CALM: This might be impossible to accomplish early, but the Saints have to remain calm in an atmosphere that will be festive, moving, celebratory, historic and rabid all at once. New Orleans is a young team and its roster doesn’t truly have an emotional connection to the occasion, and that might be a good thing. The team needs to focus on the task \u2014 beating a rival, moving ahead in the division standings and evening its record \u2014 more than be swept up in the periphery. Everyone else can reflect, these Saints need to create their own nostalgic remembrance through a victory.<\/p>\n
CORRAL: New Orleans must have a solution for Falcons running back Bijon Robinson, the reigning NFC Offensive Player of the Week after he ran 194 yards and two touchdowns against Green Bay. Robinson is arguably the best running back in the league and if not, the Saints have prepared by playing against the two backs \u2014 Detroit’s Jahmyr Gibbs and Baltimore’s Derrick Henry \u2014 who might be. Saints linebackers Pete Werner<\/a> (shoulder) and Kaden Elliss<\/a> (calf) missed practice time this week, and that’s significant. Whoever lines up must be ready to help to hem in Robinson, a home run threat from anywhere on the field. Safeties Justin Reid<\/a> and Jonas Sanker<\/a> will be vital while the defensive line battles Atlanta’s run blockers.<\/p>\n CHASE: As in, Young \u2014 the Saints’ superb edge rusher. Falcons quarterback Michael Penix made his season debut against Green Bay and was sharp (17 of 25 for 256 yards and a touchdown, with an interception). He wasn’t sacked but in 15 career games he has been sacked 17 times. That’s where Young (3.5 sacks, five quarterback hits and a forced fumble) enters the picture. Penix isn’t much of a scrambler (79 yards on 30 career carries) and Young has been able to apply pressure every game. He and Cameron Jordan<\/a> \u2014 a Falcons quarterback slayer who is one sack shy of surpassing the career total of Pro Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor \u2014 might not have edge brother Carl Granderson<\/a> rotating with them, but they’ll lead the charge in harassing Penix.<\/p>\n CLEAN: A clean pocket on offense will go a long way toward success, and the Falcons (seven sacks) will be eyeing Saints quarterback Tyler Shough<\/a>. Shough would be having an unquestionably outstanding start to the season (917 yards, eight touchdowns, 69 percent completion rate) except he has six turnovers, and half are lost fumbles. Ball security is the highest priority<\/a>, but preventing pressure is an obvious assist to that cause. Running the ball will help, too, but that task is made more difficult by the absence of running back Travis Etienne Jr.<\/a>, who was placed on injured reserve this week. Alvin Kamara<\/a> and Kendre Miller<\/a> will handle the running back load. But the Falcons often have done a decent job against the Saints’ run game, so Shough and his receiving corps (receivers Chris Olave<\/a>, Devaughn Vele<\/a> and Bryce Lance<\/a>, along with tight ends Juwan Johnson<\/a> and Noah Fant<\/a>) may carry a heavy responsibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALM: This might be impossible to accomplish early, but the Saints have to remain calm in an atmosphere…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[484560,64,63,484559,1347,230688,593,35990,85],"class_list":["post-916787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-2026-reg-week4","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-key-ingredients","tag-latest-news","tag-news-john-deshazier","tag-nfl","tag-roster","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}