For over a decade, the New Orleans Saints were quite accustomed to seeing Matt Ryan lead the Atlanta Falcons. Following the Falcons’ call to ship off Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts in the offseason, the Saints will now have to game plan against quarterback Marcus Mariota twice a year, and their first matchup is set for Week 1 of the 2022 season.
Numerous players on the Saints defense are not much familiar with Mariota’s prowess as a dual-threat quarterback. The veteran passer has made only one career start against the Saints, which came when he recorded four passing touchdowns in the Tennessee Titans’ six-point road win over New Orleans in the 2015 season.
Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan featured in that contest, and now as he is looking ahead to New Orleans’ season opener against the Falcons, he sees that he will need to spend much time going over film on Mariota.
“They just named the starting quarterback not too long ago,” Jordan said during a press conference this past week. “With Marcus Mariota, now we've got to go back and watch some [Las] Vegas film, maybe watch Tennessee film.
“We've got to break down who he is because he's not a traditional pocket passer like Matt [Ryan] was. This is going to change up their game a lot. … We've got somewhat zero film to work off of to prepare for what could be a lethal offense.”
The Saints had the last laugh during the latter years of the Matt Ryan era in Atlanta; they have won seven of their previous nine meetings against their NFC South rival. Now, with Mariota set to lead the Falcons offense in the coming campaign, Jordan and the Saints sure will look to continue to hold the bragging rights over Atlanta.
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