The Atlanta Falcons defense is a mess in the air. You cannot call a unit “good” when it ranks No. 27 in the NFL, allowing 273.3 passing yards per game. We saw the cracks last week against Green Bay, and the New Orleans Saints are going to exploit them on Monday Night Football. If the Falcons want to prove their win wasn’t a fluke, they have to stop the bleeding in the secondary immediately.
The danger of the Shough offense
New Orleans has a way of staying in games by moving the ball through the air. According to Yahoo Sports, the Saints drop back to pass on 69% of their offensive plays this season. That frequency is the second-highest in the league. Tyler Shough is the man leading that charge, and he is looking to attack Atlanta’s weakness. Matt LaMarca wrote for fantasylife.com that while Shough might not be a long-term fantasy star, there is no reason he should not stay fantasy-viable right now.
The Saints offense is built to score. They should find the end zone at least three times in this matchup. Without Travis Etienne, Shough might even find more ways to score through the air or on the ground. The Falcons run defense is elite, ranking No. 1 by allowing just 47.7 yards per game, but that doesn’t matter if the pass rush fails. If the secondary stays bad, the Saints will just march right down the field.
Testing the Falcons’ new identity
This game is the ultimate test for Michael Penix Jr. and this offense. We saw him return to the lineup on Thursday Night Football and help crush the Packers. Now, he faces a Brandon Staley-led defense that will not make things easy. The Saints defense might not be elite, but they will provide a real challenge. It is the perfect stage to see if the Falcons offense is actually a real threat or just riding a wave of luck.
The matchup between Drake London and Kool-Aid McKinstry will decide the night. London was huge in Week 3, grabbing nine receptions for 194 yards on 10 targets. If the Saints can erase him, the Falcons are in deep trouble. The Saints are 2.5-point favorites according to reports, and the moneyline shows them at -144. Atlanta is the underdog at +122.
Fixing the mistakes
The Saints are coming off a 35-27 loss to the Raiders, and they are hungry. Head coach Kellen Moore said his team needs to learn from that loss, according to reports. He noted, “I think in many ways, there is a lot of good stuff on this film.” The Saints are not going to let that loss linger. They are coming into this game with a chip on their shoulder, and the Falcons defense better be ready to respond.
