Saints dominance of Falcons endures in post-Payton era

A few things have changed since Sean Payton left the New Orleans Saints. One thing hasn’t.

The Saints are nearing the end of the worst season they have had since Payton was hired in 2006.

They have uncharacteristically hurt themselves with penalties, turnovers and blown leads.

They were all but mathematically eliminated from the playoff race with a month left in the season.

But thank goodness for the Atlanta Falcons.

The one thing that hasn’t changed in Dennis Allen’s first season as head coach is the Saints’ dominance of their oldest and most bitter rival.

Much of the little bit of enjoyment that Saints fans have been able to experience this season has come against the Falcons.

The latest “Who’s your Daddy?” moment came in the form of a 21-18 victory over the Falcons on Sunday in the Caesars Superdome. This win came 14 weeks after a 27-26 victory in Atlanta in the season opener.

That means 40 percent of the victories for this disappointing 5-9 team have come against the Falcons.

That’s small consolation for the overall failure of this season, but it’s better to be 5-9 with a sweep of the Falcons than it would be to be 5-9 without it.

This season series sweep is also significant for historical reasons.

The Saints’ victory Sunday was their 54th against the Falcons, evening the all-time record in the series, which includes Atlanta’s victory in the only playoff game between the two long-time rivals.

That means the Saints lead the regular-season series, 54-53, which is the first time they have had the upper hand in the regular-season meetings since they led it 1-0.

The Saints lost their only other lead in the series on December 7, 1969, when they lost 45-17 in their first road meeting with the Falcons. That started a nine-game winning streak that put Atlanta in command of the series until Payton started chipping away at it.

The 2022 sweep gives the Saints a 24-10 record against the Falcons since Payton’s arrival.

The win Sunday was both similar to and different than the one in Atlanta.

It was similar because the Saints had superior quarterback play, which has rarely been the case this season, with Andy Dalton outperforming rookie Desmond Ridder in Ridder’s first NFL start, just as Jameis Winston outperformed Marcus Mariota in the first meeting.

It was different because this time the Saints scored the first 14 points (on their first two possessions) and never relinquished the lead after having to score the last 17 points (in the final 11:12) to win the first meeting.

It was similar because the three-point margin of victory was the Saints’ second-smallest, to the one-point margin in the opener, which was significant for a team that has lost five games in which the margin was one score.

It was different because Juwan Johnson was the money receiver, snaring touchdown passes of 19 and 22 yards from Dalton, rather than Michael Thomas, who caught touchdowns of three and nine yards and a two-point conversion pass from Winston.

It was similar because Taysom Hill had his fingerprints on both games (which generally has happened when the Saints have won this season). Hill threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Rashid Shaheed. His other pass also was a completion, a 12-yarder to Johnson that produced a first down, as did two of his seven runs, which produced 30 helpful yards.

The Saints are tied for both second and last place in the NFC South (with Carolina and Atlanta), though they would win a tiebreaker against the Falcons.

With three games remaining, the math says the Saints can still win the NFC South and get into the playoffs.

But that’s extremely unlikely.

They’re just one game worse than the first-place Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the won-lost column, but the Bucs hold the tiebreaker.

Wining the division would require a lot of help from the Bucs’ remaining opponents (Cardinals, Panthers and Falcons) as well as multiple victories by a Saints team that has yet to win two games in a row this season.

And there are no more games against the Falcons.