Live from New Orleans: The Falcons will lose – but not today
Just another example of how the Saints afford us Atlantans no respect. (Photo by M. Bradley)
New Orleans – Father Peter P. Finney delivered the homily at the 8 a.m. Mass at St. Clement of Rome in Metairie, La., this morning, and here we note: Father Finney is the grandson of Peter Finney, the gentlemanly sports columnist of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and Father Finney actually gave no homily at all. It’s a St. Clement tradition to do without one during its annual Oyster Festival, which is ongoing this weekend. (There was carnival paraphernalia all over the parking lot.)
Father Finney noted that today’s Oyster Festival session is set to commence at noon – “when the Saints kick off,” he said. Then he noted: “The Saints’ game will be shown on television.”
Our rather roundabout point being: Even when the Saints stink, they’re still the talk of the town. (Metairie is a suburb off Lake Pontchartrain, of which my hotel affords me a half-scenic view.)
I’m on record — if you have three minutes and 32 seconds, you can hear me say it to Bill Littlefield of NPR’s Only A Game — that the Falcons won’t go undefeated. (My quote: “I don’t think anybody really seriously believes the Falcons are going to go 16-0.”) But there’s CineSport proof of me picking the Falcons to reach the Super Bowl and, via the Internet and the print AJC, I’m also on record as predicting that they’ll sweep the Saints.
That belief probably won’t win me many friends among the Oyster Fest folks, but it is, for better or worse, how I feel. I don’t think a lousy defensive team can beat the Falcons, and the Saints are on course to be the lousiest defensive team ever. I believe the Falcons’ first loss will come two weeks hence, at Tampa three days after Thanksgiving. I do not believe it will happen today.
But I have, as we know, been wrong a time or two. Whatever occurs, I’ll be here to watch and comment, and I implore you to join me. And I thank you, as ever, in advance. (Oh, and if you missed it: Read the fine print on the seat card depicted above.)
By Mark Bradley
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1,785 comments Add your comment
Pandora
November 11th, 2012
4:25 pm
O.K. Falcons fans…I do understand that your team lost, but you all really should be there for your team…Atlanta has the worse fans..you all are turn coats…they lose and you lose interest…you all already know that the Falcons’ cant hold a candle to the New Orleans Saints..you should be used to that by now!!! At any rate the Falcons are on a downward spiral now….
Did you all REALLY THINK you would beat us??? Really..wow… I am a die hard New Orleans Saints fan….no matter what.. I love my team and all of the Saints fans feel the same as I do….GEAUX SAINTS!!!!
phar71
November 11th, 2012
4:25 pm
Can we please go out and get a running back. or atleast cut Turner and use Snelling and Quizz.
kerryb
November 11th, 2012
4:25 pm
All of you Saints losers I’m glad we made your season today. Enjoy sitting home watching everyone else in the playoffs. Can’t wait for them to come to the Georgia Dome. Will be different story.
The Big Fat Blogger
November 11th, 2012
4:25 pm
I actually feel sorry for the aint’s right now, they have to play us at our house in two weeks…. trust me, there will not be an upset next time we play, Spoon will be back, Jones will be 100 %, the Birds will be amped up!!!! It WILL be a blow out the next time we play YOU aints!!!!!!
Mark
November 11th, 2012
4:25 pm
Well it finally happen, we lost and i truly hope all of you Falcons haters are happy. But you know what ? It don’t mean nothing, we’ve lost before. If any of you haters watched the game you know Atlanta has alot better team than new orleans. We still the best team in the NFL and all of us Falcon fans knows this.
$@me0ldbirds
November 11th, 2012
4:26 pm
The aints will not even be in the playoffs. The sun is still shinning! I was surprised that the Falcons had done this well so far. Things could be worse.
Man....
November 11th, 2012
4:26 pm
How can the Saints have 5, FIVE, quality HBs, and we can’t even trot out one starting HB, Quizz excluded, because he’s not a starting back. They have Ingram, Ivory, Cadet, Thomas, and Sporles? My goodness, find an HB please.
IlliniDawg
November 11th, 2012
4:26 pm
Hard to lose to a team with such cocky arrogant obnoxious fans. Is there any class in NO outside of the Manning family?
take it from me.
