Falcons, Raheem Morris can 'Outrun the South’ with Win against Saints

Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris coined a new phrase by accident, but it's gaining steam with his ambitious squad.

The Atlanta Falcons are 4-0 against the NFC South with a chance to equal a mark held by this week's opponent, the New Orleans Saints. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Falcons are 4-0 on the season against NFC South opponents. This Sunday, they travel to face the reeling New Orleans Saints, who are losers of seven-straight contests.

The Saints, however, are the divisional opponent who hold claim to the division's most impressive regular season accomplishment in history. 

During the 2020 season, New Orleans was the first team in the South to sweep the regular season series against all three opponents. Ultimately, that was undermined by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeating them in the playoffs and going on to winning the Super Bowl with Tom Brady at the helm.

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For the Falcons, they have an opportunity on Sunday to establish a strong grasp on their division claim with a win against the Saints and becoming 5-0 within the NFC South. For head coach Raheem Morris, his motto since day one in the organization has been “Outrun the South”. 

"I didn't mean to coin it," Morris said this week. "But I mean, I was just speaking from the heart, speaking to those guys and just being absolutely honest.

"Somehow, I let these guys talk me into doing a team meeting live, and that came out and people are just taking it on their own."

Regardless of whether he meant to coin the phrase or not, the players have bought in throughout the entire roster, and All-Pro guard Chris Lindstrom understands that this team is different – because the players believe in one another.

"I think there's buy-in and belief everywhere. I think we've had the opportunities to go win games when we probably shouldn't have, or people didn't think we could have, but we had belief in one another.” Lindstrom said. 

With a Saints team now under an interim head coach, and only two wins on the season – the Falcons must take care of business in the Big Easy. 

If they do, they are still on track to dethrone their rival's lofty 2020 feat.  After Sunday, Atlanta has one more contest against the Carolina Panthers in the final week of the regular season.

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