Greetings from a Falcons fan

[PrimeTime]

Hey fellas, I was here last year for the game between our two teams and figured I would stop by again and talk some football regarding this weeks match up.

I will start off by saying I expect you guys to win. Sad but true; especially when my team is a solid 6-4 just looking from a record standpoint. Unfortunately this team is a train wreck at the moment and I don't expect much to change this week. Everyone knows we started off at 5-0 with a bunch of 4th quarter wins but you can only do that for so long before it starts to catch up to you...and guess what? It caught up alright lol. The last 5 weeks have been painful to watch to say the least.

If I had to summarize the games it would simply be 1) Turnovers 2) Penalties 3) Missed FGs 4) Drops. All recipes for losing and just being a terrible team in general.

In 3 of our 4 losses we have had 4 Turnovers. Disgusting. I would guess that at least 1/3 of them are unforced idiotic turnovers (Botched Snaps, Handoffs, etc). Penalties on us always seem to happen at the absolute worst times (3rd down stops on Defense, Big Plays on offense, etc). We have the 7th most accepted penalty yards against us while we manage to never get any calls on the other team (2nd lowest in the NFL in accepted penalties and yards in our favor). Then you have the fact our Kicker Matt Bryant who has been one of our most reliable players for years forgot how to kick this year and has missed 4 FGs already and only has a 77% kicking rate as of right now (Only missed 3 each of the last 2 seasons). Lastly we are tied for the 3rd most drops in the league with 20. Beautiful.

Sadly this is not a team that should be 6-4. We came into the year with the easiest schedule (on paper) in the league and it managed to somehow get even easier when you look at how many backup caliber QBs we have faced.

Week 1 Sam Bradford (1st Start with Eagles. Sucks.)
Week 2 Eli Manning (Torched us)
Week 3 Brandon Weeden (1st Start in Place of Tony Romo. Sucks.)
Week 4 Ryan Mallet (3rd Career Start. Sucks)
Week 5 Kirk Cousins (Decent at best)
Week 6 Drew Brees (Torched us)
Week 7 Zach Mettenberger (Mariota out with Injury. Sucks.)
Week 8 Jameis Winston (Rookie Decent at best)
Week 9 Blaine Gabbert (Kaepernick benched. Sucks)
Week 11 Matt Hasselbeck (Luck Injured. Sucks.)

Tell me that isn't the most pathetic 10 weeks of QBs you have ever seen outside of a few guys and yet somehow here we are only sitting at 6-4. Our opponents records are a combined 40-60 with the best record being 5-5. In the last 3 weeks we lost to 97 year old Matt Hasselbeck, monumental bust Blaine Gabbert and Crableg Winston. We did manage to beat Mettenberger by a whopping 3 points the week prior to this slide though!

The positives for this team are as follows:
-Devonta Freeman (If he plays) is a rare breed RB that can run like a top 10 back but also catch like a WR all while being an excellent blocker in the backfield
-Julio Jones is a freak of nature and is on pace to break the catches in a season record and possibly even the yards in a season record
-Our Run Defense is 1st in the NFL
-Desmond Trufant is one of the best CBs in the NFL
-Defense as a whole is x100000000000000000000 better than the last 2 seasons

....andddd that's all I got. Stat wise you probably think we'll damn this is a solid team! Don't worry its not. We rack up yards offensively but when it comes time to put points on the board we manage to turn the ball over or miss a FG. Kyle Shannahan is one of the worst play callers and OCs I have ever seen in Atlanta and has even managed to turn Matt Ryan into a bum. Defensively while its A LOT better than it has been we rank dead last in Sacks and we can never seem to get off the field when we need to. Hell when we do get a stop you can pretty much guarantee theirs a yellow hankie down somewhere on the field to give the offense a new set of downs.

I would not be surprised if you beat us by 17+ in our own stadium and the boo birds return for the 3rd straight home game. Expect Teddy Bridgewater to have all day to throw and carve us up with 300+ pass yards and 3+ TDs. AP will have a solid day and your defense will force at least a few turnovers.

[Just Me]

Welcome (back)!