November 11th, 2012
4:26 pm
Lets keep every thing in perspective,the Falcons are 8-1 with no running game,and a weak defence! ,but they after all are 8-1. boy do we miss spoon!
okeetee
November 11th, 2012
4:26 pm
Well, this game was lost by that knucklehead clown in our secondary, who made a great pick in the 1st quarter…..then got a 15 yard penalty for “celebrating” like a dumb a$$. Then I think it was the same knot-head that bit on that running play instead of keep the guy inside and let him go outside where there was no help. Play busted for a 50 yard touchdown run when it should have only been a 10 yard gain! Well, we knew we weren’t going to go undefeated, and we may lose our number 1 power ranking spot….but at least we didn’t get our butts handed to us by the Bungles…..like the Giants did!
Michael M.
November 11th, 2012
4:26 pm
Just think if Roddy White had caught that long ball at the end…………..he might have scored and then those Moron would be crybaby Aint Fans would never show up on Atlanta Blogs…….we get the Caints again in a few weeks and then we will beat em like a drum !
stein
November 11th, 2012
4:26 pm
Undefeated my foot. Lol
Birds got roasted.
Alpha23
November 11th, 2012
4:27 pm
Yeah, the falcons are somewhat better, but not man enough to put it in the endzone for the winning TD!! That’s what we’ll remember!
AlanFalcon
November 11th, 2012
4:27 pm
Falcons were either not well prepared or the defense and offensive run game did not go to play, two (2) falcons need to be replaced (Ray Edwards, who is yet to show up and Michael Turner who seems to have lost his ability) hope Mike eats the team alive this week, it was a poor effort from the start with Samuel’s celebration and the rest of the penalities that cost us dearly.
I hope they get their act back together and decide to play ball he next time they hit the field.
Kennesaw David
November 11th, 2012
4:27 pm
Even a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.
stein
November 11th, 2012
4:27 pm
Take that failcon biaatches….
hahaha….undefeted !! Lol how did that turn out when you play real team.
Indiana Falcon
November 11th, 2012
4:27 pm
Time to get Jonathan Dwyer out of Pittsburgh and back to the ATL to replace Turner
Diane Crowe
November 11th, 2012
4:27 pm
1. The Falcons will NOT sweep the Saints
2. The Falcons will lose, and it WAS today
3. We “hung-over” Who Dat’s are much happier right now than you Falcon’s fans.
4. Falcon’s did NOT score 30 points.
These posts are pathetic!
Carl
November 11th, 2012
4:27 pm
Hey ‘Pedigree’ – why don’t you post a picture of YOUR SB ring….ahhh, thats right, you can’t – YOU don’t have one…i sure wish my teams rallying cry was “who dat”…maybe you guys should switch to “axe me sum uv dem der quessens”….illiterate f-tards
playmeortrademe
November 11th, 2012
4:27 pm
Brees said they would fold? Who folded? One yard that our slow RB couldn’t get is what separated you from another L. And then you still almost got beat. Brees should be glad the NFL took pity on NO for years after Katrina.
Jofo
November 11th, 2012
4:28 pm
Simply put! Aints SUCK! We lost (shoulda led those passes a bit Matt) to a sucky & scummy team with little or no morals!
Pigskin
November 11th, 2012
4:28 pm
Roddy doesn’t pull up on that late play…..we win this game.
OK, there’s a lotta ‘ifs.’
Skeeterleg
November 11th, 2012
4:28 pm
It is our destiny to lose! phil
…except the fact that they are 8-1. You literally ,every single week, “predict” the Falcons to lose and they don’t. So you got one right finally after nine tries and proclaim yourself to be a football genius. Nice touch.
Icing on the cake too is that you insult people that have enjoyed the other eight wins while you loathe them because of your stupid incorrect predictions every week. You look so foolish anointing yourself the voice of reason when you are in fact the equivalent of the court jester and town drunk on the blog.
Also, why are you so miserable and a sack of crap? Honest answers appreciated
MTSeats
November 11th, 2012
4:28 pm
Wait till next year. But, Blank wants a new stadium, BEWARE taxpayers.
Hillbilly D
November 11th, 2012
4:28 pm
MB, those declarative headlines always come back to bite you.
Montana Transplant
November 11th, 2012
4:28 pm
It is great to be 8-1, but temper that euphoria with a reality of the records for the teams we beat to this point.Only 1 has a winning record to this point and the rest are below .500. Great to win those games, but not exactly proof that we’ve overcome our traditional weaknesses. Hopefully this is a wakeup call that some things have to be improved even as we only face 2 teams with winning records in the rest of the season. We can’t wait to determine we have to fix things like this until we reach the playoffs. Been there, done that. Got the treadmarks to show for it.
