Fans of the New Orleans Saints are still relishing the loss by the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51 although they had to root for another team in the New England Patriots that they share a bit of disdain for.
But watching quarterback Tom Brady tear up during a press conference when asked who his hero was(answering his dad), his mother with a scarf on her head and weak from battling cancer hugging her son at the Lombardi trophy presentation erased some of that, at least for me.
Oh yeah, and Patriots owner Tom Kraft going full Salt Bae at Commissioner Roger Goodell in his trophy acceptance speech helped as well and it was sneaky discrete.
I know Who Dats are hoping the bad voodoo of a Super Bowl hangover will drape over the Falcons combined with the departure of offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan to become head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.
Plus news came late last night that Atlanta is making moves already with their staff with the firing of defensive coordinator Richard Smith and defensive line coach Bryan Cox while wasting no time in replacing Shanahan with Steve Sarkisian who had a brief one-game stint as the University of Alabama’s offensive coordinator in their loss to Clemson in the National Championship Game.
It’s easy to think the Sarkisian hire would further serve to cripple the potent Falcons offense considering Alabama’s collapse in that game mirrored Atlanta’s in the Super Bowl, on top of quarterback Matt Ryan and the other offensive players having to learn a new system.
The word is coming from people like head coach Dan Quinn that it’s more likely Sarkisian will have to adapt to the system that Shanahan had in place than vice versa, but it’s still tantalizing Saints fans to speculate how all these things will effect the Dirty Birds going forward when New Orleans squares off against them in 2017.
The answer though is one that can be a bit tricky if not a let down for not just the Saints, but their fellow NFC South opponents too.
Look being a Saints fan myself I applauded when I knew Shanahan was leaving weeks ago and other little possible wedges of distraction leading up to the big game being driven in like the talk of running back Devonta Freeman wanting to get paid big bucks.
But this is a different Falcons team than the Saints have faced in previous years for several different reasons that could still pose a possible snag in the upcoming season as well as several after.
NOLA.com’s Larry Holder actually came out with a almost too painful to read article on how the 2016 Falcons resembled the 2009 Saints that has given me some unease that has lingered even with their meltdown on Sunday.
I know that Saints fans will use terms like “The Falcons are gonna Falcon” and point to another NFC South rival in the Carolina Panthers who lost last year in the Super Bowl and tumbled back to Earth quickly after a dominant season in 2015 and resembled a shell of themselves with a 6-10 finish in 2016.
As much as any of us would like to see that happen I’m just not willing to bank on it being in the cards.
Much like the 2009 Saints going into the 2010 season, the Falcons going into this next season will have all of their offensive weapons back with only notable names like guard Chris Chester and tight end Jacob Tamme set to hit the open market which the offense could easily do without.
As far as defense Atlanta is poised to be in good shape with no major contributors hitting free agency other than household names like outside linebacker Courtney Upshaw or linebacker Paul Worrilow, but to be honest if they were to leave it wouldn’t hamper the team one way or the other.
They will be getting someone back who is a key piece of their secondary off injured reserve in cornerback Desmond Trufant, leaving second year man Jalen Collins to take his place during the season and he did a serviceable job snagging two interceptions with one of those off Saints quarterback Drew Brees in the final game of the season.
The Atlanta offense gave the Saints way more than they could handle in their two showdowns this past season with a reality jolting defeat in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on a Monday night game which superstitiously usually goes in favor of New Orleans.
Saints fans got to see first hand the smothering speed of the Falcons defense that was highlighted by rookie second round pick Deion Jones who showed his high football I.Q. that will, unfortunately for New Orleans, only get better going into next season.
Of course the main piece holding everything together is Quinn who helped mold the team in his sophomore year has head coach into the self-titled “brotherhood” mindset which not only became their rallying cry, but was obvious in every game that you watched.
Both offensive and defensive squads reminded me of when Quinn was the Seattle Seahawks as defensive coordinator and there appeared to be little if any weak spots to attack, with both units just having fun as if they were playing a backyard game of flag football.
And while many will point to the choke or collapse of the Falcons who had a twenty-five point lead in the third quarter of the Super Bowl, first admit that you thought it was over after cornerback Robert Alford’s pick six of Brady and second the comeback was orchestrated by the Patriots for heaven’s sake who since 2001 under Brady have five championships, 14 playoff appearances, 15 division championships, and seven conference championships.
Going into this offseason the Falcons may not have a boatload of cash to spend in free agency(approx. $24 million per OverTheCap.com), but they simply need to smooth over a few cracks if need be and could offer a big free agent or two a nice contract.
The Saints on the other hand have some nice New Orleans, Sean Payton revered potholes to fill with defensive end, cornerback, and offensive guard in the forefront with only around $29 million in cap space to try and get the job done.
They can and should approach players like safety Jarius Byrd about restructuring their contract to gain some more room, but others like defensive end Cameron Jordan($7 million base salary/$12,047,000 million against the cap), tight end Coby Fleener($5.8 million base salary/$7.5 million against the cap), or guard Terron Armstead($4.2 million base salary/$11.5 million against the cap) could be asked to do so as well.
Neither Jordan nor Fleener have a roster bonus for 2017 and might be the easiest to do coupled with the fact Jordan has been very vocal about bringing in help at the cornerback position as well as retaining defensive tackle Nick Fairley so he’d be the first one I’d think general manger Mickey Loomis may ask to give them some relief.
The Falcons may have “lost” almost five weeks of the offseason, yet they don’t have too much work to accomplish other than getting over the mental part of their brief glimpse at a Lombardi trophy that slipped through their grasp.
Meanwhile the Saints are still prepping for “The Great YOLO of 2017 ” in their efforts to reclaim the crown of the NFC South that Atlanta won’t give up so easy.
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