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ATLANTA — When it was over, when 71 points sent sparks shooting from the Georgia Dome scoreboards and the teams combined to melt the artificial turf for 1,040 yards and the lead changed hands like a relay baton five frantic times after halftime, the Atlanta Falcons celebrated victory over their most hated rival by turning the New Orleans Saints’ signature chant into a bitter taunt.

“We dat!” the Falcons faithful yelled. “We dat!”

The objective eye will look at Sunday’s 37-34 overtime Saints loss to the Falcons and see an incredible game, a true classic in the Deep South’s best and most passionate pro football rivalry.

But there’s no objectivity when it comes to the Saints and Falcons.

History is written by the winners, and the Falcons will write this up large in their annals as one of their franchise’s greatest wins.

The Saints will mourn an opportunity lost and wonder if an offseason of bright promise and enormous expectations has merely been deflected or suffered a mortal wound.

There is no room for rational perspective when the Saints and Falcons play. There is only overwrought emotion, unbridled euphoria or doomsday-grade despair.

The Saints have enough talent, coaching and time to heal 100 percent from this loss. Come February, black and gold-clad Saints fans may well be in Glendale, Arizona, lubricating themselves with margaritas for the Super Bowl and remarking, “Remember how worried everyone was when we lost in Atlanta? Bartender — another round!”

New Orleans right tackle Zach Strief’s margarita glass is still half-full.


Read more: Rabalais: This Saints loss stings, but there’s a whole season left to turn it around | Saints | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Danno

Our goal should be to win 7 or 8 at home, and 4-4 on the road.

We're 0-1 on the road. We still have
Cleveland
Dallas
Detroit
Carolina
Tampa
Pittsburgh
Chicago

I can see 4 wins in that group for sure. In fact, Atlanta was probably our toughest road game on the schedule.

WhoDat!656

This game proved one thing: you can't let a team hang around.

Mardigras9

Not worried, settling for 3's in the beginning came back to haunt them. Clean up the mistakes and they would have dropped 50 on Atlanta.

hagan714

really? ya think?

this is the NFC South baby and anytime you get a road win in our division it is a HUGE deal.

Is the sky falling? Nope it is not falling

But this was a great missed opportunity.

Rugby Saint II

Rub some dirt on the sting and move on.

QBREES9

Ok, who's up next.

TheKillerBs

On the bright side, we get to play the Browns next week.

hagan714

Browns have a better OL than the falcons so we will see. we at least on paper and if we are lucky we can try to live up to all the press clipping for defense during the off season.

but do not think we will walk through that line with out some serious corrections and gut checks

dizzle88

Our players had that attitude vs the falcons and looked what happened

The browns are not to be underestimated, they played well vs Steelers, we have to score and keep the throttle down, if we get into a shootout, I don't think our defense will fare any better