourth-down failure.

Despite a turnover-on-downs in overtime that cost them a Week 10 contest with New Orleans, Atlanta couldn’t have dreamed for a better scenario on defense. They finished as one of four teams to hold New Orleans to less than 100 rushing yards (and the only one to lose). On top of that, Drew Brees‘ 363 yards and two touchdowns were pedestrian by 2011 standards.

But one faulty series in overtime made them an outlier on Brees’ soon-to-be record-breaking season. Balance is the key to New Orleans’ offense, and for Atlanta to hang in with the NFC South leaders once more, it will need to not only stop the No. 1 passing offense in the league (331.4 yards per game), but also the eighth-ranked rushing attack (125.4 yards per game).



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I think we need to plan some short passes on 1st down in stead of 44% running plays