It’s been nearly five years since the Atlanta Falcons infamously blew a 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI. While the jokes made at the expense of Falcons fans have all but worn off, the New Orleans Saints have taken things to a whole new level in an effort to troll their division rivals.
During practice at the team’s indoor facility Wednesday, the Saints had “28-3” displayed on the scoreboard for the majority of the day.
#Saints spent most of practice today with 28-3 up on the scoreboard in the indoor facility.
— Ross Jackson (@RossJacksonNOLA) August 24, 2022
Oh, but they weren’t done with the trolling just yet. The Saints are currently making renovations to the Ceasers Superdome and one of the biggest changes to the venue will be the addition of new escalators — which the team jokingly cites will be “28.3” times faster than the old ones.
Love my petty team!!! ⚜ @Saints pic.twitter.com/HMAZeoKjPe
— Tina Howell (@TinaHowellNOLA) August 24, 2022
New Orleans will have a chance to back up the trolling right away in Week 1 when they head down to Atlanta to play the Falcons.
While history would tell you that the Saints have experienced long stretches of futility compared to the Falcons, they do have something that their division rivals have failed to do twice — a Lombardi Trophy.
As we inch closer to the 2022 season, the Falcons and Saints have a ton of questions to answer with the biggest concern being the man behind center. It’s been two seasons since Drew Brees retired from the NFL, leaving the keys to the offense in Jameis Winston’s hands who is looking to revitalize a team that has fallen flat during their most postseason runs in Brees’ later years.
As for the Falcons, they traded away long-time franchise leader Matt Ryan to Indianapolis this offseason, leaving the team in a weird transition period at the position. They signed Marcus Mariota with the expectation of being the starter in 2022 but they also drafted Cincinnati QB Desmond Ridder in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Ridder is expected to be a project at OB, don’t be surprised if poor play from Mariota leaves fans wanting to see what the rookie can do in the pros.
While we wait to see how both squads look, the only thing that ends the Super Bowl jokes from flying is if they finally win one.
