Victor Cruz was asked this morning on the Cowherd show which was the toughest team they played all year and his answer was Atlanta. He went on to talk about a change in their mindset from last year that they came out and was tougher and more like "we aren't last years playoff team". Continued to say they did a lot of shifting etc throughout the game to make it really tough on the opposing qb

Thought it was interesting and you can argue the Atlanta schedule all day but they have been very strong, strong in the second half and between White, Jones and Gonzales our defense will have their hands full.........

They remind me of our 2005 team in many ways. They don't have the "tough" label, but they can score a lot of points, don't let a lot of teams get into the end zone and are capable of kicking pretty good ass despite being seen as finesse.

_________________

They've reminded me of our 2005 team at times in certain ways too, but they don't nearly have the offensive balance that team had.

But would the 2005 team have beat our 2012 team?

Not a chance.

_________________

San Fransisco. Still partying like it's 1981.

I wonder who Carolina would say is the toughest team they faced all year?

Why try to jack this thread?

While I think we beat ATL, there are still the #1 seed for a reason. People view them as a weak #1 in the manner of which they won games. They didn't put a lot of teams away, always played down to the level of competition, etc. They are good, but what makes me believe the Hawks ail win in how we much up against them. They could be 16-0 and could have destroyed every team they've played and I would still have confidence that the Hawks can go in there and get the W.

We are awesome at running the ball, they can't stop the run. They are terrible at getting to the QB and RW just happens to be very hard to take down. Isn't their secondary banged up too? As for our defense? Well we have the Legion of Boom and they don't run the ball extremely well. Tell Bruce to pin his ears back and to get Matt Ryan every play!

_________________
Team Hansen

Basing off of Strength of Schedule they had the easiest schedule in the NFL this year...like easier than the Colts (who seem to get lambasted around here for how easy a schedule they had). Only played 2 playoff teams - Denver in week 2 and Washington in week 5...yeesh.

EDIT: Whoops for some reason thought that was Atlanta not Carolina..../chugs more coffee

let's be honest they got blown out so obviously he's going to say that

he's not going to say SF were more difficult because they breezed that game... doesn't mean Atlanta are a better team

Atlanta has Mike Nolan as their new DC this year. He's changed that defense and it is better than last years version. Great? No. The attitude has changed however and they've improved. On offense, they've added Koetter as their new OC. He was always a kind of run first, smashmouth kinda coach and now he's got to run an aerial offense, but he's changed their attitude on the other side of the ball as well.

These Falcons aren't as soft as they used to be.

Can we beat them? Yes. Will this be the most difficult game we've had all season? Probably.

_________________
Richard Sherman doesn't just wanna get in your head, he wants to build a vacation home there.

R. Sherman: "I don't want to be an island. I want to be a tourist attraction. You come, I take your money & you go."

Who's Victor Cruz and why do we care?

_________________

Hey look these are 11-1 breasts heading for 12-1. Ain't it great???

Those were my thoughts exactly. Cruz is trying to justify the Giants complete ineptness in that game...

_________________

If you got beat 34-0 then by definition it would HAVE to be the toughest game you played all year. it wouldn't matter if it was Kansas City that beat them, Cruz would be honest in saying that Kansas City was the toughest team they faced all year had KC blanked them 34-0.

_________________
Richard Sherman doesn't just wanna get in your head, he wants to build a vacation home there.

R. Sherman: "I don't want to be an island. I want to be a tourist attraction. You come, I take your money & you go."

For all that tout the "cupcake schedule" that Atlanta has had, remember they only play the games scheduled for them. Can't change that; can only win or lose them. And with a 13-3 record, with losses only against division rivals (two of them on the road), they're tougher than one might imagine. And while they still played their starters the last game of the season, there was really nothing to play for, and the win meant nothing but pride. They came out flat, and a division rival was just a touch better than they were.

This is the matchup I've been worried about for some time. This is the sleeper. This is far tougher than many give it credit for, and I don't like our chances. While we still have a chance, and while I'll be rooting for the win and believing we can pull it off until the full 60 is up, I have a sneaky feeling we're going to see at the end of this game that this team is still only in year three of the rebuild, and we're not quite there yet. I hope like hell I'm proven wrong, but I haven't seen any reason to believe I will be.

_________________
Seahawks. It's an addiction, and there is no cure.

He is a guy that played the team we will be playing (anyone else on here do that? any of the experts do that?), he is a guy that gets paid millions to play the game we all love to watch so he may know something about it

You don't post the same thing when people mention INSERT EXPERT NAME HERE - you may say they suck but you most often (mel kiper excluded) don't question why a post is made about what they said.....

I agree with the comments about the 34-0 then I would say it is the toughest team. Now Giants win that game and they are pretty much in the playoffs if I remember correctly so it was an important game. It says something about Atlanta to put down a team like the Giants 34-0. I realize the giants didn't have the pass rush of prior years but it concerns me that they lost that big and I still thought it was interesting to listen to his thoughts on the show

you can't compare them to the 2005 team in my opinion.. turner vs. alexander = no contest.... they can be beat if you get them to be a one demintional team... take away their running game, make Ryan have to drop back 50+ times, that's how we beat brady. i would argue NE's recievers and tight ends are every bit as dangerous.

_________________
On to the Next Episode

It's a valid point. Giants got shut out by Atlanta and the playoffs were on the line. These same (defending Super Bowl Champions) Giants CRUSHED the Niners. That's a quality win by Atlanta and even though the Giants failed to reach the playoffs this year, that is still an impressive win.

_________________
Richard Sherman doesn't just wanna get in your head, he wants to build a vacation home there.

R. Sherman: "I don't want to be an island. I want to be a tourist attraction. You come, I take your money & you go."

Also interesting when you remember the Giants were supposed to totally dominate that game. Most of the pre-game hype had them going in and rolling Atlanta. Part of that whole "this is December, when the Giants suddenly start playing invincible football in their inevitable march to the playoffs and another strong post season" yada yada yada.

That was a statement game for Atlanta. Now they're faced with "Atlanta can't win in the playoffs" schtick. Don't think they don't have a chip the size of Titanic's iceberg on their shoulders going into this one.

_________________
Seahawks. It's an addiction, and there is no cure.

the only argument i have against this is that the Falcons have been one dimensional all year, its nothing we havent faced and overcame before, now the Hawks have a great chance at a W, but just because on offense can be made one dimentional does not grant an automatic W

To add to this point, the Falcons definitely went into that game with revenge on their minds after being embarrassed in last years playoffs where they only scored a safety against the Giants. They came out looking for blood against them this year.

_________________