By Mike Detillier / Sports Correspondent
Caught up in all the talk about LSU vs. Alabama this week is the fact that the New Orleans Saints host the Atlanta Falcons today in New Orleans in a clash of NFC South rivals.
What we will see is two teams headed in totally different directions.
The Saints are not just built to win now, but to win big and win big in the future.
What has gone wrong with the Falcons? In 2017, the Falcons lost in overtime in Super Bowl LI vs. the New England Patriots, 34-28, to conclude the 2016 NFL season.
I asked an AFC general manager on why the 7-1 Saints are in the position they are in and why the 1-7 Falcons have just not been able to sustain success out on the field and have fallen on really tough times in 2019.
“Two words for me -- Sean Payton,” the AFC general manager said. “Sean went through some difficult times in that stretch of 7-9 years, but he never lost the team like what Dan Quinn has. Payton is an elite game-day coach and offensive genius and look at Dan. He’s known for his defensive exploits coaching wise and his defense today is in the bottom level defensively in every major category. They have talent on defense, but you can’t say today they do anything at a high level. Even in Sean’s tougher days trying to rebuild the team, they had Drew Brees with record-breaking numbers and they scored a ton of points. The Saints just weren’t real good defensively. But Dan is now struggling mightily on defense and his offense can’t run the ball or protect his quarterback Matt Ryan.
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