After the New Orleans Saints’ embarrassing playoff loss to the Minnesota Vikings this past season, many believed that that game was Saints quarterback Drew Brees’ last time touching the field again.
It was undetermined whether or not Brees would return for his 20th season. He made no comment on it until a month after the playoff loss.
The speculation came to an end when Brees officially announced on his Instagram that he will “make another run at it” and return for his 20th season in the NFL. For Saints fans, this brought tremendous relief. However, being that they have remained No. 1 in the NFC South division for the past three years, Falcons fans resented this news.
The Saints-Falcons rivalry runs deep — the two teams have been battling back and forth since 1967. Each teams’ quarterbacks are phenomenal athletes and love competition. It is always exciting watching these two great teams go head to head every year.
Last season, the Atlanta Falcons made a huge upset in New Orleans when they beat them 26-9. The Falcons defense dominated with six sacks on Brees. A win against the Saints is like a dream come true for Falcons fans.
Some Falcons fans wanted to weigh in on their prediction about what next season could possibly give them after their rivals’ Hall of Fame quarterback decided to jump back in the race.
“A lot of people thought Drew Brees wouldn’t be back for another season because he’s just too old. But this may be his last season for real, so who knows what he has up his sleeve,” Atlanta native Levi Croswell said. “He may come back ready for revenge for the fourth year in a row. I’m a die-hard Falcons fan, but I don’t think we have a chance next year.”
Other fans were even less confident in their assessments.
“I’m going to be honest: I don’t have a lot of faith in Matt Ryan and that offense or coach Quinn,” Jamari Wells said. “We might have to sit out another year with Brees coming back.”
But there are still some Falcon fans that have faith in their team.
“I feel like if we play how we played against them last season when we won 26-9, then we’ll be fine. We beat them when they were one of the top teams sitting on a 7-1 record,” Marcia Banks said. “If we just figure out how to stop them on both sides of the ball, then we’ll be good. And that’s for every team we play next season, not just the Saints.”
Even longterm fans have not given up on their Falcons.
“Many people think we not going to make it far next year, but I’ve been a fan since before I could even walk, and I’ve seen this team conquer adversity and turn out to be one of the best teams,” KJ Stewart said. “I got faith in us next year.”
The NFC South is arguably one of the best divisions in the NFL. And being that the Carolina Panthers have decided to move forward with Cam Newton, the race to the top in the NFC South division is underway for next season.
