Stop hesitating and say it: The Atlanta Falcons are a playoff contender. Their 6-3 record isn’t a fluke. They’re that good.

Yes, three of their victories are against the Lions, Chiefs and Raiders. They’ve also gone into Lambeau and beaten the Packers, topped the Kyle Orton-led Bears and in their latest victory, crushed the Saints 34-20 on Sunday. (The only reason the score was that close is because New Orleans scored on a fluke “Hail Mary” pass as time expired.)

Matt Ryan (16 of 23, 248 yards, 2 TDs) has lifted the Falcons to contender-status, but it’s not just him. Michael Turner was a fantastic free agent signing. Jerious Norwood can take one to the house every time he touches the ball. Roddy White has developed into a true No. 1 receiver. Michael Jenkins is finally living up to his first round status. And the defense has been much, much better than people expected.

Speaking of the defense, they intercepted Drew Brees three times on Sunday and returned one of those picks for a touchdown. First-year head coach Mike Smith has completely turned Atlanta’s defense around and the players have bought into his philosophy of playing physical.

As for the Saints, little is going right for them. Injuries have started to mount and at 4-5, they’re two-three games behind every team in a stacked NFC South. Frustration is starting to boil over, too, as cameras caught Drew Brees screaming at Jeremy Shockey on the sidelines on Sunday. Not that Brees was out of line – Shockey looks like he’s already given up. He’s not as involved in the offense as he thought he would be and it looks like he’s not even running full routes any more. There’s no question that Billy Miller is the Saints’ best tight end right now.

These are two teams heading in vastly different directions.

Here’s a shock (no pun intended): Jeremy Shockey is upset with the team he plays for. Following New Orleans’ 30-7 loss to the Panthers in Week 7, Shockey ripped the Saints for mishandling his groin injury and now he might not play next week against the Chargers in London.

“I feel a spot in my leg that wasn’t there before,” said Shockey, who indicated he was hopeful he only dug up scar tissue and did not suffer more damage.

Shockey was clearly slowed by the injury. Later, after a catch, Shockey had the ball stripped by Julius Peppers and Carolina recovered. It led to the Panthers’ go-ahead touchdown in a rout that left Shockey in a foul mood despite leading the team with five catches for 50 yards.

“I had a fumble that hurt the team. I missed a backside cutoff block,” Shockey said. “That’s on me, 14 points I felt like I gave up today, not because of effort, but just because physically I’m not healthy.”
Shockey said he may have come back too soon from the surgery, and also indicated the Saints erred by misdiagnosing him in training camp.

“I’m worried that this thing could have been taken care of in camp, like it should have been,” said Shockey, who the Saints acquired from the New York Giants in July for two draft picks. “If it wasn’t misdiagnosed in camp like it was there’d have been no problems. … Next time I know. When I get hurt I’ll get three or four opinions besides just the team’s.”

Ah the old, “I take full credit for my mistakes today, but really it was someone else’s fault.”

Shockey didn’t fumble because he was hurt. He fumbled because he wasn’t taking care of the ball and got stripped. Why the Saints were running a screen pass to the tight end in that situation is beyond me, but that’s beside the point. When Shockey was in New York, the Giants mistreated him. When he was traded to New Orleans, everything was great because he was going to get the opportunity to play in Sean Payton’s offense. But now that things haven’t started off so well, he’s got to bitch and blast the team. The Giants have to be laughing right now and breathing a sigh of relief that they don’t have to deal with him anymore.