The only thing that I am worried about in this game is the way Ryan dinks and dunks all game. His passes never seemed to be over 7 yards against us. He relies heavily on his WR's getting YAC. Our defense seems to allow a lot of those passes, so I am a little worried that we will not stop that all day. I'd like to see a more man to man approach to cut out what Ryan likes to do. If we can limit Turner's production it will be a one dimensional game, and I don't think Ryan can carry his team like Rodgers can.

I think if we get pressure early on Matt we may be able to force him into a mistake or two. Our secondary needs a pick or two for us to probably put the game away. I look for us to try and establish the run game early as well to open up down field plays for a-rod and jennings. We didn't really do that against philly except the touchdown jones dropped.

Another grind it out style game this time results in a Packers WIN

17-14

"wpr"It is amazing that the Falcons are the elite team in the NFC although they seem to be truly average in their stats.

Hello. I'm a Falcons fan. I came around during the week leading up to our first matchup earlier this season and had a really positive experience. Congrats on y'alls victory yesterday.

As for the Falcons being average statistically, that only appears to be the case if you're looking at total yards stats. The Falcons are actually the only team in the NFL that finished the season in the top 5 in both scoring offense and scoring defense. We also rank at or near the top in many other categories like Time of Possession, Turnover Differential, Penalties, Interceptions, 3rd Down Percentage, etc. ...

The only thing that I am worried about in this game is the way Ryan dinks and dunks all game. His passes never seemed to be over 7 yards against us. He relies heavily on his WR's getting YAC. Our defense seems to allow a lot of those passes, so I am a little worried that we will not stop that all day. I'd like to see a more man to man approach to cut out what Ryan likes to do. If we can limit Turner's production it will be a one dimensional game, and I don't think Ryan can carry his team like Rodgers can.

You're right the Falcons throw a lot of short passes. Contrary to what you would believe, they don't get a lot of yards after the catch. They're actually 31st in the NFL in 20+ yard passing plays. They move the ball methodically down the field with short passes and running plays, depending on a lot of third down conversions. They're third in 3rd down percentage, and the short passing plays combined with their success rate on third down explains their ranking in Time of Possession, which is 2nd.

I was hoping we'd have a Sunday game instead of a short week when the Falcons had an extra near week.

Sunday would have given our team a little more rest.

"Ice2White"

"wpr"It is amazing that the Falcons are the elite team in the NFC although they seem to be truly average in their stats.

Hello. I'm a Falcons fan. I came around during the week leading up to our first matchup earlier this season and had a really positive experience. Congrats on y'alls victory yesterday.

As for the Falcons being average statistically, that only appears to be the case if you're looking at total yards stats. The Falcons are actually the only team in the NFL that finished the season in the top 5 in both scoring offense and scoring defense. We also rank at or near the top in many other categories like Time of Possession, Turnover Differential, Penalties, Interceptions, 3rd Down Percentage, etc. ...

The only thing that I am worried about in this game is the way Ryan dinks and dunks all game. His passes never seemed to be over 7 yards against us. He relies heavily on his WR's getting YAC. Our defense seems to allow a lot of those passes, so I am a little worried that we will not stop that all day. I'd like to see a more man to man approach to cut out what Ryan likes to do. If we can limit Turner's production it will be a one dimensional game, and I don't think Ryan can carry his team like Rodgers can.

You're right the Falcons throw a lot of short passes. Contrary to what you would believe, they don't get a lot of yards after the catch. They're actually 31st in the NFL in 20+ yard passing plays. They move the ball methodically down the field with short passes and running plays, depending on a lot of third down conversions. They're third in 3rd down percentage, and the short passing plays combined with their success rate on third down explains their ranking in Time of Possession, which is 2nd.

welcome Ice.
I know they do things well otherwise they would not have won 13 times this year.
But most teams don't score points unless they move the ball.
Atlanta does not have a lot of yards on offense.
They have played solid defense.
Points must come from special teams giving good field position and turnovers.

"wpr"

Atlanta Falcons ( 13 - 3 )


Total Offense = 16th

Passing Offense = 15th

Rushing Offense = 12th


Total Defense = 16th

Passing Defense = 22nd

Rushing Defense = 10th

It is amazing that the Falcons are the elite team in the NFC although they seem to be truly average in their stats.

I don't know, but would tend to bet that the falcons +/- turnover ratio is one of the best in the NFL.
That is the one stat that can turn average numbers into elite ones.

"Zero2Cool"I was hoping we'd have a Sunday game instead of a short week when the Falcons had an extra near week.

Sunday would have given our team a little more rest.

Same here. I don't think it makes any sense to make the team that played Saturday (Seahawks) get a Sunday game and the team that played Sunday (Packers) get a Saturday game. I guess the NFL really wants to make the 6th seed work hard to win.

"coltonja"The only thing that I am worried about in this game is the way Ryan dinks and dunks all game. His passes never seemed to be over 7 yards against us. He relies heavily on his WR's getting YAC. Our defense seems to allow a lot of those passes, so I am a little worried that we will not stop that all day. I'd like to see a more man to man approach to cut out what Ryan likes to do. If we can limit Turner's production it will be a one dimensional game, and I don't think Ryan can carry his team like Rodgers can.

So they run a West Coast Offense?

"rabidgopher04"

"coltonja"The only thing that I am worried about in this game is the way Ryan dinks and dunks all game. His passes never seemed to be over 7 yards against us. He relies heavily on his WR's getting YAC. Our defense seems to allow a lot of those passes, so I am a little worried that we will not stop that all day. I'd like to see a more man to man approach to cut out what Ryan likes to do. If we can limit Turner's production it will be a one dimensional game, and I don't think Ryan can carry his team like Rodgers can.

So they run a West Coast Offense?

I think it's too run oriented to be called a WCO.