Thanks for the in depth post about the Falcons. Your thoughts that Bridgewater will pass for 300+ yard and 3 TDs may spark some interesting discussion because, as of today anyway, Bridgewater has never done that. I don't think I'm taking any of the Viking's games for granted at this point since they have yet to beat (what I would call) a quality opponent. Our only two good teams we've played are the Packers and the Broncos (both losses). Throw in a loss to the lowly 49ers in Week one and we have a bit of an enigma. We have a decent, although apparently not an 'elite' (yet) defense, but it will remain to be seen if that will help us win on the road in Atlanta.

[Jordysghost]

Welcome (back)!

Thanks for the in depth post about the Falcons. Your thoughts that Bridgewater will pass for 300+ yard and 3 TDs may spark some interesting discussion because, as of today anyway, Bridgewater has never done that. I don't think I'm taking any of the Viking's games for granted at this point since they have yet to beat (what I would call) a quality opponent. Our only two good teams we've played are the Packers and the Broncos (both losses). Throw in a loss to the lowly 49ers in Week one and we have a bit of an enigma. We have a decent, although apparently not an 'elite' (yet) defense, but it will remain to be seen if that will help us win on the road in Atlanta.

Your last point, it depends on your idea of elite, I would qualify second in the league in points per game as elite, just my opinion.

[Just Me]

Your last point, it depends on your idea of elite, I would qualify second in the league in points per game as elite, just my opinion.

Don't take me wrong, I think we are a good defense, I'm just not sure how good since I have always said that Rodgers was going to be a better test of where we were really at, and we all kinda saw how that worked out.

Containing Rodgers is a 'tall' order but it can be done (the Lions proved it) but I will have a hard time saying we've 'arrived' until the Vikings can show a dominant defensive effort against a strong QB (like Rodgers).

[chicagopurple]

If the Vikes cant run it at all against the (on paper) tough Falcons run Defense, the Vikes may be toast. The Vikes have NO Pass blocking atm on the OL and a QB who like to just hold the ball and then take a sack.......as usual, our game comes down to whether AP can carry a whole team on his back, by himself, for 4 quarters (and not fumble).

[mansquatch]

I think we'll put their #1 Rush D to the test. They haven't faced a back like AP yet. That being said if we play like we did on Sunday, especially the OL, this game is no guarantee. I suspect the Vikings will be back to their disciplined ways. Jones vs. Rhodes alone makes the game worth watching.

[Bigwehrm]

I think we'll put their #1 Rush D to the test. They haven't faced a back like AP yet. That being said if we play like we did on Sunday, especially the OL, this game is no guarantee. I suspect the Vikings will be back to their disciplined ways. Jones vs. Rhodes alone makes the game worth watching.

I will take Jones all day long on that bet.

[VikingLord]

I would not be surprised if you beat us by 17+ in our own stadium and the boo birds return for the 3rd straight home game. Expect Teddy Bridgewater to have all day to throw and carve us up with 300+ pass yards and 3+ TDs. AP will have a solid day and your defense will force at least a few turnovers.

I'd expect a close game. The Vikings are usually pretty good on defense and will likely keep it close solely on that basis. If the Falcons can shut down the run then this game will likely be won with specials teams and/or turnovers.

[mondry]

If you expect the Vikings to win then Teddy absolutely will not throw for 300 yards, we simply don't throw it much while winning. Peterson could run for 200+ though since if we're winning he'll likely be getting 30+ carries.

I can see why you would think our passing game could go off though, the Falcons do not have a lot of sacks and that's our biggest weakness.

It's interesting because I feel like you guys have some amazing players (namely trufant, jones, freeman) but I feel like Matt Ryan has been really exposed in this new offense as a 1 or 2 read QB so guys like Roddy White almost don't even need to be defended because Ryan never gets to them in his progressions anyway. It's either Julio, check down to Freeman / tamme, or time to panic.

all in all I think the Falcons currently have much bigger problems than we do and much more exploitable problems based on each teams strengths / weaknesses so I'm predicting a Vikings win but who knows, we could make your D-line look like the purple people eaters our O-line is so bad.

[PrimeTime]

Welcome (back)!

