I don't give Atlanta much of a chance...but I do give them a chance. I'd say of about 20%. I don't believe for a minute Atl has packed it in for the year. Coaches and players, all on the hot seat, are playing for their jobs at this point. After not winning for a month, Atl has a chance to to take a lot of heat off themselves with a win tonight. This also makes them abnormally dangerous. 4th and 6 from the Nawlins 40? You go for it. No brainer. Whether they put this in practice remains to be seen, but it's a very real concern the Saints must consider. Divisional rivals...this is about as close to the playoffs / SB as Atl will get this year. The Saints? Fortunately for them they got a scare last week, so should be up for this a bit more than usual. This is what our Hawks now deal with. Every team sees us as a way to save jobs and fans.
To further complicate Atl's problems, they won't likely have much of a HFA. The fans will be into this until N.O. scores, then they will be neutralized. Those same fans demand a hard fought game from their woozy Falcons. They would be immensely helpful by doing the same. With this game being a Nat televised, I think they have a better chance than if it was just a reg Sunday game, where I would give them no more than a 10% chance.
N.O. 35 Atl. 17 (unfortunately).