By: Jake Rajala

The Week 1 NFC South showdown between the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons was certainly a dandy. The Atlanta Falcons had a fourth-quarter lead of 26-10 until the Saints marched back and finished with a miraculous 27-26 victory. It was simply none other than a Thriller —- by Michael Jackson (yes, you need to watch the catchy, generational video below).

With that said, I’m going to untwine five takeaways from the contest that made each fan base wear an oxygen mask in the last quarter. Let’s begin.

• Michael Thomas!

Cantguardmike looked rusty and potentially less effective in a Sean Payton-less offense throughout the first three-quarters of the Saints-Falcons game. Nonetheless, it was safe to say he arrived in the fourth quarter by hauling in a pair of critical touchdown catches. I still don’t believe he is 100% just yet.

• Grady Jarrett

The Atlanta Falcons two-time Pro Bowl DT Grady Jarrett certainly showed up on Sunday — as he notched 1.5 sacks. He had his way with the Saints OL that was missing the rookie LT Trevor Penning, to say the least. It’s vital that he continues to shine for a front seven that has Deion Jones on injured reserve.

• Marshon Lattimore

The gifted Marshon Lattimore may have told fellow elite CB Jalen Ramsey, who allowed a perfect passer rating on Thurs. night, to hold his beer. Lattimore made a terrible mistake by holding rookie WR Drake London late in the game and he managed to have an unnecessary roughness penalty on the Falcons last offense drive — which led to the Falcons having a chance to convert a 64-yard field goal.

• Cordarrelle Patterson

Cordarrelle Patterson did his best Steven Jackson impression today by mowing down the Saints front seven and unveiling 22 attempts for 120 rushing yards. Patterson also had a bull-dozing TD score – as it was clear that he wasn’t going to be stifled by the talented, yet undersized Saints LB Pete Werner.

• Jarvis Landry

I loved the clutch ability by the legendary slot wideout Jarvis Landry today. Landry registered a potent 114 receiving yards on 7 catches. He is clearly going to hurt defenses when they spend a lot of their focus on MT.

The post 5 takeaways from the Saints-Falcons showdown appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Jake Rajala

The New Orleans Saints illustrious wide receiver Michael Thomas won Offensive Rookie of The Year in 2019 (w/ a record-setting 149 receptions, 1,725 yards, and 9 touchdowns) and was the top fantasy wideout by over an astronomical 100 points. Gary Davenport of B/R even nicely noted that Thomas was well-rounded in fantasy in 2018. Gary stated, “In 2018, Thomas was first in the league in receptions (125), sixth in receiving yards (1,405), 10th in touchdowns (nine), and sixth in fantasy PPR points. After the year that the “Amazon burned”, he transcended into a ghost. MT played in a mere seven games in 2020 and then was called out by Stephen A for having surgery late in the 2021 off-season and missing the entire 2021 season.

With that said, Cantguardmike is healthy, hell-bent on finding gold, and he’s playing with an underrated signal-caller in Jameis Winston. I really believe that Thomas is undervalued by countless analysts and that he is honestly poised to be a Pro Bowl-caliber WR in 2022. Fantasy Pros pegged Thomas as the 32nd best wideout right now — which is behind Darnell Mooney, Elijah Moore, and Adam Thielen.

The healthy Saints WR1 has been utterly electric in training camp as of late. Nick Underhill of NOF noted how Thomas was impressive on Day 1 and Day 2 of training camp. Winston won’t only be focusing on MT on short and intermediate routes, but Winston can make more magic happen than even the 2019 version of Drew Brees with Thomas’s deep running ability.

The Saints may not have Drew Brees or Sean Payton, but they still have the offensive master-mind, Pete Carmichael (who has been with the Saints since 2019). Carmichael understands the quick passing concepts for MT, how to get him the pig-skin in space, and his best situations against divisional foes. Carmichael has been one of the most underappreciated and mysterious profiles in the league over the past decade.

Thomas has shined while playing injured w/ Taysom Hill at QB. Although, it’s quite safe to say that Who Dat Nation is happy that he’s back to 100% and playing with a mega-arm, healthy QB. He has stated that he is “very confident” that he will return to being a cream of the crop WR moving forward. The Saints highly motivated and gifted WR is set to be a FA in 2025.

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