Alright, Who Dat Nation.
I picked this one months ago.
Saints over Atlanta.
And after everything we’ve seen through the first three weeks, I’m not changing it now.
Monday night. Falcons. Saints. Caesars Superdome.
Both teams 1–2. First NFC South game of the season. Atlanta swept us last year. A Saints win would even the all-time regular-season series at 57–57.
That’s already enough to make this a big game.
But Monday night is about something more.
Twenty Years Ago, I Was There
September 25, 2006.
I’ve talked about that night before because it’s impossible for me to think about Saints-Falcons in the Dome without remembering it.
I was there.
New Orleans had been through hell. The Saints hadn’t played in the Superdome since Katrina. Then that building reopened on Monday Night Football against — of all teams — the Atlanta Falcons.
Atlanta lined up to punt early in the first quarter.
And then No. 37 came flying through.
Steve Gleason blocked it.
Curtis Deloatch recovered it in the end zone.
Touchdown Saints.
I’ve been to a lot of Saints games.
I’ve heard that Dome loud plenty of times.
But that moment was different.
It wasn’t just cheering.
It felt like an explosion.
For one moment, everything New Orleans had been through came pouring out of 70,000 people at the same time.
And twenty years later, we’re going to see it again Monday night.
They’re going to show that block on those giant screens.
They’re going to show Gleason.
They’re going to show that crowd from 2006 losing its damn mind.
And when they do?
That Dome is going to ERUPT.
I don’t care whether you were sitting there twenty years ago or weren’t even born yet.
You’re going to feel it.
And if I’m wearing a Saints uniform Monday night, I’m watching that replay and thinking one thing:
We aren’t losing to Atlanta in this building tonight.
Now Make Your Own Memory
That’s my challenge to this Saints team.
Honor 2006.
Celebrate Gleason.
Remember what that night meant to this city.
But then go make your own moment.
This team is 1–2. Atlanta is 1–2.
Nobody needs to explain what 1–3 would mean.
And nobody wearing black and gold needs an explanation of what beating Atlanta means.
The Raiders game is over.
Forget the turnovers.
Forget the controversial call.
Forget the fourth-quarter collapse.
You can’t change any of it.
But you damn sure can decide what happens next.
Tony Picked This One Months Ago
Before the season, I went through every game.
When I got to Atlanta in the Dome?
WIN.
I didn’t need much time to think about it then.
I don’t need much time now.
I’m sticking with it.
Monday night isn’t about what happened against Detroit, Baltimore or Las Vegas.
It’s Saints-Falcons.
It’s the Dome.
It’s Monday Night Football.
It’s the 20th anniversary of one of the greatest moments that building has ever witnessed.
And it’s an opportunity to get to 2–2, start NFC South play 1–0, and remind Atlanta what that building sounds like when the Who Dat Nation has something to scream about.
Twenty years ago, No. 37 came through that line and changed the feeling of an entire city with one blocked punt.
Monday night, when they roll that replay…
Stand up.
Get loud.
Let those Falcons hear what twenty years of that memory sounds like.
And then let’s make another one.
Tony picked the Saints months ago.
Tony’s sticking with the Saints.
Beat Atlanta.
WHO DAT!
— Tony from the Westbank
Loading ...