PLAYER NOTES
–G Andy Levitre left the game last week with an injured left triceps and is out for the season. Levitre was placed on injured reserve this week.
–RB Devonta Freeman is expected to miss his second straight game with a right knee contusion. He was injured in the first quarter of the Eagles game.
–DE Takk McKinley’s status is uncertain for Sunday’s game against New Orleans. He suffered a groin injury in the final minutes of the Carolina game. He is day-to-day.
–DE Derrick Shelby has a groin injury suffered early in the Carolina game. He is day-to-day.
–CB Isaiah Oliver, the Falcons’ second-round draft choice, has missed the first two games with an ankle injury. He was limited in practice all last week. He is day-to-day.
–MLB Duke Riley moved from the outside to the middle and replaced the injured Deion Jones. The second-year player from LSU shared the team lead against Carolina with nine tackles, seven of them solo stops.
–WR Calvin Ridley, the Falcons’ 2018 first-round draft choice, got his most extensive amount of playing time last week. Ridley caught four passes on five targets for 64 yards, including his first touchdowns. Ridley also returned two kickoffs for a 25-yard average.
–CB Brian Poole was limited in practice last week with an ankle issue and not cleared until Friday. He responded with seven tackles, six solo, and sacked Cam Newton for a 12-yard loss on a corner blitz.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: TE Austin Hooper. The third-year tight end has become a reliable target for Matt Ryan. He had five catches on five targets for 59 yards and one touchdown Sunday. Hooper has eight catches this season for 83 yards. He is likely to be a big part of the game plan against the Saints; last year he had two catches for 23 yards against the Saints in Atlanta and three catches for 18 yards in New Orleans.
GAME PLAN: With the defense losing players at a rapid pace, it may fall on the shoulders of the offense to simply outscore the Saints. If that’s the case, it won’t be the first time the two old regional rivals have gotten into a slugfest. After two relatively low-scoring games in 2017, this might be a return to 2016, when the Falcons won 45-32 and 38-32.
The patched-up Atlanta defense will be hard-pressed to keep Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas at bay. Brees threw two fourth-quarter touchdowns last week in the last-minute 21-18 win over Cleveland. The Saints scored 40 points the first week and lost.
Atlanta will need to score early and score often. They must continue to the sort of red-zone success they enjoyed last week when they were 4-for-4, all touchdowns.
QUOTES TO NOTE: “It’s more special to me now being here going into my fourth year. I’ve always felt the passion from the fans’ side of things between the Saints and Falcons, but it’s different from watching it from afar than from being in it. I expect one hell of a tough fight. I know our fans are ready, too.” — Head coach Dan Quinn in the rivalry with New Orleans.
–“It’s never an easy win in the NFL. With a division opponent, they’re going to play us until it’s 0:00 on the clock. We knew that coming in we just needed to have more points at the end.” — Wide receiver Julio Jones on the Carolina win.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH
–Falcons QB Matt Ryan vs. Saints secondary. Ryan has had mixed success against the Saints. In 19 career starts against New Orleans, Ryan is 8-11. He has thrown 32 points touchdowns, but has had 12 interceptions (only the Panthers have gotten him more often) and he’s been sacked 33 times. Ryan benefited from improved play-calling in the red zone against Carolina and that needs to carry over this week against the Saints. He was more adept at spreading the ball around to a variety of receivers instead of being locked in on Julio Jones. The New Orleans secondary took a big step forward last week when S Marcus Williams came up with an interception that set up a go-ahead score against Cleveland.
–Atlanta MLB Duke Riley vs. Saints QB Drew Brees.
Riley had to move from the outside to the middle when Deion Jones was injured. He has played better than he did a year ago as a rookie, but can still appear to be confused. Brees might use the opportunity to trick Riley or lean more heavily on tight end Benjamin Watson.
