The Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints will face off on NFL Monday Night Football tonight to conclude Week 3. This game could go either way but it is the Saints who have home field advantage and will be hoping that can swing things their way. The game has a scheduled start time of 8.30 p.m. ET and takes place from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The game can be watched on TV on the ESPN network or online through live stream via the link below.
The Falcons come into this game on 1-1 having bounced back last week from their opening game loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
That 31-24 defeat at the hands of the Buccaneers was a hugely disappointing way to get their season underway. At home in the Georgia Dome the Falcons faithful were expecting an opening day victory, but poor defense either side of half time coupled with an offense that found it difficult to gain any sustained momentum, they came up short.
Last week though the Falcons went on the road to Oakland to take on the Raiders at the O.co Coliseum, and this time their offense found their footing to lead them to a well-earned 35-28 victory.
Atlanta will be desperate to now build on that result and claim a second straight win today and move into the positive record territory.
However, the Saints will be feeling the pressure and will be even more desperate for the win today. They have come out on the wrong side of two tight games in their opening few weeks of the season, and that leaves them on 0-2 coming into Week 3.
An opening game loss at home to the Oakland Raiders was desperately disappointing. Playing at home in front of thousands of your own fans, and heading into the fourth quarter with a healthy 24-13 lead, it appeared that the Saints would see out a comfortable opening game win.
However, the Saints defense went missing in the final quarter and shipped 22 points to allow the Oakland Raiders to steal the win 35-34.
If that wasn't bad enough, New Orleans followed up that loss with another against the New York Giants in Week 2. That 16-13 loss means they have lost both their opening games but by a combined total of just four points. Things could have been so different, and that fact will be plaguing the Saints' players coming into this Week 3 clash.
They dare not come up short again and fall to 0-3 as it is extremely rare for a side to come back from such a poor start to the season and still make the postseason. They will already be looking at this Week 3 game as a must win match up, and they will know leaving at the end of the night being on 1-2 rather than 0-3 could make a world of difference to how their season ultimately turns out.
Tonight's big NFL Monday Night Football match up between the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons has a scheduled start time of 8.30 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the ESPN network. The game can also be watched online through live stream by clicking here.
