Joe Horn encourages Saints to give effort

Atlanta is in a must-win situation tonight .
ATLANTA (AP) -- Poor records never have cooled the Saints-Falcons rivalry, so New Orleans receiver Joe Horn warns Atlanta's players not to expect anything but the normal intensity tonight.
The Saints (3-9) have lost seven of their last eight games. The Falcons (7-5) are trying to move back into one of the NFC's six playoff spots. Atlanta's final three games are against playoff-caliber teams, but Horn says the Falcons know better than to overlook the Saints.
"I truly believe they know our game is going to be one of the hardest on their schedule this year," Horn said.
Parallels
The teams have more in common than entering the league about the same time -- Atlanta in 1966, followed by New Orleans in 1967. They also share mostly inglorious histories.
The Saints had not won a playoff game until 2000. The Falcons still have never recorded back-to-back winning seasons, though two more wins this year will end that embarrassing 40-year streak of futility.
More often than not, at least one of the two teams in the NFL's longest Southern rivalry has been eliminated from playoff contention by December.
Through all the struggles, the fans usually bring a party atmosphere to the rivalry. Before this year, Falcons fans would head to New Orleans for its famous party scene. Saints fans have always traveled in large numbers to Atlanta, bringing along a hardcore passion for tailgating.
Hurricane Katrina knocked the Saints out of New Orleans this season, and the largest number of Saints fans in Atlanta may still be evacuees who have made a temporary or permanent home in Georgia.
No one expects a normal turnout by Saints fans tonight. Even so, Horn says he tells his teammates to find their party spirit. That won't be easy, considering the Saints had to spend the week using high school facilities in San Antonio, including a makeshift weight room under a tent in a parking lot.
"I tell them to keep this party going," Horn said. "Back in the day, back in the hood, we used to go to these parties, and when a fight broke out and they stopped the fight and threw the guys out that were fighting we used to yell 'Hey, DJ, keep this party going!'
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