Week 7: Atlanta at New Orleans

Not to get all metaphysical on you, but listen to this answer given by New Orleans coach Sean Payton. After his team became the 30th of 32 NFL teams to finally get a win in 2007 by beating Seattle Sunday (Miami and St. Louis are the final two winless squads), Payton was asked if his team had turned a corner.

“There is no corner,” Payton said.

There is no corner?

What does that mean? That the Saints don’t have any cornerbacks? That’s certainly been true for much of this season. That the Superdome is more of a circle than a square? That Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” could somehow be applied to the fact that this game pits teams with a combined record of 2-9 and…. oh, forget it. Our brains are beginning to hurt.

Let’s start over with the obvious fact that neither one of these teams are very good. Atlanta just got flattened, 31-10, by the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. The Saints showed some life against Seattle, but had lost four straight before that. It’s still early in the NFC South, and both Carolina and Tampa Bay have numerous flaws, but if either of these teams is going to make a run they have to start here with this game.

The Saints swept the season series last year. QB Drew Brees has struggled most of the season but looked a little better Sunday, and he wasn’t as plagued by drops (hello, Devery Henderson) as he has been. RB Reggie Bush is getting a ton of touches with Deuce McAllister out for the season, and has been solid but not at all spectacular. The Saints’ defense has been the biggest problem, but has played pretty well the past two weeks in a close loss to Carolina and the win over Seattle. The Saints had a lot of success rushing the passer last week; expect them to send the house against protection-plagued Atlanta and new QB Byron Leftwich, who replaces the ineffective Joey Harrington.

The Falcons had a rough time against the Giants other than RB Jerious Norwood, who had a 67-yard TD run. They couldn’t stop the run (New York had 188 rushing yards), couldn’t protect Harrington and couldn’t defend Eli Manning.

The Falcons have only scored one offensive touchdown in the past 10 quarters, which is why Leftwich is being inserted. Rookie coach Bobby Petrino is having some serious first-year pains and TE Alge Crumpler dropped two passes last week. The only good news for the Falcons is that this loss won’t be seen by nearly as many people -- Leftwich just won't make that much difference. Ultimately, he's a better solution than Harrington -- he did go 24-20 as a starter in Jacksonville, after all. But this first week, with so much being thrown at him and a tender ankle, will not be kind.

New Orleans by 11