Sunday, 1 p.m., MetLife Stadium, WTTG-5

Falcons 10-6, Giants 9-7

How the Falcons can win… The Falcons are a relatively balanced team, at least by the standards of some of this year’s top playoff contenders. They ranked 10th in the league in total offense and 12th in total defense during the regular season. The Atlanta defense ranked sixth against the run, and seems likely to shut down a Giants’ running game, which struggled all year. The Falcons rediscovered RB Michael Turner when he ran for 172 yards Sunday, and QB Matt Ryan has the receivers–in WRs Roddy White and Julio Jones and TE Tony Gonzalez—to exploit the Giants’ 29th-ranked pass defense.

How the Giants can win… The Giants enter the playoffs feeling good about themselves after beating the Jets and Cowboys on the final two weekends of the regular season to win the NFC East. They get to play at MetLife Stadium again, and they’re talking about re-creating the magic of their postseason run to a Super Bowl title after the 2007 season. QB Eli Manning has been one of the league’s most dependable players all season, leading the Giants to five victories with fourth-quarter comebacks. The defense played well against the Cowboys, sacking QB Tony Romo six times. DE Jason Pierre-Paul has become the most disruptive of the Giants’ pass rushers; he had 16-1/2 sacks during the regular season.

–Mark Maske

There won’t be much in this game that the New Orleans Saints haven’t seen from Atlanta, and vice versa. The teams know each other very well and are bound to play a close game. With both teams playing at a high level, it is becoming one of the most recognizable rivalries league-wide.

This time around, the Saints are playing for a chance to clinch the NFC South championship for the second time in three seasons and the third time under Coach Sean Payton. A New Orleans victory would also keep intact that no team in NFC South history has won back-to-back division crowns.

Payton has had much success against the Falcons, going 9-2 against the Dirty Birds since becoming the Saints’ coach in 2006, and New Orleans has taken five of the past six meetings. The Saints look to have an advantage because the game is being played on Monday night. The teams have played five times on “Monday Night Football,” and the Saints are 4-1. This is the third consecutive season the teams are playing on “MNF.”

FALCONS OFFENSE

Matt Ryan passed for 351 yards the last time they met, but historically Ryan hasn’t been at his best against the Saints. In six career starts against New Orleans, Ryan is 2-4, and the Saints are one of the two teams Ryan has played more than once against whom he doesn’t have a winning record (Philadelphia is the other).

Still, Ryan is having a career season and has more than receiver Roddy White to thank for it. In the offseason, the Falcons gave up a lot in the draft to get Julio Jones, and the rookie receiver is paying off. He has 42 catches for 755 yards and five touchdowns and is developing into a deep threat. And Tony Gonzalez, the ageless wonder at tight end, is second on the team in receptions (74), yards (755) and touchdown catches (seven).

White is again looking like one of the top receivers in the game. He has had three 100-yard receiving games in his past five after having just one such game in his first nine. In his past five games, White has 38 receptions for 537 yards and five touchdowns. He had 10 catches for 135 yards and two scores in last week’s 41-14 win against Jacksonville. He’s third in the league in catches (85), eighth in yards (1,100) and ninth in touchdowns (eight).

But running back Michael Turner is still the key figure in the Falcons’ attack. In Atlanta’s nine wins this season, Turner has averaged 90.3 yards per game and scored eight touchdowns. However, in the Falcons’ five losses, he only has averaged 63.2 yards per game and scored one touchdown. Taking out a 10-carry, 100-yard performance in Week 1 against Chicago, Turner is only averaging 3.4 yards per carry in the losses. Turner did rush for 96 yards the last time he played the Saints.

FALCONS DEFENSE

John Abraham is coming off one of his best games after posting 3.5 sacks and two forced fumbles against the Jaguars. He was the NFC Defensive Player of the Week. Abraham needs just 1.5 sacks to have his seventh season of 10 sacks or more. He anchors a defense that is ninth in the league in yards allowed per game and fourth against the run. The Saints struggled in this aspect last game, gaining only 41 yards.

Sean Witherspoon, a player many Saints fans coveted in the 2010 draft, has 107 tackles and is tied with Lawrence Sidbury for second on the team, with four sacks. Curtis Lofton leads the team in tackles with 124, fifth in the league. Lofton finished with nine tackles against the Saints last time and has made 10 or more tackles six times.

Atlanta’s secondary is primed to get a boost, as Brent Grimes and Kelvin Hayden are looking to return from injury. Grimes has missed three games because of a knee injury, and Hayden has been out since Nov. 20 with a toe injury. Grimes has one interception but leads the team with 12 pass deflections.

FALCONS SPECIAL TEAMS

Eric Weems was one of the best return men in the league last season but has been mediocre this season, as the Falcons rank 18th in punt-return and kick-return averages. Weems is averaging 23.3 yards per kick return and 9.9 yards per punt return and has yet to return one for a touchdown.

Kicker Matt Bryant has been a steady force this season. After making 90.3 percent of his field-goal attempts last season, Bryant is hitting 92 percent (23-of-25) this season. Bryant, who once kicked a 62-yarder with Tampa Bay, has a long this season of 50.

