How, if at all, does this change the NFC South Landscape?

While I'm not one to revel in injuries on our team or others, this, obviously, will have a big impact on the Falcons, thus having a big impact on the Saints.

With Lofton bailing Atlanta for swampier pastures here in NOLA, Tatupa was their saving grace, to fill the void left at MLB. The tired argument from many Falcons fans was definitely that Lofton wasn't a 3 down player, and they'd be much better off, and would most likely improve on defense with Tatupa penciled in the lineup.

So now that Lofa (side note: say this name as often as possible, it's fun) is done, how does that affect the Saints? The Falcons will still be contenders as much as it pains me to say it, due to their offense, but to how big of a degree will this hurt their defense, thus potenially relieving some heart attacks on our end towards the end of the season should their be a close race in the NFC South?

Did this injury single handidly secure our spot at the top of the South? Or is it ultimately meaningless?

Here's a link to the story on NFL.com:

http://blog.atlantafalcons.com/jayadams/2012/07/24/smith-says-lb-lofa-tatupu-will-miss-entire-season/?module=HP11_headline_stack