[Tommy]

One of the intangibles that is hardest to calculate when handicapping a football game is emotion. Often the burning desire can be used up in the early moments of a contest or like last Monday in Jacksonville, can last through the entire game. The circumstances of tonight’s NFC South showdown between the Saints and Falcons go beyond anything the NFL has ever seen.

Three things that are identifiable about the Crescent City of New Orleans are Bourbon Street, Cajun food and the Superdome. The first two fortunately never went away, but the Superdome ended up being part of what went wrong in New Orleans and what is part of the new beginning of the city. For players of the Saints, this is their first true home game since December 26, when ironically they played and defeated Atlanta 26-13. Only a thesaurus will be able to describe what this means to the sellout crowd and players of the home team.

Lost in all this is that the winner takes over sole possession of first place in the division. New Orleans won its first two road games of the season for the first time since 2002. The Saints played two teams in Cleveland and Green Bay who were thought to be weak, just like themselves. The improvements have come from strong play up front by the defense, where they have allowed just 74 yards rushing per game. On offense, Drew Brees in the early going has been a massive upgrade over Aaron Brooks. Once again Brees has a gargantuan chip on his shoulder attempting to prove he is a well above average quarterback in the NFL. He had the luxury of coming into a good situation where he has a vast number of weapons. Deuce McAllister is rounding back into form after an injury. Head coach Sean Payton lays wake trying to figure out different formations to get the ball to multi-talented Reggie Bush. Besides lucking into Bush, the Saints have the steal of the entire draft in rookie Marques Colston out of Hofstra, who already has two receiving TD’s.

Atlanta has been imposing in the early going in defeating the other two teams in the division decidedly. The Falcons are averaging a “Navy-like” 279 yards rushing in the first two games against supposedly strong defensive teams. Atlanta has found the perfect compliment to New Orleans native Warrick Dunn, in Jerious Norwood who hits the hole quickly and with abandon in averaging 5.8 YPC. Michael Vick is changing styles again and maybe this time it might be the right one. Vick has unique assets that nobody can duplicate and other negatives that would have other quarterbacks sitting on the bench. It seems coach Jim Mora Jr. has decided to let Vick be himself and work on improving the weaknesses.

New Orleans will be one of the favorite old school roles of Monday Night Football bettors, the home underdog. The Saints are 4-point dogs, with the total listed at 4 points at Sportsbook’s Live Odds. This series has been a “Whose your daddy?” in New Orleans, with the Falcons 11-3 ATS, winning 9 times.

Both teams have mediocre Monday Night records, Atlanta at 4-7 against the spread and New Orleans at 5-8 ATS since 1989. One intriguing system is to Play On any team on Monday’s who rushed for more then 200 yards and won by at least seven points. This system is 14-5, 74 percent.

The raw emotion of being the Saints in this contest will be of utmost importance. Not only do they want to win against a fierce rival, they want to do so for the fans of New Orleans, who have been to hell and are now back. It should be a special night in what has been marked by quite a weekend of NFL wagering action .

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