The Falcons, like the Bears, are a tough team to get a grip on. They’ve beaten the Lions, Chiefs, and Packers and have lost to TB and
Us vs. Them – Defense
No secret about Matt Ryan and Michael Turner. Ryan’s been consistently throwing in the 150 – 200 yard range and Turner (when on) has been running all over the place. But, there’s a problem with their offense. When Turner has been held under 100 yards, they’ve gotten blown out. In other words, when a team makes Ryan do all the work, they lose. Badly. So, if we key in stopping Turner and not focus solely on getting to Ryan, history states we’ll win. Problem is, that history is only five games long.
Besides those two, their top receiver is Roddy White (26 receptions for 454 yards and 2 TD’s). Two other receiver’s names you might hear on Sunday are Michael Jenkins and Jerious Norwood.
Us vs. Them – Offense
Same old story, different game: We need to establish the run. If we can establish the run and take some pressure off Orton, we will be successful. If Orton has to do all the work, we might run into trouble. The Falcons like to use their front four to disrupt/stop the run and the back seven to drop back. I really hope they use this strategy on Sunday, because Forte will throw them for a loop.
I also hope that our OL is planning on playing well, because we’re going up against their DE, John Abraham. He’s leading the NFL with seven sacks this year.
Final word
Both teams need to establish the run to take pressure off their QB’s. The Falcons are a little worse off with this strategy than we are. If Turner fails, they’ll have to go to Ryan, who is a rookie going up against a ferocious defense. If Forte fails, we go to Orton. Orton’s played in the league before and handles pressure about as well as you can expect from an NFL QB.
Welcome to the NFL, Matt Ryan. You get to meet Lance Briggs & Co. this weekend.
Bears 24, Falcons 10