The Saints are about to walk into a very different kind of Monday night.
New Orleans hosts Atlanta in its first division game of the season, but this one carries a lot more weight than the standings alone. The matchup lands on the 20th anniversary of one of the most significant moments in Saints history, and the team has spent the week making sure everybody in the building understands what that means.
Kellen Moore has been part of that push, and the Saints are turning the night into a full-on event with former players and an all-star halftime lineup. That means the challenge is as much mental as physical: block out the noise, ignore the extras, and stay locked in.
That’s only part of the assignment. The bigger football problem might be Bijan Robinson.
Atlanta’s back is coming off a monster day, with 213 total yards in the Falcons’ win over the Packers, and he was named the NFC’s Offensive Player of the Week. He has been rolling at 5.3 yards per carry, and Cam Jordan didn’t sugarcoat the job ahead.
“Can we get a regular running back?” Jordan said.
“There is a reason why he’s a top three running back,” Jordan said. “You can’t stop him.
You just have to try to get there and create more negatives than positives.” That job gets even tougher with Kaden Elliss out with a calf injury and Carl Granderson sidelined with an ankle injury.
The Saints also need to solve a problem of their own on the ground.
Atlanta enters with the league’s best run defense, giving up only 47.7 rushing yards per game. The Packers managed just 17 rushing yards against them last week.
New Orleans, meanwhile, is still searching for traction in its own rushing attack, and that search got harder with Travis Etienne landing on injured reserve this week because of a hamstring injury. That leaves Alvin Kamara and Kendre Miller to shoulder the load.
Kamara is sitting at a career-low 2.8 yards per carry, while Miller is at 3.4. Tyler Shough has been asked to throw 44 passes per game, and some of that volume has come because the Saints keep finding themselves in catch-up mode.
They need the run game to show up if they want to make life easier on Shough.
And then there’s the bigger picture: New Orleans still hasn’t put together four full quarters.
Through three games, the Saints have played six halves and only three of them have looked the part. The second half against the Lions and Ravens stood out, as did the first half against the Raiders, but the full-game version still hasn’t arrived.
They’ve also had trouble protecting home turf lately, going 6-12 in the Dome since 2024. Last week was another painful example, with the Saints unable to finish after building a 27-16 lead late in the third quarter.
If they can put together the kind of complete performance they’ve been chasing, Monday night would do more than just even their record at 2-2. It would put them at the top of the NFC South and wipe away some of the frustration from last week.
In Other News...
Joe Horn Opens Up About The Saints Moment New Orleans Needed Most
When the Saints finally walked back into the Superdome for that 2006 Monday night game against Atlanta, it was bigger than football. For Joe Horn, who was one of the franchises defining voices at the time, the return carried the weight of a city trying to find its footing again after Hurricane Katrina. It was the kind of night that reminded New Orleans what the team meant, and what the team could mean for the community beyond wins and losses.
Horn has spoken candidly about how strongly he felt the Saints needed to be back in New Orleans, helping give the city something to rally around when it mattered most. The game itself became a turning point in the rebuilding story, with the Saints beating the Falcons and setting the stage for a stretch that eventually turned the franchise into one of the NFLs better teams, capped by the Super Bowl title in 2009. [Read more 🡒]
Saints First-Round WR Return Timeline Just Got More Complicated
Jordyn Tysons path back onto the field has already stretched longer than the Saints likely wanted when the first-round wide receiver went down with a hamstring injury in camp. He is making progress, but the current expectation is that he remains weeks away from game action after initially being projected to miss around two months.
The return picture now points at at least Week 7, with a later comeback in Week 9 also in play because of scheduling considerations. For New Orleans, it leaves Tyson as a player to keep tracking rather than counting on just yet, especially with the team trying to map out how soon its top rookie receiver can realistically be part of the offense. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Get An Early Chance To Change A Familiar Falcons Problem
The Saints get another crack at a problem that has lingered for years when Atlanta comes to town, and this one arrives with a little extra weight attached to it. New Orleans is still sorting through its own identity, but the matchup also comes against a Falcons team quarterbacked by Michael Penix Jr., while the Saints are expected to turn to Tyler Shough, giving the meeting a fresh layer beyond the usual NFC South friction.
It is the kind of game that can tell the Saints a lot about where they are headed and whether some of the old frustrations against Atlanta are starting to fade. The timing adds to the mood, too, with this week marking the 20th anniversary of the Saints' return to the Superdome, a reminder of how often this franchise has used the building as a backdrop for turning points and trying to reset familiar narratives. [Read more 🡒]