Falcons defense, the Legion of who?

[Jimjones0384]

As it is right now we are banking on the offense to carry any defensive deficiency... as it's been all season. I mean, when you score 35 a game how good does your D need to be?

In general though everything tightens up in the playoffs. Nerves, better teams, better defenses, etc usually lead to lower scoring games.

So can the Falcons score 35? Sure, but the Hawk's D as you saw Saturday where another good offense in Detroit didn't even get inside our 33 yard line the entire game.

I hope it's not a shootout, cause that's not a game I think we can win. I expect a close 24-21 type game, going either way.

A close game is definitely possible... but so is a shootout.

Atlanta led the NFL is game opening scoring drives I believe... had one of the lowest rushing attempts against (307) over 16 games due to other teams being in throw mode... scored on 53% of their drives, tops in the NFL by far... average is 35% I think.

Atlanta has a run game and a passing game. A well balanced offense that spreads the ball around. Atlanta had 5 games this year where Julio had less than 60 yards and 2 games he didn't play. They won all of them.

Sure Seattle did a great job vs Detroit. Didn't advance past the 33. All I can say is Ryan will have all 5 fingers and Atlanta receivers had a low # of drops this season.

A much bigger test.

This is a different team than the one that falcons played earlier. Gonna have kam, Frank Clark, Thomas rawls and hopefully CJ prosise and marcell Reece. No earl this time, obviously big deal there. If I'm going to be honest with you, and myself for that matter, I can honestly see any scenario playing out, could be close, or both teams are capable of a blowout. Just takes a few bad plays. Gonna be good, can't wait. I think the Hawks will win, but I'm a Homer.

 

[ZorntoLargent]

Did we have Rawls last time we played ATL? Nope.

 

[AceBoogie715]

Living in Georgia being a Seahawks fan has been interesting, I hear all the hate from a Falcons' fan perspective. The people here think they're going to roll all over us with their high octane offense. They bring up the "defensive PI" against Julio ALL THE TIME. It's hilarious.

It'll be a tough game. It'll come down to the little things. I'm glad that we're not the favorites though. We play with more of an edge when we're not heavily favored.

Last game in the GA dome will come as a LOSS at the hands of the HAWKS. I can't wait until Saturday!

 

[Steve2222]

I do think your defense is looking better on paper each season but there are still two really major differences at the end of year 2 for the Falcons rebuild.

The Seahawks put a huge emphasis on run defense up front and that shows up on first down. Rubin, McDaniel and Reed are all primarily run stuffers that combined for just 2.5 sacks this season but helped the team to the top ranked rushing defense once again and surrendered just 3.4 YPC. The Falcons on the other hand have a lot more athleticism with guys like Garrett, Upshaw and Hageman but are also at the bottom of the league in run defense with 4.5 YPC allowed. Quinn is a DLine guy who loves sacks and so this may remain a difference in philosophy going forwards.

Secondly, the Falcons are very young and inexperienced on defense. Three rookie starters, a couple of sophomores, and much (most?) of your unit has never played in a playoff game before. That's a very sharp contrast to the Hawks defense where just about everybody has won playoff games over multiple years including Super Bowl trips.

Very good points and I don't disagree.

This Falcons team is young... outside of special teams we have 3 starters left over from 2012. Ryan, Julio and Babs our DT.

Our OL is probably the best in the NFC outside of Dallas... and that's going to be a great matchup with the Seahawks DL.

Beasley... Neal (mini-Kam)... D. Jones... lots of fresh young talent on D. As some Seattle fan said on here the other day the Falcons are a few players away from having a defensive juggernaut.

As it is right now we are banking on the offense to carry any defensive deficiency... as it's been all season. I mean, when you score 35 a game how good does your D need to be?

All that's left from the Seahawks are Wilson, Baldwin, Wagner, Wright, Chancellor, and Sherman from that 2012 game for Seattle. Don't count Kearse because he was more or less practice squad that year and ET as he's done for the season

 

[hawkfan68]

I like the Dan vs. Pete matchup. Both guys know the other one well. It's going to make for an exciting coaching duel. If both teams play to their capabilities, it's going to a great game. I'm only sad that it's a divisional game rather than NFCCG. Either way, it is looking like the best game next weekend.

