Saints vs. Falcons Five Questions: Saints Must Stop Julio Jones

Let's ring in the New Year with some insider intel from the opposition, 5 Questions style! Read on to find out how Dave The Falconer holds up under the aggressive email questioning of your resident spectral interrogator...

1) What's up with your head coach? Did he peak already? That 5-0 start seems so long ago.

Dave The Falconer: I think Dan Quinn is a good head coach without the talent he wants, and that he's made some real mistakes along the way. I also think the perception of him is changing again after these last two wins, which is what happens in a fickle, increasingly impatient league. Get the man better talent on defense and a little more juice on offense and we'll know better in 2016. This is a long-winded way of saying he hasn't peaked.

2) Seems like 9-7 is a perfectly wonderful celebratory successful season for your Falcons franchise. How sad will you be when you can't even reach that by losing to a 6-9 Saints squad who has one of the worst defenses in the history of the NFL this year?

DTF: I gotta admit, losing to the Saints this weekend would really suck. You guys aren't nearly as bad as you looked earlier in the season, sure, but this might be the Sean Payton-Drew Brees swan song in New Orleans, and it's not even a particularly pretty tune. I can live with 8-8, but I don't need that sour note at the end of the season.

3) Which of your cornerbacks will get burned the most by our midget speedster (#10 Brandin Cooks) who will catch so many passes and touchdowns from our balding midget gimpy quarterback on Sunday? As a follow-up, which one of your linebackers is most likely to get beat for a touchdown pass to our aging, gimpy tight end who's having a career year (#82 Benjamin Watson)?

DTF: At cornerback, it's probably Jalen Collins, the tall rookie cornerback who has had the kind of rookie season we like to refer to as forgettable because other words are too hurtful. He's got a bright future, but Cooks is exactly the kind of receiver he'd have trouble with, being all shifty and so forth. Take your pick of linebackers. Ben Watson is a pass catching god.

4) Delvin Breaux (#40) is our stud shutdown cornerback (fun little-known fact for you that really needs to get more exposure - did you know that he broke his back in high school and is an inspirational, heartwarming story of perseverance to NEVER give up on your dreams?), and our other starting corner (#39 Brandon MFing Browner) is either a Touchdown-Maker or a Defensive Penalty-Maker. Do you have confidence that your team's offensive game-planners will figure this out in time for it to make a difference?

DTF: They're just going to throw the ball to Julio Jones all day to try to get him the record, so I anticipate that game plan will work pretty well unless Brandon Browner can magically turn back into a competent NFL cornerback. The Falcons haven't had a consistent second option in the passing game, but Roddy White and Justin Hardy have come on a bit in the last few weeks. so I like their chances.

5) Our punter (#6 Thomas Morstead) is having a crappy year and it seems he's got a pulled quad or some s*** like that. There are problems with Saints FG/XP kicking (#5 Kai Forbath), blocking on said kicks (too many #s to list here), and it is almost guaranteed that most of the kickoffs will probably not even reach the end zone. Do your special teams have the wherewithal to take advantage of all this?

DTF: The Falcons' special teams are some of the finest in the nation, thanks to Keith Armstrong's strong "you're not good enough to be an asshole" philosophy and the presence of Super Punter Matt Bosher. If one thing is going to turn the tide in this game, it'll be the Falcons' overwhelming special teams advantage, so take that.

6) Bonus question: What lame-ass "giveaway" stunt has your PR department got planned for the final home game of 2015? The Saints PR bums have given away so many stupid white towels this year that I don't know whether to wave the white flag or throw in the towel to tell them "I surrender!" about this crap and to let them know that it hasn't even come close to boosting team or fan morale.

DTF: In honor of it being the last week of the season and against the Saints, who have so frequently had this team's number since about 2008, the Falcons are going to have likely outgoing general manager Thomas Dimitroff do a bicycle jump out of the stadium. He is not expected to return.

What's your final score prediction?

Julio Jones dominates, the Falcons' defense is surprisingly game against smoking hot, ultra gritty Nyquil salesman Drew Brees, and the Falcons pull out a 27-24 win.

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Big thanks to Dave for taking the time to answer my questions with his usual grace and humor.  Be sure to check back on CSC for a link to the five questions I answer for him on his blog. And for the love of Jairus1000, get your ass over and start mouthing off in the trash-talking Fanpost I set up on The Falcoholic earlier this week. Stu and I and some other stalwarts are over there chewing bubble gum, kicking ass, and taking names, but it'd be great to overwhelm them with a show of force like nothing they've seen before. They're so stunned that none of them has even bothered to come over here and start s*** with their own trash-talk post.

Now let's pick apart his answers like we're buzzards feasting on a stinking, rotting Falcon carcass!!! Anyone got a BBQ sauce recommendation????

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