By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski said he suggested during a production meeting this week that Monday night’s game between the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons would be the best they’ve had all season.

At the same time, Jaworski conceded, these two NFC South rivals are “kind of the Rodney Dangerfields of the NFL” because neither is getting enough respect for what they’ve accomplished.

Read the rest of the story here.

Falcons receiver Roddy White took to Twitter on Wednesday regarding Monday night’s game against the Saints.  Though it has been rendered largely meaningless by the fact that the Falcons need only to beat the Panthers on January 2 to win the division and lock up home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, White is fired up about the fact that people are “mad for the saints.”

Read the rest of the story here.

By Pat Yasinskas

Not sure if this is quite Trent Dilfer/Roddy White material, but colleague KC Joyner threw some batting practice for NFC South fans when he wrote that Atlanta’s Matt Ryan has surpassed Drew Brees as the NFC South’s best quarterback.

I’ll let Atlanta and New Orleans fans duke this one out in the comments section. But I will throw in my two cents and admit that in Wednesday’s item about potential NFC South MVPs, I ranked Ryan slightly above Brees. To this point, I think Ryan has had a better season. Like I said in the piece on NFC South MVPs, I think Brees can jump to the top of the list with a strong showing against the Falcons on Monday night.

Read the rest of Pat’s story here.

TIME: 08:30 P.M. EST
VENUE: Georgia Dome

After going a month without playing at the Georgia Dome, the Atlanta Falcons are one win away from not having to leave home again until a potential trip to the Super Bowl.

It has been more than a year since their last loss at home, when the New Orleans Saints took advantage of a banged-up Atlanta team.

The surging Falcons look to clinch their first division title in six years and secure home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs Monday night when they host the Saints, who are one win away from a postseason berth.

Playoff-bound Atlanta (12-2) has a two-game lead over New Orleans (10-4) in the NFC South, needing either a victory this week or a home win over lowly Carolina next Sunday to clinch the No. 1 overall seed.

Read the rest of the story here.

By Pat Yasinskas

Soon after the NFL sent out its updated playoff scenarios earlier this afternoon, ESPN Stats & Information sent out a supplemental package. This goes a little beyond the NFL’s package, which was simply limited to clinching scenarios that can happen this week.

I’ve kept this in my back pocket for a few hours because I wanted to give Trent Dilfer, my new all-time favorite player and co-worker, a nice long run in the top spot in the NFC South Blog. But now that Trent’s done some serious traffic directing, we’ll go ahead and move him into the No. 2 slot on the blog.

Read the rest of the story here.

Jeff Duncan

The New Orleans Saints lose a game, and everyone mines the summary and game film for answers and explanations.

Who’s at fault?

What went wrong?

Where’s the weak spot?

Why did the Saints lose?

There were a lot of lessons to be learned from New Orleans’ 30-24 loss at Baltimore on Sunday.

Read the rest of the story here.

By Jeff Duncan, The Times-Picayune

Momentum was a huge factor in this game. And most of it belonged to the Baltimore Ravens.

Each time the New Orleans Saints seemed to take control, Ray Rice would make a big play to wrest it back in Baltimore’s favor.

The Saints pulled within 21-17 early in the third quarter and had scored 10 straight points when Rice took a screen pass and rambled 32 yards down the left sideline to energize the crowd and his teammates. Eight plays later, the Ravens scored a field goal.

Read the rest of the story here.

Yesterday tickets went on sale to win a dinner with Pierre Thomas and Heath Evans on Dec 23, 2010! Well Pierre stopped at Sake Cafe last night just as a member of the Who Dat Nation was buying her tickets.

Remember you cannot win if you do not have a ticket, raffle tickets will ONLY be sold at Sake Cafe Uptown till Wednesday afternoon.

One raffle for $5 and 5 raffle for $20.00 please see bartender for rules and time, winner will be picked Wednesday afternoon so get some tickets now !!

If you want to have dinner with Pierre Thomas and Heath Evans on Dec 23, 2010 you can WIN a chance. 2 seats have been held for fans!!  That’s right you can buy raffle tickets at Sake Cafe Uptown, starting Monday.  Raffle tickets will ONLY be sold at Sake Cafe Uptown till Wednesday afternoon.

One raffle for $5 and 5 raffle for $20.00 please see bartender for rules and time, winner will be picked Wednesday afternoon so get some tickets now !!

Remember that each ticket you buy will help underwrite Heath Evans Foundation’s activities, and provide toys to underprivileged children during this holiday season.

Thanks to Sake Cafe Uptown for making this happen !!