NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Kirk Cousins and the first-place Falcons don't hesitate to list the pitfalls of overlooking the last-place New Orleans Saints. The Falcons needed a last-second field goal to win the previous meeting in Atlanta in Week 4 and now face a Saints squad that is trying to get interim coach Darren Rizzi off to an auspicious start. When a coach is replaced, as third-year Saints coach Dennis Allen was earlier this week , “the team plays very well the following week, in my experience,” Cousins noted.
"So, I see it as a real challenge that we’ve been thrown. “They’re going to be emotionally and mentally at their best — and then playing at their place,” Cousins continued. "There’s a lot of factors coming together where you feel like we have to be at our best to have a chance.
” The coaching change in New Orleans came a day after a deflating loss to struggling Carolina extended the Saints losing streak to seven games — the club's longest in a quarter century. Allen, who was well liked by ownership and management, and who'd spent 15 seasons with the Saints in varies capacities since 2006, was dismissed after going 18-25 in 2 1/2 seasons as the successor to Sean Payton. Rizzi, a 54-year-old special teams coordinator who is popular with Saints players, was tapped to take over.
The Saints trail the Falcons by four games with eight to play and are trending toward missing the playoffs for a fourth straight season. Still, Rizzi scoffed at suggestions that h.