There's no question whether the Atlanta Falcons would be interested in playing spoiler to the New Orleans Saints' playoff hopes.
But that will only take a team so far when the consequences of winning are more significant than that of a loss. That will be the case for Atlanta, who enters the game knowing a win wouldn't just make their draft picks worse, it'd ensure the Saints picked ahead of them.
"I think that you will get an effort out of Atlanta. But I don’t know if it’ll be a good effort out of Atlanta," said WWL Radio's Deuce McAllister this week, speaking on SportsTalk with Bobby Hebert, Mike Detillier and Kristian Garic.
"They will want to beat you," he continues. "They will say everything right publicly, and correctly. But at this point what does Atlanta have to truly gain outside of saying, ‘oh yea, we knocked New Orleans out. But guess what we did by knocking New Orleans out?’ “
Listen to Deuce McAllister's full interview in the player below. Can't see the embed? Click here.
The Saints (8-8) are the lone NFC team left "in the hunt" heading into Week 18. That means the potential playoff road has as few turns as possible, but it also means a win can only secure a chance. New Orleans will need help from the Rams. If the Saints win and the 49ers lose to L.A., New Orleans earns the No. 7 seed and a trip to face that same Rams team. Both those games kick off at 3:25 p.m., central.
But the Falcons (7-9) were eliminated due to a Week 17 loss and will be relegated to the spoiler of the Saints' chances and their own draft position. Star rookie TE Kyle Pitts is also dealing with a hamstring injury. With nothing on the line, the Falcons could opt to play it safe -- and that very well could seal the deal for Atlanta's spoiler dreams.
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Pitts has already put forth a historic year and should have the organization excited for the future, even with a playoff miss. His 1,018 yards on the year make him just the second rookie TE in NFL history to his the 1K plateau. The other was Mike Ditka way back in the 1961 NFL season. Pitts is 58 yards behind the all-time record, though if he reached it against the Saints he'd have done it in an extra game.
“If Kyle Pitts ... does not play, I don’t see how Atlanta has a chance," McAllister said.
Another factor could be that it's far from the most attention-grabbing football game coming up for the state of Georgia, with the Bulldogs preparing to face Alabama in the College Football Playoff championship.
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With that in mind, McAllister wouldn't be stunned to see the fans in the stadium be made up of a majority Saints fans. If that's the case, Hebert's dream of a loud-enough-to-make-the-broadcast Who Dat chant come true, a sign they've effectively taken over an NFC South rival's home stadium.
"It’s not like Atlanta is excited to go to this game. … They’ve been ready for the national championship," McAllister said, putting his expected split at 60/40.
"They are not necessarily concerned with the Atlanta Falcons."