Monday night with the Saints and the Falcons rarely disappoints. For the second straight year the Falcons face their rival on national television with the playoffs, the division and bragging rights on the line. Although the game has plenty of implications, perhaps the most important is that it serves as one late-season test for two teams that appear to be currently playing their best football of the season. 

There should be no shortage of energy on the football field in New Orleans on Monday night.

Sure, many fans will suffering from the post-holiday hangover that is Dec. 26, but judging from the past meetings between two teams that are now seasonally among the best in the NFC, Monday night will feature a game with players not lacking in enthusiasm to be playing football.

The rivalry between the Saints and Falcons dates back to 1967, when the Saints joined the NFL as an expansion team, one season after the Falcons joined. They’ve been divisional opponents ever since, despite one divisional realignment in 2002.

The recent sustained success of both teams has only heightened the southern rivarly. With great success comes great competition and the two franchises always bring their A-game when they face off. The last six meetings between the two have been decided by eight points or less.

Because they play so often there’s almost a sense of sibling rivalry between the two teams. They know each other well, strengths and weaknesses. Head coach Mike Smith learned quickly the Saints game is a big deal for the Falcons franchise every season, despite what’s on the line.

“I think it’s two really good football teams that go and compete,” he said on Monday. “They have a lot of familiarity with one another. They are familiar with us. We’re familiar with them. We play them twice a year and I found out very quickly four years ago that this is the biggest rival that the Atlanta Falcons have. … In terms of ramping it up, not only the players but the fans, it seems like this is the biggest rival that we have and I think that it’s two evenly matched, competitive football teams that want to go out and compete against each other.”

The Falcons travel to New Orleans with an outside shot at winning the NFC South crown for the second season in a row, the first time the division would feature a back-to-back champion. Currently the Saints sit two games ahead of the Falcons with two to play. The Saints’ Week 17 matchup is the Carolina Panthers, a team the Saints narrowly beat 30-27 in Week 5.

The Falcons wrap up the season against the Tampa Bay Bucs, looking to avenge a loss in Week 3.

Ironically, however, given the history between the two franchises it should be expected, the situation was exactly the same last season, although the leaders were reversed.

Last season the Falcons and Saints faced off in Week 16, also on a Monday night. The Falcons were the NFC South leaders at that time and the Saints sat two games out, with that same outside shot at winning the division title. New Orleans took care of business in the Georgia Dome that night, winning 20-17, but Atlanta’s Week 17 victory clinched their title and the No. 1 NFC playoff seed.

This year the Falcons hope the story holds form, with the road team defeating the home team.

Both teams enter the game as two of the hottest teams in football, the Falcons having won seven of their past nine games and the Saints are on a six-game winning streak.

Despite the playoff implications and the good-old-fashioned-rivalry tension, Monday night’s game can also be seen as a playoff primer. While both teams are hot, it’s never a bad idea to face an opponent also headed for the playoffs late in the season. By doing so the Falcons can gauge their readiness for the next level of football that will be played in January.

A win in New Orleans won’t just be a great holiday gift for the Falcons and their fans, it’ll also be a tempo setter for a team that erased a 2-3 beginning of the season to steam roll the competition down the stretch.