Michael
November 11th, 2012
4:28 pm
It’s not a excuse, but losing now rather than later is good. The time to get hot and consistent is in the playoffs. We must correct the running game on the goal line.
Blanner
November 11th, 2012
4:28 pm
boo boo….now go and cry failcon moron fans
Buzzzed
November 11th, 2012
4:28 pm
Just wanted to say…
Turner is a waste of a down. I knew the outcome every time he touched the ball.
CrankMyWren
November 11th, 2012
4:29 pm
Pandora has been listening to ESPN too much…we have real fans who stand by our team. Go comment on some Aints blog somewhere you dork
kerryb
November 11th, 2012
4:29 pm
stein
November 11th, 2012
4:26 pm
Undefeated my foot. Lol
Birds got roasted.
___________________________________________________________________
You did watch the game didn’t you? Roasting is not barely getting a 4 point win.
Answer This
November 11th, 2012
4:29 pm
MT 33 is not the answer!
Carl
November 11th, 2012
4:29 pm
Hey Diane – since you’re cleary a bourbon street trick….how much you charge?…$3.79 a pop?…and how many STDs do you have?
Yo Vince
November 11th, 2012
4:29 pm
I’ll give it up for Drew. He is the Johnny Football of the NFL. I knew he was gonna get his 30, but we had a 40 burger if we don’t hand off on 1st and ANYTHING to I got my roller skates on Turner. Please kill me. Saints played hard though.
Alpha23
November 11th, 2012
4:29 pm
I doubt there’ll be a blow-out in the dome against these same saints!
Blanner
November 11th, 2012
4:29 pm
tIME TO GET HOT AND COLD….LOL
NO MATTER HOW MANY GAMES YOU WIN IN REGULAR SEASON….YOUR TEAM STILL CHOKES.
ETERNAL TRUTH
Pigskin
November 11th, 2012
4:29 pm
It’s strangely comforting….this loss.
11-2 suckas!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 11th, 2012
4:29 pm
Time to realize Falcons fans…. Saints OWN you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Joe
November 11th, 2012
4:29 pm
Michael Turner has got to be benched or something, He can’t even gain a yard on a 3rd and goal? he runs too damn slow, no burst or effort. Hell start Snelling or Rodgers, we need a run game and Turner is not the answer.
okeetee
November 11th, 2012
4:29 pm
….oh, I also blame some of the conservative play calling for this loss, too! I thought we fired the offensive coordinator and got a progressive thinking one? Too many predictable running plays for no gain! Come on, man!
MTSeats
November 11th, 2012
4:30 pm
RISE UP ! and refuse taxpayer dollars for Arthur Blank.
Tom
November 11th, 2012
4:30 pm
Still can’t beat the Saints even when we are supposedly up and they are down
bigperry
November 11th, 2012
4:30 pm
our o-line is sad coming over from 2011 into 2012 and cannot block nobody 0ne dam yard this is a sad dam o-line can”t block one f–king yard the whole line sure be cut smitty your o-line grade for the week is a dam F plus get off your sorry asses and knock somebody in the dam mouth with your sad asses.like i said the o-line is a dam joke,leaveing touchdown on the field not one time but two that is a dam same the lose is good maybe the o-line can learn from thid and the defense most get better with there soft no tackleing asses.
keith
November 11th, 2012
4:30 pm
Either one of the Saints Running Backs would have scored from the 1 yard line!!!!
stein
November 11th, 2012
4:30 pm
Roasted coz you guys were dreaming about going 16-0
LOL
Match2
November 11th, 2012
4:30 pm
in the Ga dome the falcons will blowout the saints in the rematch—bet the house!
Michael
November 11th, 2012
4:30 pm
I guess the Village idoits are making themselves know today with the comments.
MikeSmithanIdiot
November 11th, 2012
4:31 pm
This loss was clearly on the coaches. 2nd n goal (inches) and not 1 qb sneak
CrankMyWren
November 11th, 2012
4:31 pm
Drew Brees is an ugly douche.
kerryb
November 11th, 2012
4:31 pm
About the running game. Yea, part of it is Turner’s fault but it is hard to run when your line is getting knocked back consistently 2 yards on every running play.