ATLANTA — The Atlanta Falcons came off of their bye week and shocked the entire NFL on Sunday by soundly defeating the NFC South division leading New Orleans Saints in the Superdome, 26-9.
In the Saints' defense, other would-be playoff contenders had bad days this week, including the Kansas City Chiefs falling to the Tennessee Titans after a bad snap in the closing minutes forced field goal holder James Winchester to throw the ball away.
But back to the Falcons -- they finally put together a pass rush that worked and kept the pressure on Drew Brees.
The NFC South is not known as the new Black and Blue Division for nothing. The Saints are battered with injuries across the board. Brees missed multiple games following thumb surgery -- only making his second start on Sunday.
The Falcons are also having injury problems, but were able to make the most of what they had at hand.
Here's what the national press had to say about Sunday's victory:
- Falcons bring consistent pressure, look like different team in upset - Vaughn McClure, ESPN
- Falcons upset Saints behind great D - Tyler Sullivan, CBS Sports
- Falcons pump the brakes on the Saints Super Bowl train - Jay Busbee, Yahoo Sports
- Saints implode in stunning loss to Falcons - Lorenzo Reyes, USA Today
- The Saints tried to troll the Falcons with 28-3 Super Bowl highlights -- while losing - Andrew Joseph, USAToday/ForTheWin
- Saints 12 'self-inflicted wounds' in penalties give Falcons 'freebies' - Amie Just, NOLA.com
- It was supposed to be an easy win for the Saints, but Atlanta made the joke on them - Scott Rabalais, The Baton Rouge Advocate
- Report: Falcons to evaluate head coach Dan Quinn on a 'week-to-week' basis - Michael Shapiro, Sports Illustrated
- With a blowout road win, Dan Quinn gets a reprieve - Ian Rapoport, NFL Network
- Saints 'outcoached' in shocking loss to lowly Falcons - Jeremy Bergman, Around The NFL
- This will go down as one of Dan Quinn's biggest ever - Matthew Tabeek, AtlantaFalcons.com
The Falcons head to Charlotte to take on the Panthers -- who are without the injured Cam Newton -- next Sunday at 1 pm.
Is this the start of a new, improved Falcons team that can look forward to bringing some winning football to Atlanta? Time will tell. See you back here next week.
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