Game Preview - Week 7: Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints

New Orleans: The Saints got a much-needed victory last week against Seattle and now face one of the worst teams in the league in the Falcons. The surprising 28-14 victory over Seattle last week featured 143 total yards from Reggie Bush and surprise 8-catch 113-yard performance from FF Today favorite David PatteRn. Devery Henderson has lost his starting job and now rotates with PatteRn and Lance Moore. We all left the Saints for dead after their 0-4 start, let's see how we feel when they improve to 2-4 after handling the Falcons with ease.

Start: QB Drew Brees, RB Reggie Bush, WR Marques Colston
Consider: TE Eric Johnson, K Olindo Mare
Sit: WR David Patten, WR Lance Moore, WR Devery Henderson, TE Mark Campbell

Atlanta: If the Falcons aren't the worst team in the league, they're pretty damn close. They'll try to muster up some offense by starting Byron Leftwich at quarterback… an offense that averages a minuscule 13.2 points per game. Jerious Norwood showed some signs of life totaling 138 yards and his first touchdown of the year but only received 10 touches (his average). The Falcons' wideouts have been no factor, outside of the occasional outburst from Roddy White who leads the team with 420 yards and 1 TD. "I'm frustrated. Everybody is frustrated," Falcons coach Bobby Petrino said. "We're going to stay working at it. Our attitude has been OK. ... Eventually it's going to turn." Not this week, Bobby.

Start: N/A
Consider: RB Warrick Dunn, WR Roddy White, TE Alge Crumpler
Sit: RB Jerious Norwood, QB Byron Leftwich, WR Joe Horn, WR Michael Jenkins

Krueger's Rankings/Projections

Atlanta Falcons
Rank	Player	Projections
QB 25	Byron Leftwich	Pass: 190, 1 Rush: 5, 0
RB 30	Warrick Dunn	Rush: 45, 0 Rec: 1-10, 0
RB 34	Jerious Norwood	Rush: 40, 0 Rec: 3-20, 0
WR 36	Roddy White	Rec: 5-65, 1
WR 59	Michael Jenkins	Rec: 2-30, 0
WR 75	Joe Horn	Rec: 1-15, 0
TE 23	Alge Crumpler	Rec: 1-10, 0

New Orleans Saints
Rank	Player	Projections
QB 7	Drew Brees	Pass: 270, 2 Rush: 0, 0
RB 1	Reggie Bush	Rush: 105, 1 Rec: 8-60, 0
RB 41	Aaron Stecker	Rush: 10, 0 Rec: 1-10, 0
WR 16	Marques Colston	Rec: 6-80, 1
WR 51	David Patten	Rec: 3-40, 0
WR 70	Devery Henderson	Rec: 1-20, 0
WR 71	Lance Moore	Rec: 2-20, 0
TE 6	Eric Johnson	Rec: 3-35, 1

View all Week 7 Rankings or Projections

Past Results and Remaining Schedule

Atlanta Falcons
Week	Date	Opp	H/A	Score	Dif
1	2007-09-09	MIN	A	L 3-24	-21
2	2007-09-16	JAC	A	L 7-13	-6
3	2007-09-23	CAR	H	L 20-27	-7
4	2007-09-30	HOU	H	W 26-16	+10
5	2007-10-07	TEN	A	L 13-20	-7
6	2007-10-15	NYG	H	L 10-31	-21
7	2007-10-21	NO	A	L 16-22	-6
8		Bye
9	2007-11-04	SF	H
10	2007-11-11	CAR	A
11	2007-11-18	TB	H
12	2007-11-22	IND	H
13	2007-12-02	STL	A
14	2007-12-10	NO	H
15	2007-12-16	TB	A
16	2007-12-23	ARI	A
17	2007-12-30	SEA	H

New Orleans Saints
Week	Date	Opp	H/A	Score	Dif
1	2007-09-06	IND	A	L 10-41	-31
2	2007-09-16	TB	A	L 14-31	-17
3	2007-09-24	TEN	H	L 14-31	-17
4		Bye
5	2007-10-07	CAR	H	L 13-16	-3
6	2007-10-14	SEA	A	W 28-17	+11
7	2007-10-21	ATL	H	W 22-16	+6
8	2007-10-28	SF	A
9	2007-11-04	JAC	H
10	2007-11-11	STL	H
11	2007-11-18	HOU	A
12	2007-11-25	CAR	A
13	2007-12-02	TB	H
14	2007-12-10	ATL	A
15	2007-12-16	ARI	H
16	2007-12-23	PHI	H
17	2007-12-30	CHI	A

Offense Stats Comparison

	ATL Offense	NO Offense	NFL Average
Points for	12.5	13.7	21.2
Rushing yards	94.0	98.0	112.3
Rushing yards per attempt	4.04	3.48	4.12
Completion %	61.6%	64.3%	62.0%
Passing yards	182.5	236.0	216.6
Passing yards per completion	9.44	8.37	10.64
Passing yards per attempt	5.81	5.38	6.60
Interceptions	0.8	1.7	1.1
Fumbles lost	0.0	1.0	0.8
Sacked	3.5	0.7	2.1

Note: Team statistics are shown as the average per game through Weeks 1 to 6 of the 2007 season after deducting the best and worst value from the data set. The exception is yards per rush attempt, completion %, yards per pass completion, yards per pass attempt and the NFL averages, which are each calculated based on totals through Weeks 1 to 6 with no adjustment.

Defense Stats Comparison

	ATL Defense	NO Defense	NFL Average
Points against	21.8	26.3	21.2
Rushing yards	129.8	92.7	112.3
Rushing yards per attempt	4.27	3.67	4.12
Completion %	64.8%	61.9%	62.0%
Passing yards	218.5	239.0	216.6
Passing yards per completion	11.21	14.52	10.64
Passing yards per attempt	7.27	8.99	6.60
INT return	0.8	0.7	1.1
Fumble recoveries	0.8	0.3	0.8
Sacks	1.3	0.3	2.1

Weather

Dome stadium

Team vs. Team History

Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints
Season	Week	Date	Vis	Home	Score	Winner
2000	8	2000-10-22	NO	ATL	21-19	NO
2000	16	2000-12-17	ATL	NO	7-23	NO
2001	6	2001-10-21	ATL	NO	20-13	ATL
2001	13	2001-12-09	NO	ATL	28-10	NO
2002	8	2002-10-27	ATL	NO	37-35	ATL
2002	11	2002-11-17	NO	ATL	17-24	ATL
2003	7	2003-10-19	NO	ATL	45-17	NO
2003	11	2003-11-16	ATL	NO	20-23	NO
2004	12	2004-11-28	NO	ATL	21-24	ATL
2004	16	2004-12-26	ATL	NO	13-26	NO
2005	6	2005-10-16	ATL	NO	34-31	ATL
2005	14	2005-12-12	NO	ATL	17-36	ATL
2006	3	2006-09-25	ATL	NO	3-23	NO
2006	12	2006-11-26	NO	ATL	31-13	NO

Note: Only playoff games from the 2004 to 2006 seasons are included in the team vs. team history. Playoff games from seasons prior to 2004 are not currently included in the database.

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