Matt Bosher has placed 26 punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, sixth-most in the NFL. He’s averaging 42.1 yards per punt and a 39.1 net averag,e and only three of his punts have been touchbacks. Opponents are only averaging 4.7 yards a return against Atlanta this season.

LAST TIME THEY MET

Nov. 13, 2011, Georgia Dome

John Kasay kicked a 26-yard field goal in overtime to give the Saints a 26-23 victory. New Orleans seemingly had things in control when Kasay kicked a 44-yarder to give the Saints a 23-13 lead with 7:13 remaining, but the Falcons stormed back. Ryan threw a career-high 52 passes for 351 yards and two touchdowns. Harry Douglas gave the Saints’ defense fits and finished with eight receptions for 133 yards. Saints safety Roman Harper finished with a season-high 13 tackles, including a sack, two tackles for losses and one pass deflection and was credited with two quarterback hits. 

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The NFL is expected to look at expanding the ban on launching and helmet hits.

Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay, the co-chairman of the league’s competition committee, believes it will be a topic for his group during the offseason, and changes could be presented to the owners next spring.

“I think the launch will be discussed more and more and eventually we will see helmet hits modified in the open field,” McKay said.

The competition committee recommends rules changes to the owners, who then vote on them at the annual March meetings. McKay’s committee was influential in getting outlawed the technique of launching — when a player leaves his feet and leads with his head — against defenseless players.

McKay says the idea of potentially banning launching altogether was discussed last year.

“Coaches felt there were too many circumstances where players could be perceived as doing it and were not really,” he said. “It is a big step, not something I expect membership gets comfortable with over a year’s time.”

Flagrant helmet hits have been a high-profile topic all season since the league banned launching in March. A 15-yard penalty is enforced for anyone who leaves both feet before contact to spring forward and upward into an opponent and delivers a blow to the helmet with any part of his helmet.

Such tackles also are subject to fines, ejections and suspensions.

McKay emphasized that Steelers linebacker James Harrison’s hit on Browns quarterback Colt McCoy on Dec. 8 is not the catalyst for further discussions.

Harrison became the first player suspended for such a hit under the NFL’s new guidelines, and will miss Pittsburgh’s game at San Francisco on Monday night.

“I don’t like the fact one play would drive the discussion more than a need to do it for a bigger reason: a lot of plays that are putting players at risk,” McKay said. “Our game has taken some real steps in a safety direction and we see, culturally, some modifications. We need to continue in that direction.”

McKay said game officials have told him they are seeing fewer hits with the target areas the head or neck, and more tacklers are leading with their shoulders.

He said that’s significant because it’s not only offensive players who are in danger when an illegal hit is made.

“When we are trying to deal with an issue like the launch, we are trying to protect the runner and the hitter,” he said. “Some hits, a defensive player is leading with his head and not using his arms and really is exposing himself to injury as a flagrant foul is committed.”

Defenseless players cannot be hit in the head or neck area with the helmet, facemask, forearm or shoulder. The definition of such players now includes those throwing a pass; attempting or completing a catch without having time to ward off or avoid contact; a runner whose forward progress has been stopped by a tackler; kickoff or punt returners while the ball is in the air; kickers or punters during a kick or a return; a quarterback during a change of possession; and a player who receives a blindside block from a blocker moving toward his own end zone.

“I really don’t think there’s anything to stopping him. I would say slowing him down is the key,” Falcons linebacker Curtis Lofton said. “He’s a very special player.”

Sunday’s home matchup could be one of Atlanta’s toughest against Brees now that new running back Darren Sproles complements an already talented group of receivers.

The Saints rank at or near the top of nearly every NFL offensive category, including a league-high 44 possessions in the red zone and an overall scoring average that ranks second.

“Sproles is a big factor in the red zone because he’s a fast guy,” defensive end John Abraham said. “They use screens and a lot of things to get him the ball. You would think the rookie (Mark Ingram) would be doing stuff in there, but you see Sproles in the red zone really getting a lot of touches.”

Brees is having one of the best seasons of his remarkable career. He is the first NFL passer with 3,000 yards in the first nine games of a season and has thrown a TD pass in 36 straight games to tie Brett Favre for the league’s second-longest streak.

“The thing is when we get to him we’ve got to get him down,” said Abraham, a four-time Pro Bowl selection. “He’ll throw the ball in any situation. He’ll flip in the backfield. He’ll do a lot of different things to get the ball out of his hands. We’ve got to wrap him up when we get to him.”

Sproles’ numbers are impressive, too. After spending his first six seasons with San Diego, Sproles leads the NFL with 9,759 all-purpose yards since 2007. He’s on pace to break New Orleans’ single-season record for a running back (Reggie Bush had 88 catches for 742 yards in 2006).

At 5-foot-6, 190 pounds, Sproles zips through the backfield as elusively as he runs through coverage units on special teams. His 1,499 all-purpose yards lead the NFL this season.

For Lofton, it was already hard enough trying to defend a New Orleans scheme that includes tight end Jimmy Graham, running back Pierre Thomas and receivers Marques Colston, Devery Henderson, Robert Meachem and Lance Moore.

