Ask The Falcoholic: Playoff Edition

Is a huge nervous breakdown waiting to happen. They bend against pretty much everyone, and paired with a middling pass rush, you’ve got a real potential for problems against you guys.

On the good side of things, the Falcons are going to pound the ball with Michael Turner. No offense to your defense, but I like his chances of getting well over 100 yards and helping the Falcons control the tempo of this game.

Even when going up against a loud home crowd. I’m intrigued with John Abraham, our new franchise single-season sack leader, against Kurt Warner. I also like the White against Hood matchup, though Hood is a pretty tough coverage guy and Roddy’s been a little limited the last couple of weeks.

Other than that, it’s the general struggle of good (us) versus evil (you). At least that’s the way I’m looking at it.

But as for injuries to key players, not really. DE Jamaal Anderson is up in the air, but replacement Chauncey Davis has been superb in relief, so I’m not sure we’re going to miss him.

We’re reasonably healthy.

Has been a beast on 3rd downs this year. I can’t say enough about his contributions there, where he’s been a safety valve for Matt Ryan for the latter half of the season. His role on special teams isn’t what it once was, but he’s still a useful piece of this team.

Our special teams are good. Jason Elam is clutch, Michael Koenen has steadily improved all year, and we actually set a record for fewest punt return yards in the NFL. More so than that, Jerious Norwood is a serious threat to break off 75+ yard returns.

And Matt Ryan has played fairly well in all of those games. When Turner isn’t moving, they tend to air it out early and then move to a more conservative, pass-heavy game plan later in the game. He’s certainly capable of getting it done, particularly with Roddy White and Michael Jenkins giving him some big targets.

I posted some things about the OL (It was really a discussion on the preferred loss of Turner/Ryan), and it kinda sums up why the OL is playing better this year with basically the same guys (Baker’s been hurt most year). Here is:

—-Couple quotes from our linemen from a NY Times article on Falcons:

“I have received a lot of comments across the line; they are always talking about Harvey,” Weiner said. “They say: ‘What’s wrong with that guy? Does he have some screws loose?’ He just plays hard.”

The passion of the line explains some success on run plays. On pass plays, Clabo said, Ryan has a lot to do with the low number of sacks because of his pocket presence and his ability to get rid of the ball quickly.

“It changes the way people rush us,” Clabo said. “A lot of teams work line games in their pass rush, but now they don’t think they can get to the quarterback, so we’re getting a lot of bull rush. They are trying to collapse the pocket because they don’t think, if they work moves, they can get to Matt before the ball is gone.”

The Falcons’ line can now watch the highlights of Ryan’s success, and their handiwork on the big screens provided by their quarterback and running back.—-

I think they are better against the run from coaching and playing harder, but the sacks….that’s all Ryan.

I agree with everything BGE put down here, but what the line is being asked to do this year versus last year is night and day. Add that to the expected growth from last year’s excellent G pick Justin Blalock and surprising performance from Harvey Dahl (who came out of nowhere) and Todd Weiner (who has no knees) has transofmred this unit.