LIVE: Falcons 14, Saints 0 After One Quarter — Bijan Robinson Crashes the Superdome's 20th Anniversary 'Domecoming' Party

NEW ORLEANS — The twentieth anniversary party inside the Caesars Superdome lasted exactly one minute and twenty-six seconds of game time. That's how long it took the Atlanta Falcons to take the air out of the "Domecoming" celebration on Monday night. The Saints won the opening toss and put their defense on the field; Michael Penix Jr. opened with quick completions of 12 and 9 yards, and on Atlanta's first designed run of the night, Bijan Robinson took the handoff, found the lane left tackle Jake Matthews had carved by driving Chase Young out of the play, and went 59 yards — untouched — down the left sideline for the touchdown. Nick Folk's extra point made it 7-0, and the loudest building in football went very quiet, very fast.

THE FIRST QUARTER — Atlanta didn't stop there. The Falcons added another score in the final minutes of the opening period to stretch the lead to 14-0 as the quarter wound down, per live scoring — and New Orleans spent the rest of the period playing catch-up in a game it had spent all week framing as a celebration. Rookie quarterback Tyler Shough opened his first drive with an incomplete pass, and the Saints never found a foothold: Atlanta cornerback CJ Henderson went down on the Saints' first offensive play of the game, came back, and the Falcons' defense otherwise kept everything in front of it. Two drives, two touchdowns, zero answers — that's the first quarter in the building that was supposed to be reliving 2006.

THE INJURY SCARE — The one sour note for Atlanta came on its first defensive series. Edge rusher Za'Darius Smith — the veteran who leads the Falcons in sacks — went down after a teammate's leg crashed into the top of his helmet, compressing his head and neck awkwardly as he hit the turf. Medical staff rushed out, and the cart was originally brought onto the field. But Smith sat up, then stood, then walked off under his own power — the broadcast showed him smiling as he made his way to the sideline. He's officially questionable to return with a head/neck injury, per USA Today's live updates. For a Falcons pass rush built around his production, the next update on Smith matters almost as much as the score.

THE OCCASION — It is worth saying plainly what tonight is. Twenty years ago, the Saints came home to a Superdome that Hurricane Katrina had nearly destroyed, and Steve Gleason's blocked punt against these same Falcons set off the loudest night the building has ever heard. Gleason — long battling ALS — was on the field before kickoff with his former teammates and his son, Rivers, and the crowd roared for him all over again, per USA Today. The building was sold out and shaking before the anthem ended. Then Robinson happened. Our full look at the anniversary has the complete history of the night this game is honoring — but the short version is that New Orleans threw a party twenty years in the making, and Atlanta showed up determined to be the worst guest in the building's history.

THE STAKES — This isn't just a ceremony with a football game attached. Both teams walked in at 1-2, which means the winner leaves at 2-2 — back to .500, with first place in the NFC South within reach. The Saints know exactly what this rivalry game means to this city; rookie Shough told reporters this week that fans here treat the Atlanta game as the one that matters most, win or lose anywhere else. Penix, for his part, was typically dry about the hostile environment: "It's a nice dome." Right now the nice dome belongs to him. And for all the pregame emotion, the football reality is stark — New Orleans' offense, which lost its home opener earlier this season, has yet to show it can keep pace when the Falcons' ground game gets rolling like this.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING — Three things decide the rest of this night. First, Za'Darius Smith's status — if Atlanta's best pass rusher can't return, the Falcons' defense loses its teeth exactly when the Saints will be forced to throw. Second, Tyler Shough's response: the rookie has been composed in the pocket this season, but trailing by two scores on Monday night, in this building, on this night, is a different kind of test. Third, the crowd — the Superdome was shaking an hour ago, and if the Saints can string together one scoring drive, this building has twenty years of history suggesting it will come right back to life. The Falcons know that better than anyone. They were on the other end of it in 2006.

This is a developing story. Previously will keep updating this page as Monday Night Football continues at the Caesars Superdome. Last updated: Monday, Oct. 5, ~6:15 p.m. PT — end of the first quarter, Falcons 14, Saints 0.