Brees doesn’t give a defense much time to attack the pocket.

“He sets (his feet) short and gets the ball out of his hand quick, so our pass rush is going to have to get there and knock him off point,” Lofton said. “We may not get sacks, but we can’t let him sit back there and have all that time. We’ve got to mix up our coverages. It can’t just be sitting ducks for him.”

Abraham believes the Falcons (5-3) have improved their tackling since starting the season poorly. They can’t afford to be fundamentally weak against the Saints (6-3).

“Even in the playoff loss (last season) against Green Bay, we were blitzing,” Abraham said. “We just weren’t getting them down, and I think it ended up biting us in a big way. This year I think people are a lot more confident blitzing and I think they understand what they have to do.”

Defending the Saints on third down will be critical. New Orleans’ 55.7 percentage ranks second in the league. Atlanta’s defense ranks 24th.

Lofton knows how important it is to avoid getting frustrated. The Falcons’ defensive captain estimates that Atlanta had 10 free runs at Brees in a Week 16 home defeat last season, finishing with just one sack.

There was some satisfaction in causing Brees to throw two interceptions, but not nearly enough.

“We definitely want to get him a little antsy back there,” Lofton said. “He has a tendency to move around and extend plays. Sometimes that works out for him and sometimes it’s been good for us. We definitely want to keep that going this year. He’s an elusive guy. Then again, Sproles is, too. It’s going to be a tough matchup, but we’re a confident team right now.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP)—Facing Drew Brees(notes) is never easy for the Atlanta
Falcons.

New Orleans’ record-setting quarterback is 8-2 in the NFC South rivalry and
has put up some staggering numbers: 3,010 yards passing, a 68.1 completion
percentage and 20 touchdowns.

“I really don’t think there’s anything to stopping him. I would say slowing
him down is the key,” Falcons linebacker Curtis Lofton(notes) said. “He’s a very
special player.”

Sunday’s home matchup could be one of Atlanta’s toughest against Brees now
that new running back Darren Sproles(notes) complements an already talented group of
receivers.

The Saints rank at or near the top of nearly every NFL offensive category,
including a league-high 44 possessions in the red zone and an overall scoring
average that ranks second.

“Sproles is a big factor in the red zone because he’s a fast guy,”
defensive end John Abraham(notes) said. “They use screens and a lot of things to get
him the ball. You would think the rookie (Mark Ingram(notes)) would be doing stuff in
there, but you see Sproles in the red zone really getting a lot of touches.”

Brees is having one of the best seasons of his remarkable career. He is the
first NFL passer with 3,000 yards in the first nine games of a season and has
thrown a TD pass in 36 straight games to tie Brett Favre(notes) for the league’s
second-longest streak.

“The thing is when we get to him we’ve got to get him down,” said Abraham,
a four-time Pro Bowl selection. “He’ll throw the ball in any situation. He’ll
flip in the backfield. He’ll do a lot of different things to get the ball out of
his hands. We’ve got to wrap him up when we get to him.”

Sproles’ numbers are impressive, too. After spending his first six seasons
with San Diego, Sproles leads the NFL with 9,759 all-purpose yards since 2007.
He’s on pace to break New Orleans’ single-season record for a running back
(Reggie Bush(notes) had 88 catches for 742 yards in 2006).

At 5-foot-6, 190 pounds, Sproles zips through the backfield as elusively as
he runs through coverage units on special teams. His 1,499 all-purpose yards
lead the NFL this season.

For Lofton, it was already hard enough trying to defend a New Orleans scheme
that includes tight end Jimmy Graham(notes), running back Pierre Thomas(notes) and receivers
Marques Colston(notes), Devery Henderson(notes), Robert Meachem(notes) and Lance Moore(notes).

Brees doesn’t give a defense much time to attack the pocket.

“He sets (his feet) short and gets the ball out of his hand quick, so our
pass rush is going to have to get there and knock him off point,” Lofton said.
“We may not get sacks, but we can’t let him sit back there and have all that
time. We’ve got to mix up our coverages. It can’t just be sitting ducks for
him.”

Abraham believes the Falcons (5-3) have improved their tackling since
starting the season poorly. They can’t afford to be fundamentally weak against
the Saints (6-3).

“Even in the playoff loss (last season) against Green Bay, we were
blitzing,” Abraham said. “We just weren’t getting them down, and I think it
ended up biting us in a big way. This year I think people are a lot more
confident blitzing and I think they understand what they have to do.”

Defending the Saints on third down will be critical. New Orleans’ 55.7
percentage ranks second in the league. Atlanta’s defense ranks 24th.

Lofton knows how important it is to avoid getting frustrated. The Falcons’
defensive captain estimates that Atlanta had 10 free runs at Brees in a Week 16
home defeat last season, finishing with just one sack.

There was some satisfaction in causing Brees to throw two interceptions, but
not nearly enough.

“We definitely want to get him a little antsy back there,” Lofton said.
“He has a tendency to move around and extend plays. Sometimes that works out
for him and sometimes it’s been good for us. We definitely want to keep that
going this year. He’s an elusive guy. Then again, Sproles is, too. It’s going to
be a tough matchup, but we’re a confident team right now.”