Thanks for the in depth post about the Falcons. Your thoughts that Bridgewater will pass for 300+ yard and 3 TDs may spark some interesting discussion because, as of today anyway, Bridgewater has never done that. I don't think I'm taking any of the Viking's games for granted at this point since they have yet to beat (what I would call) a quality opponent. Our only two good teams we've played are the Packers and the Broncos (both losses). Throw in a loss to the lowly 49ers in Week one and we have a bit of an enigma. We have a decent, although apparently not an 'elite' (yet) defense, but it will remain to be seen if that will help us win on the road in Atlanta.

At least when you guys lost to San Fran they didn't have Blaine Gabbert getting his first win since like 2012. Even if Bridgewater does not throw for 300 he will have a great game. Remember how easily he carved our defense up in his first career start? Expect something similar. We play a Cover 3 scheme much like Seattle so Bridgewater will have the underneath stuff open all day. We don't have the LBs like Irvin and Wagner to be able to play great coverage on your TEs, RBs and shallow route WRs.

I think we'll put their #1 Rush D to the test. They haven't faced a back like AP yet. That being said if we play like we did on Sunday, especially the OL, this game is no guarantee. I suspect the Vikings will be back to their disciplined ways. Jones vs. Rhodes alone makes the game worth watching.

Their is not another in the RB in the league like AP lol so that would definitely be true. Its awesome how well both Rhodes and Trufant ended up being from that draft then you look at the Raiders who picked higher than both of us and Hayden has been a monumental bust at CB lol. I would expect much like every team does Rhodes will get deep help by your safeties to prevent Julio from getting deep 1 on 1s. He will get his no matter who is covering him but I am sure Rhodes will do a solid job in general, I really like him as a CB.

If the Vikes cant run it at all against the (on paper) tough Falcons run Defense, the Vikes may be toast. The Vikes have NO Pass blocking atm on the OL and a QB who like to just hold the ball and then take a sack.......as usual, our game comes down to whether AP can carry a whole team on his back, by himself, for 4 quarters (and not fumble).

Don't worry about your blocking, Even if the Run game isn't great for you guys I can guarantee you our pass rush will do absolutely nothing. Teddy will have all day in the pocket to throw. We are dead last with only 12 sacks in 10 games.

If you expect the Vikings to win then Teddy absolutely will not throw for 300 yards, we simply don't throw it much while winning. Peterson could run for 200+ though since if we're winning he'll likely be getting 30+ carries.

I can see why you would think our passing game could go off though, the Falcons do not have a lot of sacks and that's our biggest weakness.

It's interesting because I feel like you guys have some amazing players (namely trufant, jones, freeman) but I feel like Matt Ryan has been really exposed in this new offense as a 1 or 2 read QB so guys like Roddy White almost don't even need to be defended because Ryan never gets to them in his progressions anyway. It's either Julio, check down to Freeman / tamme, or time to panic.

all in all I think the Falcons currently have much bigger problems than we do and much more exploitable problems based on each teams strengths / weaknesses so I'm predicting a Vikings win but who knows, we could make your D-line look like the purple people eaters our O-line is so bad.

I don't see Peterson going for 200+ but then again its AP so who the hell knows. Dude is insanely good. As for Matt Ryan its not him that's been exposed, it's Kyle Shanahan. The guy is a terrible playcaller and limits what Matt Ryan can do. Ryan is best when he can fully control the offense and make pre-snap adjustments along with being able to conduct the hurry up offense when he wants (Like he did the previous 7 years in the NFL) but under Shanahan that ability has been striped away because..Well...As everyone knows the Shanahan's are power hungry. Then when you tack on the fact that this is Ryans first year in an extremely complicated system after being in the same system for so long (You see what it did to Peyton Manning) its just not a good recipe. The final icing on the cake is that our pass protection sucks and doesn't allow any routes past 15 yards to develop and no one not named Julio Jones can get open and when people do get open they always drop the ball (Thus why we have the 3rd most drops in the league). Ryan has gone from a top 10 QB to a bottom 10 with Shanahan and when you have to choose between an OC or a franchise QB you can expect that Shanahan won't be around too much longer in Atlanta.

[Beo]

Good to see you back PrimeTime! Looking for a good game and I am glad they are going to rest Freeman against us this week....lol. Young player and looks to be a stud for years to come so glad they are taking the cautious approach.

[720pete]

I think it will come down to whoever wins the turnover differential. Vikings will need a couple of extra chances on offense to catch up to the Falcons. Matt Ryan is not having the best season, which bodes well for us.

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