Saints linebacker Scott Shanle felt that the Falcons were “classless” before the start of Sunday’s game.
We imagine he holds an equally dim view of what Falcons wide receiver Roddy White had to say after the game came to an end. White, who spent the days leading up to the game letting the world know he disliked the entire city of New Orleans and hoping that the Saints played man coverage in the secondary, thought that the Saints didn’t beat the Falcons 31-27 as much as the Falcons beat themselves at the Superdome.
“It doesn’t say much about us about us. I think we had opportunities today. It’s not like they came out here and just … I feel like we kind of gave it away,” White said, via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We just gave it to them. It wasn’t nothing they did. It was what we did in not cashing in on opportunities. We play them against in three weeks and we’ll be ready. It will be at the Dome and hopefully we’ll beat them that time.”
We’ve heard this line of reasoning plenty of times before, which doesn’t make it ring any truer coming from White’s mouth. Every losing team in the history of football could say that they beat themselves because they obviously couldn’t do enough to win a game. The only common thread in those games is that there was another team on the field that was able to cash in on their opportunities often enough to end the game on top of the scoreboard.
The Saints defenses stopped the Falcons from scoring touchdowns on two trips inside the 10 in the fourth quarter, they came back from an early 10-0 deficit, stuffed the Falcons running game and ran the ball well all day. If that’s not the blueprint to win a game, we’d love to know if it is even possible for an NFL team to win a game anymore or if every game is just decided by who beats themselves more.