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.

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