Heading into their second matchup with the Saints this season, the Falcons will look to duplicate their last performance – minus one fourth-down failure.

Andre Johnson is out yet again, but fantasy owners shouldn’t quit on the talented wideout just yet.

Drew Brees leads the NFL this season with a dizzying 4,366 yards through the air, so it makes sense he would be the man to teach our nation’s youth about the word “measure” during a recent visit to “Sesame Street.”

Congratulations to the Texans, who have clinched the first playoff berth in franchise history. With three weeks left in the season, there are still eight playoff spots up for grabs. And three teams – the Patriots, Ravens and Steelers – all have a chance to officially join the party this weekend.

With both Laurent Robinson and Miles Austin back at Cowboys practice, Robinson’s fantasy value is in flux. But fantasy owners could do worse than to take a chance on Robinson for another week.

With four weeks left in the season, there are still six division crowns and 10 total playoff spots up for grabs. Congratulations to the Packers and 49ers, who have clinched the NFC North and West, respectively. Meanwhile, here’s a look at what can happen this week.

Everyone knows the Lions will be without Ndamukong Suh against the Saints this weekend. That’s a huge blow to their defense. But the real story heading into Sunday’s contest will be the absence of wide receiver Calvin Johnson, who has been taken away by opposing defenses in the last three weeks.

On Wednesday, we looked at how the division leaders stack up in terms of total defense. So today we decided to see how the eight first-place teams stack up when you take into account their overall ranking for both total offense and total defense. One thing to note is that there isn’t a great deal of balance among these teams. and only two of the division leaders — the Steelers and Texans — rank in the top 10 of both categories.

There was an interesting note this week in the NFL Media research packet pointing out that the top eight teams in the NFL in total defense all come from the AFC. Pretty crazy, considering it used to be that the NFC was known for rugged defense and the AFC was known for high-scoring aerial attacks.

When St. Louis beat New Orleans this weekend, we were surprised as all of you must have been – besides you hardcore Ram fans; we know you never wavered seeing those glorious throw-backs gracing the turf.

We hear a lot of banter from the public about the “Playbook” crew’s picks every week, especially when fans ardently disagree with a choice of a winner.

The torrid pace that Saints QB Drew Brees set in the first three weeks of the season has slowed down just a bit — he had thrown three TD passes in each of his first three games. Still, what was even more impressive for the number of pass attempts is that he had tossed only two interceptions in that span. The last three games have seen a dramatic reversal. It’s understandable that Brees hasn’t kept up the pace with TD passes, but he’s actually thrown more picks than scoring passes.

The near-fight between 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh and Lions coach Jim Schwartz was the talk of the NFL on Sunday, overshadowing San Francisco’s 25-19 victory over previously undefeated Detroit.

As we will highlight in our “Tale of the Tape” this week — the Giants versus the Bills — we take particular interest in if and how a defense can get to the quarterback.

Another exciting week of games on Sunday – which means another interesting day of Monday tape study.