Re: "sad thing is they are going in dry on us sunday"
 

I used to believe this but I think in the past decade, we've really witnessed the height of the Saints/Falcons rivalry.

The previous height was 1991, the only time back in the day that both teams made the playoffs and that 1991 playoff loss is still for me, the most heartbreaking of all playoff losses. I will never forget back then. I was so young and when Michael Haynes made that long TD run, I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest.

I don't even think the Falcons were the most hated of our rivals back in the 80's and 90's, it was the 49ers. Those of us who grew up back then hated them with a burning passion with most of us older fans still hating them. Older Falcons fans talk about the 49ers in the same way we do. They were just like us; always having to deal with that Goliath in their path any time their team had a winning season. The 1998 Falcons really caught a huge break by having their winning season in a year where the Niners dynasty was finally in it's twilight and burning out. We didn't get that lucky in the early 90s since the Niners were able to pick up where they left off after installing Steve Young as the starting QB. It didn't matter that we were 12-4 in 1992, we couldn't even win the division cause the Niners had to go 14-2 that year. Every year we made the playoffs back then except 1991, the Niners were the Goliath that moved ahead of us. I remember when an entire season would hinge on being able to compete with the Niners due to the division. That's pretty much how it went for Atlanta and all the NFC West teams back then too; if you couldn't compete with the Niners and win games, then no playoffs for you.


Most of the time, when the Saints or Falcons are in playoff contention, the other won't be. That changed in the 2000s. Though we didn't make the playoffs after 2000, they did in the Mike Vick years and those matches with them were vital and some of them were tough losses cause we could've made the playoffs had we got past them. This started to really pick up steam after 2009 when both the Saints and Falcons were making the playoffs together and more pressure was put on the divisional games.

We've had some seriously heated games since then. During the summer I made a post about how I wanted to add up some stats between the Falcons/Saints games between Brees and Ryan and see how it adds up with other QB rivalries from back in the day like Jim Kelly vs Dan Marino, and Peyton Manning vs Tom Brady. We've had so many shoot out games with the Falcons and both Brees and Ryan have posted career highs in some of them. I truly think that's good evidence of how strong the rivalry turned in the past decade.

Re: "sad thing is they are going in dry on us sunday"
 

I agree that the 40-whiners were the Saints biggest rivals during the 80s & 90s.

IMO, the Saints worst playoff loss win always be to the whiners in the 2011 Divisional playoffs.

Re: "sad thing is they are going in dry on us sunday"
 

We shoulda won that year.

Re: "sad thing is they are going in dry on us sunday"
 

Yes I totally agree with you that the football rivalry between the 2 teams is great. I guess what I meant to say was that the fan base of both teams hate each other more than the actual players do. You gave a great recap of the rivalry though. I go way back to the beginning and I remember those years of hating the 49 ers. Funny though how now Joe Montana's one of my favorite nostalgic quarterbacks

XLIV CHAMPS

Re: "sad thing is they are going in dry on us sunday"
 

Man, those guys are really salty. I got banned in less than an hour. Simply for calling them out on their lies.

Re: "sad thing is they are going in dry on us sunday"
 

Those 49ers teams were more hated by Saints back then than the Falcon's Saint hate today.

We could never beat them. I remember a game where Steve Young was literally making fun of I believe Dikta on the sideline. Brees would never do something like that.

The only game I recall winning was a washed up 49ers team with an old Jerry Rice. We shut them down and Billy Joe Tollier played the greatest game of his life. Rest of them we got beat like a dog.

Re: "sad thing is they are going in dry on us sunday"
 

Wow, that was even painful for me to read. Ouch. First time I have ever felt sorry for them.

Re: "sad thing is they are going in dry on us sunday"
 

This really gets into it.

Joe Montana and Steve Young BOTH retired with undefeated records at the Superdome.

Young also had a complete undefeated record vs the Rams. The Rams managed to beat them in 1989 before getting waxed in the NFCCG that year. After that, it would be a whole 10 years before they finally beat the Niners again.

They owned the Falcons too, but some how some way, the new franchise Panthers shockingly had some key wins against the Niners and I think they swept them in 1996. Young's numbers never looked that good vs the Panthers for some odd reason while he would boast 100+ QBRs against us, Atlanta and the Rams.

We had some of the most heartbreaking losses to those old Niners teams. I will never forget 1991 when we played them at Candlestick and without Young, they had figured it out with backup Steve Bono. We could've beat them on the final drive, then Steve Walsh stupidly fumbles the snap and just stands there as they scoop it up and I think they returned it for a touchdown to rub it in our faces.

I think it was in 1998 or 1999 we had the game at Candlestick where one of the Billy Joes had a great game, and the game was tied 21-21 with 2 minutes to go and then we threw a pick six. That was a heart breaker cause we had them on the edge and forced them to tie it, but we still had a chance with 2 minutes left and before that pick six, Billy Joe was having a career game.


The only real reason for me that 2011 hurt so bad is because it was the freaking 49ers and I would've much rather lost to another team besides them that year. Losing to them just re-opened those wounds and old scars of the past. I never believed we were going to win it all that year and wasn't confident going into that game. We had a bottom 4 ranked defense and had feasted on blowing out cupcakes all year at home. We were coming off a playoff game where we pretty much struggled and gave up 28 points to Matthew Stafford. We actually struggled on the road that year losing to the Rams, Bucs and then nearly losing to the trash Titans. That 2011 team is the greatest example of how it don't matter how great your offense is, if the defense is garbage, they aren't going to win it all.

Re: "sad thing is they are going in dry on us sunday"
 

I'm the same way with Steve Young LOL. Hated having to watch him batter and beat us to a bloody pulp twice a year, but I had a lot of respect for him as a player, and in advanced stats, Young pretty much is the QB that they desperately wish Aaron Rodgers was. Rodgers matches him with an all time best TD/INT ratio, but his efficiency numbers are poor while Young was an MVP candidate up in his late 30s. The big 3 elite QBs in that era were Favre, Young and a past his prime Aikman behind them (after his back injury, he was never the same again but still commanded respect for his 3 rings). Young had the numbers to be behind Favre in the MVP QB debates, where as Aaron Rodgers really falls short behind the Manning, Brady, Brees trio for most of the years. If social media existed back in the 90s and advanced stats, Young would've got all the praise and credit that Rodgers gets now. They would most likely even label him potential GOAT for his crazy efficiency numbers and when he retired, he had the all time best TD/INT ratio.

I hated having to deal with Kurt Warner back in his prime with the Rams but he is also one of my all time favorite QBs. He was likable and easy to root for being that his journey with the rags to riches story. I rooted for him hard when the Cards made that SB in 2008.

I know some older Falcons fans who are cool and I get along with them, not much trash talk and we've been to games. But then again, they're older and come from our generation, we're mostly chilled out now and not rowdy anymore.

Talking football with older Falcons fans is pretty funny though cause they hate those old 49ers teams as much as we do. They really caught a break in 1998 by getting ahead of the Niners in the twilight of their dynasty and yet even in that year, the Falcons had to win 14 games to get the division.

One bad memory I have of Atlanta back in the day was seeing Morten Andersen go there and I don't have the time this morning to pull up the game, but I know there is one game where he kicked multiple 40-50 yard kicks on us which was like daggers going into the heart. Hated seeing him in a Falcons uniform making those clutch long distance kicks.

Re: "sad thing is they are going in dry on us sunday"
 

They are just Fans like us for the most part, however if the situation was reversed I doubt we would get much sympathy from the Dirty Bird Flock.