Matt Ryan prances into the Superdome's endzone via www3.pictures.gi.zimbio.com
We've got a long, long history with those black and gold clad gumbo guzzlers. It started in November of '67 with a close loss. That history includes one playoff game (which we lost...) and seventy-nine regular season meetings. That makes our MNF showdown in the land of the Mardi Gras our eightieth meeting with the ragin' cajuns. The history is storied, and offers lots and lots of data. Just don't expect to gleam much from them, outside of the fact that we're ten games up on them. That lead is likely to be whittled down a bit when all is said and done this season, so enjoy it for now.
As a side note, I've noticed something. The two games I missed doing the opponent history on (NE, DAL) are losses. Now I'm getting superstitious. Don't think I'll miss any more games...
The Facts:
- Current Series Record against Dem Dastardly 'Aints: 45 - 34 (79 total), 0 - 1 Playoffs
- Score-to-Score Totals: Atlanta owns the points scored category by twenty-two touchdowns and two safeties (157 points). New Orleans has a score total of 1585; Atlanta bests that with 1742.
- Old enemies We first played the Saints in our second year as a team, 1967. We've seen them seventy-eight times since in the regular season. These teams know each other well. Still, somehow I don't hate them. I blame the other Dave (of CSC) for being too cool to hate.
- Stompin' em, repeatedly: The Falcons hold an impressive lead in the "streak of wins" category with ten straight wins between 1995 and 1999. The closest New Orleans gets to that is a streak they started in December of 1986 that ran for six games (ending in 89). FYI, the Falcons also had the Saints' number between the years of '69 and '73, winning nine straight times.
- Sharin' the Shutouts: Atlanta and New Orleans both have two shutouts each.
- Running Away with It: 35 of these games (44%) have ended with a winning score margin of 10 or more
- Running WAY Away with It: The Falcons have the highest score differential with 55 points. The magical day was the 16th of September, 1973. The Falcons ended the game with 62 points to the Saints' measly 7.
- Like Fish in a Barrel: The Falcons have scored thirty or more points twenty-two times. The Saints have scored 30 or more just over half of that with 12 games.
- Just Kick It: 22 of these contests were decided by a field goal or less. Hmm...