By Jeff Duncan, The Times-Picayune

The New Orleans Saints will enter the NFC playoffs as the fifth seed and will take on the winner of St. Louis Rams at Seattle Seahawks game next week following today’s 23-13 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the win by Atlanta against Carolina.

More concerning for the Saints is the fact that Chris Ivory, Jeremy Graham and Malcolm Jenkins left the game in the first half with injury. We’ll probably get an update on that later this evening or on Monday.

Drew Brees was 22-of-38 for 196 yards the Saints. Running back Reggie Bush had a good game, rushing for 70 yards on nine carries.

Read the rest of the story here.

By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

Jeff Charleston and Marvin Mitchell are the ultimate role players for the New Orleans Saints, and Monday night their role was to make the biggest play of the biggest win of the season.

Charleston reached up to strip the ball from Atlanta tailback Michael Turner a foot short of the goal line early in the third quarter, and Mitchell recovered the fumble.

Read more here.

By James Varney, The Times-Picayune

When running back Pierre Thomas turned in a gritty performance against the Atlanta Falcons last Monday night, the New Orleans Saints’ come-from-behind victory offered him a measure of revenge.

“I felt happy, it was a big relief because Atlanta was the team that put me out, that put me out for a while,” Thomas said Thursday. “So for me it was just a payback thing. I wanted to get back at that team because they really hurt me in the beginning of the season. They put me out for a long period of time, but I got my opportunities to come back and show them what I can do. For them to remember me, like, ‘hey, you might have put me out in the beginning, but I’m back.'”

Read more here.

By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton stressed that his team will make every effort to win Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, despite the fact that they might not be able to improve their playoff seed.

The Saints (11-4) can earn the NFC’s No. 1 seed, a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs if they win Sunday and the Falcons (12-3) lose at home to the lowly Carolina Panthers. Otherwise, the Saints will finish as the fifth seed in the NFC.

Read the rest of the story here.

Do you see anything wrong with this picture??

Looks ok to me!

By Gene Guillot, The Times-Picayune

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and two of his offensive lineman are going to the Pro Bowl on Jan. 30.

Guards Jahri Evans and Carl Nicks were also selected. Evans is the starter for the NFC.

Michael Vick is the starting quarterback for the NFC.

Full story

By Nakia Hogan, The Times-Picayune

New Orleans Saints middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma was selected the 2010 Saints’ “Man of the Year,” the team announced Tuesday.

One of the most prestigious awards in the NFL, the honor is voted on annually by members of the media, Saints front office staff and local non-profit and business executives.

Read the rest of the story here.

By James Varney

Recapping the New Orleans Saints’ 17-14 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night at the Georgia Dome

DID YOU SEE?

PENALTIES

It’s a lament Coach Sean Payton has sounded more than once in 2010 and the fluttering yellow flags haunted the Saints again Monday night.

By the time it was over, New Orleans had been flagged eight times for 92 yards, statistics that don’t reflect penalties Atlanta chose to decline. Such figures are damaging in and of themselves but they were magnified more than once by the critical situations in which they occurred.

Read the rest of the story here

Jeff Duncan

ATLANTA — “Rise Up” is the Atlanta Falcons‘ official slogan this season.

It’s printed on the team’s media credentials, inscribed on T-shirts throughout the Georgia Dome and even chanted by actor Samuel L. Jackson on a pregame video to stoke the home crowd before the opening kickoff.

It was an appropriate preamble for the New Orleans Saints‘ resounding 17-14 victory against their bitter archrivals.

Read the rest of the story here.