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In the aftermath of the Atlanta Falcons' first loss of the NFL season to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, linebacker Scott Shanle spoke with Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports. In that interview, Shanle talked about how some of the players on the Falcons acted prior to the opening kickoff:
"They were talking [expletive] to our guy Curtis Lofton," Shanle told Silver. "I couldn't even understand them. They were just walking all over our drills trying to mess with him. [Linebacker Jonathan] Vilma went and told their coach it was classless and they didn't even say anything. It set the tone for the day. It was classless and they got what they deserved."
In addition to those actions, the Saints may have been motivated by watching a video produced for the Falcons' official website called "D-Block." The locker room video included a freestyle rap sequence at the 11-minute mark. While the sequence was more for laughs than anything, the Saints got a boost from the video that seemed to be coming from players that thought they were going to just show up and win against the Saints, despite only beating the Saints twice since 2006.
The two teams have a rematch coming up on Nov. 29 on Thursday Night Football at the Georgia Dome. This week, the Falcons prepare for the Arizona Cardinals at the Georigia Dome next Sunday. Kickoff for that game will be at 1 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on Fox.