For the second consecutive week the Saints get a chance to avenge a loss from earlier in the season, and for that to happen, the turnover script must be flipped.
New Orleans had a pair of costly turnovers in the red zone in the Week 12 loss to the Falcons, and if they can avoid those mistakes and get out to a lead, Week 18 can go differently, as Deuce McAllister explained on WWL this week.
Listen to the full interview with Deuce in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
"That’s a game that they wish they had back, because I felt like if you were able to score in the red zone, you don’t have the turnovers, et cetera, then you win that game," McAllister said.
The other major issue the Saints encountered in that first matchup was the inability to stop the run, with Atlanta rolling up more than 200 yards on the ground and imposing their will late in the game. The Saints made that process a lot easier due to their inability to score a touchdown despite five trips inside the red zone.
"I think it starts with being able to put some pressure on them, where they can’t just milk that clock and run the football," McAllister continued. "I mean, if the Saints can go up 10 points, 14 points, now you’re going to stress and make them throw the football, and I think that’s not what they want to do. They have the weapons to do it, but that’s not what they want to do.
One more big question is how the Falcons approach the game. They have lost three of past four despite while the Bucs and Saints have gone a combined 6-2, but all three teams retain a chance to win the NFC South. The Bucs are the only team that technically controls their destiny, but should they lose to the Panthers in Week 18, the winner of the Saints-Falcons matchup will claim the division crown. There is a lot on the line for both teams, to say the least.
"People can think that, hey, look, they’re completely out of it but it’s not quite that way," McAllister said. "A three-way tie and Tampa Bay loses, then Atlanta goes to the playoffs. So you’re gonna get their best effort,"
━━
MORE FROM DEUCE
On defending Drake London
“He is a big, physical receiver and you know … when they drafted him I was like, man, I thought they reached for him. He hadn’t been consistent because he hadn’t been able to get the football consistently from the quarterback, but he is a big, physical receiver and you talk about the Saints having the matchup of being able to be physical with him, but also having to respect his speed. I am going to play him a lot like … your last matchup with Mike Evans, and so I am going to shade the corner, be able to play the corner underneath and be able to shade the safety over the top. That forces now, you can’t let the tight end and the other guys go off, and so everybody else, they have to be on their job, and so for the Saints it’s going to be able to redirect him at the line of scrimmage, particularly when he goes to the slot. But if not I’m playing press man. I want to jam him a little bit to be able to throw his timing off, and then I am shading that safety over the top for him, and I am not allowing him to just take the top off my defense or just play bully ball at the receiver spot.”
Listen: Mickey Loomis on Saints smashing Bucs 'in the mouth,' Derek Carr, Superdome atmosphere, more
━━
Importance of turnover differential
“you can’t be negative. You prefer plus-2. You’d definitely take plus-1, but you can’t be negative. That just spells for a close game, field goal, field position, who won the penalty battle, different things of that nature, particularly if you’re negative. But if you’re plus-1, plus-2 and do all the other things that we just talked about well, then you’re probably going to end up winning.”
━━
On the idea of rooting for a Saints loss to help force firings
“If you’re in that mood and if you’ve gotten to that state, where you feel like that you hope that your team that you claim that you’re a fan of, you hope that they lose, just because you want somebody to lose their job, you need a break. You need a break. You need to take a step back and just say, hey, look, I need to just find something else to do right now until maybe, I’m just gonna get away from that for a while.”