 

[Steve2222]

Did we have Rawls last time we played ATL? Nope.

Frank Clark, Kam Chancellor, CJ Prosise, Thomas Rawls, and Michael Bennett (in the second half) All didn't play last time we faced each other

 

[NINEster]

A much bigger test.

Of course. Falcons should win, at home after a bye and week's rest, etc.

But if Rawls can continue to run against your porous defense and our D can frustrate, hit and do what they always do, stop the run........then this is going down to the wire.

My point was the Falcon's home field advantage is weak at best, many many teams have come in there and won, including three this year. So other than having a bye week I don't see any other advantages.

As long as the crowd doesn't force Ryan into a silent count, all is good for ATL.

Have you seen the difference in the way Bennett & Avril fly off the silent count in Century Link? Like watching vintage Derrick Thomas out there.

 

[seahawkfreak]

As a Hawk fan, I wouldn't get too confident after beating a Lions team that has been playing poorly for the last 4 games. That is just because I have watched the Lions all year and they really were on a downward slide in a major way. As much as I want to be confident, (I am happy we will play again) I am very cautious..

You've been down about Seattle most of the season. Maybe beating Atlanta would help. I know those Wolverines didn't do you any favors.

 

[FalconsFanNW]

As a Hawk fan, I wouldn't get too confident after beating a Lions team that has been playing poorly for the last 4 games. That is just because I have watched the Lions all year and they really were on a downward slide in a major way. As much as I want to be confident, (I am happy we will play again) I am very cautious..

As you should be.

I can respect the confidence of the Seattle fans... but c'mon. The last game was in Seattle. This game is in Atlanta.

The last game Earl Thomas was in. This game he's not. Sure Kam, Bennett, Clark missed half of the last game or whatever but does anyone know we have a solid O line? Probably best in the NFC after Dallas.

If our O line gives Ryan time we'll be fine. More than fine actually.

... and lets not forget Seattle's failure to put together 2 consecutive solid games the last half of the season (WLWLWL) and their 3-4-1 road record. Outside of the NE game they've been complete garbage away from CLink and couldn't run on the worst run D in the league in SF just 2 weeks ago.

Atlanta limited the dude from Arizona to like 58 yards rushing in our 38-19 blowout (the same team that beat Seattle by 3 and also tied) ... so lets not act like the Falcons can't stop the run.

 

[Largent80]

Once again, what happened in October has NOTHING to do with January.

Stats don't matter, records don't matter, and the location of the field doesn't matter.

The only things that matter are who makes the most plays and mistakes. Who plays a cleaner game.

That's IT, PERIOD...Nothing else.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Stats don't matter, records don't matter, and the location of the field doesn't matter.

The fact that the Hawk's are undefeated at home in the playoffs and have a sub .500 winning record on the road says that the location of the field does matter.

Now maybe the Falcons don't have the best HFA crowd, but it matters. It matters a lot.

 

[WmHBonney]

Seattle 35
Atlanta 17

 

[Attyla the Hawk]

Will be an intriguing game.

Fully expect Seattle to try and build on their rushing momentum. No better way to frustrate an opposing offense than to keep them on the sideline. Seattle has wanted to reaffirm their physical offensive identity since before the season started. And when we struggled, it seemed a byproduct of our abandoning the run intentionally.

I don't expect a shootout. I expect Seattle to turn the game into a smashmouth slogfest and see if Atlanta can match us. Wilson is establishing a real record as a slow starter in games. Wonder if we'll go run heavy.

Seattle will need to keep penalties down to a minimum on offense. Negative plays will kill a run heavy strategy.

 

[tom sawyer]

Stats don't matter, records don't matter, and the location of the field doesn't matter.

The fact that the Hawk's are undefeated at home in the playoffs and have a sub .500 winning record on the road says that the location of the field does matter.

Now maybe the Falcons don't have the best HFA crowd, but it matters. It matters a lot.

But, but, that's gonna eliminate 90% of the threads on the Seahawks.net boards .... no?

