Atlanta came into the Dome hoisting the league's best record at 8-0, being the last undefeated team. The Saints came into this knowing that handing the Falcon's their first loss of the season was going to have to come against an Atlanta team that has been its best in years, but it would be the sweetest victory of the season for Saints fans if pulled off. Pulled off they did.

Saints' defense is staring to find its identity.

Spags' defense is starting to resonate.

The defense gave up 400+ yards again, but if you're looking for some general comments about how they still aren't playing well, go to ESPN.com and read Ashley M. Fox's articles. Anybody that was watching the game can clearly see the Saints are starting to buy into Spagnuolo's scheme. Their front four put enough pressure on Atlanta's offensive line to force Matt Ryan into some difficult throws. In four redzone trips, Atlanta had two TDs, a field goal, and the game clinching turnover at the Saints two yard line. This defense may bend like aluminum for most of the field, but turns to pure steel in the redzone. My colleague and Spin IT co-founder, Mejdy, spoke of this after the Tampa Bay Game.

With Jonathan Vilma remaining on the team with pending Bounty "allegations" still getting figured out in court, Joe Vitt being back to help the linebackers, and Spags' schemes getting better each week, this defense has stepped in the most critical of situations in the Saints' four wins.

Side Note: Corey White is officially off of our shit list. He's kind of been for weeks now anyway, but it's worth noting that he clearly should be starting over P Rob at this point.

Run, Ivory. Run!

Chris Ivory can run for mayor of New Orleans right now, and Mitch Landrieu would be sweating. Last week, it was on his second run; this week, it took him only one carry to find the end zone.  On a misdirection handoff, Drew Brees flashed the handoff to the weak side before switching to the strong side and then giving the ball to The Beast. Ivory handled the rest. He first beat Asante Samuel to the sideline, outran him up the field before making Thomas Dicoud miss on a cutback to the middle of the field, and just for good measure, Ivory threw in one sick stiff arm on Dunta Robinson leading to a walk in the end zone on a 56-yard run. He finished with 85 total yards on 8 touches and has added a dimension to this Saints offense they were missing the first 7 games of the season.

Mark Ingram held his own this week as well. He handled the bulk of the carries and finished with 16 carriers for 67 yards and broke the first tackle on every run.  He has been running with purpose these past two weeks and looking like the running back the Saints moved up in the first round to take. With Aaron Kromer, or as ESPN loves to say over and over "interim interim head coach," returning to his main job of being one hell of an offensive line coach, this Saints' running game has taken a lot of pressure off Drew Brees and the passing game.

Jimmy Graham is a bully.

...and I mean that in the best way possible. He is too fast for a linebacker and too big for a cornerback. He finally looks back to full speed after missing week 7 with an ankle injury. He finished the game with 7 catches for 146 yards and 2 TDs.  If the running game continues to hold, Jimmy Graham will be the biggest beneficiary through the air with linebackers being forced to acknowledge the running backs.

Sidenotes:

Drew Brees continued his streak of consecutive touchdown passes. He is now at 52 straight games. New Orleans out gained Atlanta 148 to 46 on the ground. The Saints rushed the ball 29 times. Marques Colston caught his 55th TD in his Saints career. He is now tied with Deuce Mcallister for most in Saints history.

On a final note, to those of you who quit on this team after the Denver blowout... we'd just like to take a moment out to say we told you so.