 

[ApnaHawk]

As a Hawk fan, I wouldn't get too confident after beating a Lions team that has been playing poorly for the last 4 games. That is just because I have watched the Lions all year and they really were on a downward slide in a major way. As much as I want to be confident, (I am happy we will play again) I am very cautious..

Outside of the NE game they've been complete garbage away from CLink and couldn't run on the worst run D in the league in SF just 2 weeks ago.

Breh... Complete garbage?

C'mon man...

That's just silly.. We might have not played to our Championship caliber this season since we are held to a much higher standard now compared to your Falcons... but complete garbage?? Complete garbage??

I didn't know a 3-4-1 is complete garbage....

How do you expect people to take you serious or be rational with you man?

I know you're fired up and that's cute and all but this is ridiculous.

 

[evergreen]

As a Hawk fan, I wouldn't get too confident after beating a Lions team that has been playing poorly for the last 4 games. That is just because I have watched the Lions all year and they really were on a downward slide in a major way. As much as I want to be confident, (I am happy we will play again) I am very cautious..

As you should be.

I can respect the confidence of the Seattle fans... but c'mon. The last game was in Seattle. This game is in Atlanta.

The last game Earl Thomas was in. This game he's not. Sure Kam, Bennett, Clark missed half of the last game or whatever but does anyone know we have a solid O line? Probably best in the NFC after Dallas.

If our O line gives Ryan time we'll be fine. More than fine actually.

... and lets not forget Seattle's failure to put together 2 consecutive solid games the last half of the season (WLWLWL) and their 3-4-1 road record. Outside of the NE game they've been complete garbage away from CLink and couldn't run on the worst run D in the league in SF just 2 weeks ago.

Atlanta limited the dude from Arizona to like 58 yards rushing in our 38-19 blowout (the same team that beat Seattle by 3 and also tied) ... so lets not act like the Falcons can't stop the run.

hasn't it been more like W,L,W,W to be where we are now?

 

[FalconsFanNW]

Stats don't matter, records don't matter, and the location of the field doesn't matter.

The fact that the Hawk's are undefeated at home in the playoffs and have a sub .500 winning record on the road says that the location of the field does matter.

Now maybe the Falcons don't have the best HFA crowd, but it matters. It matters a lot.

That's what we think too.

Breh... Complete garbage?

C'mon man...

That's just silly.. We might have not played to our Championship caliber this season since we are held to a much higher standard now compared to your Falcons... but complete garbage?? Complete garbage??

I didn't know a 3-4-1 is complete garbage....

How do you expect people to take you serious or be rational with you man?

I know you're fired up and that's cute and all but this is ridiculous.

Ok... maybe I should have used a different adjective to describe the 3, 5 and 6 point performances on the road. Still... my point is the same. Seattle is a FAR AND AWAY different team on the road.

hasn't it been more like W,L,W,W to be where we are now?

They ended the season L W L W L W... yeah you can add a W to that for the Detroit game... grats.

 

[hawkfan68]

Stats don't matter, records don't matter, and the location of the field doesn't matter.

The fact that the Hawk's are undefeated at home in the playoffs and have a sub .500 winning record on the road says that the location of the field does matter.

Now maybe the Falcons don't have the best HFA crowd, but it matters. It matters a lot.

That's what we think too.

Breh... Complete garbage?

C'mon man...

That's just silly.. We might have not played to our Championship caliber this season since we are held to a much higher standard now compared to your Falcons... but complete garbage?? Complete garbage??

I didn't know a 3-4-1 is complete garbage....

How do you expect people to take you serious or be rational with you man?

I know you're fired up and that's cute and all but this is ridiculous.

Ok... maybe I should have used a different adjective to describe the 3, 5 and 6 point performances on the road. Still... my point is the same. Seattle is a FAR AND AWAY different team on the road.

hasn't it been more like W,L,W,W to be where we are now?

They ended the season L W L W L W... yeah you can add a W to that for the Detroit game... grats.

Most teams are different teams on the road. The Falcons are a much different team on the road than they are at home. Their record states that they have won more on the road than they have at home. So your argument and point is once again moot. Wouldn't you agree?