Need Help... I looked at it and I'm worried.

[Shock2k]

Of Denver, New England, Atlanta and Green Bay, I would consider Atlanta the weakest of the group. This is a game we need to win by a couple of touchdowns.

I agree with your first sentence here.

I could not disagree more with your 2nd sentence. This is a game we need to win, whether it's by 1 point off of a last second FG or it's by 30.

As long as the Seahawks walk out of Atlanta with a win and a team as healthy as we went in there with, that's the ONLY thing that matters. Let other people worry about what messages get sent, what the pundits say, or what Vegas does. The win is the only thing.

Agree. Though I will say that given the Falcons' ability to strike quickly with Jones, a 2 score lead would not go amiss. It's in Seattle's best interest to score early and often so they can control the tempo the rest of the game.

Nobody would disagree a win is a win. You may have missed my point. I'm still trying to gauge this teams chances in the SB run. Given how our season developed there are still a lot of questions. And the question that is going to be answered here is, how well do we play against a quality passer on the road in the Playoffs. So if you look at Manning, Brady, Rogers, we are talking about QB's at a higher level than Ryan (not by much he comes in #5).

So what I'm looking for is how we defend against, to get an idea of our chances moving forward. And if we can outscore the Falcon's by two TD's, I'm comfortable with Winning by 3 (or 7) against Brady/Manning/Rogers.

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

This thread title threw me off, I had just gotten done typing the same thing into WebMD.

:shock:



Seriously, I do believe ET is going to have to shade to Browner's side because I don't see him having sustained success against Jones or White. Sherm will give up one or two but also make one or two great plays (int.?) cuz he IS Richard Sherman. Gonzalez will get some but it'll come with a price. Slot receiver will also get some though as mentioned earlier, adjustments may help that issue.

Run the ball Hawks, then run it and then run some more.

Do whatever the Giants did last season to hold them to 2 points. They had the same weapons.

The problem with this Greg is that the Giants generate a LOT of pass rush with their front 4 while the Hawks simply do not. IMO that was the main ingredient for their success last year vs. Atl. leaving plenty of coverage available on the back end as well as plenty of pressure to turn Matty Ice into Matty Water.

 

[volsunghawk]

Agree. Though I will say that given the Falcons' ability to strike quickly with Jones, a 2 score lead would not go amiss. It's in Seattle's best interest to score early and often so they can control the tempo the rest of the game.

Nobody would disagree a win is a win. You may have missed my point. I'm still trying to gauge this teams chances in the SB run. Given how our season developed there are still a lot of questions. And the question that is going to be answered here is, how well do we play against a quality passer on the road in the Playoffs. So if you look at Manning, Brady, Rogers, we are talking about QB's at a higher level than Ryan (not by much he comes in #5).

So what I'm looking for is how we defend against, to get an idea of our chances moving forward. And if we can outscore the Falcon's by two TD's, I'm comfortable with Winning by 3 (or 7) against Brady/Manning/Rogers.

Every game is distinct and different. Winning by 2 TDs against Ryan wouldn't suggest that we can win against Manning or Brady on a neutral field. At this point in the season, the quality of teams is so close that anyone can beat anyone, regardless of how the final score turned out.

 

[travlinhawk]

I will trust what Sherm said earlier- "We are built for a 12 round heavyweight fight". They will get some but in the end I think our D on the road gets them a little better. Anything can happen but I just don't see us losing this one.

 

[FalconsNation]

I as a Falcons fan was dissapointed to see we would be taking on the Seahawks. Their athletic secondary scares me and will be quite a matchup against our receivers. While our running game is hopeless. The X factor in this game is Tony G, I think we can get him going.

 

[Sarlacc83]

I as a Falcons fan was dissapointed to see we would be taking on the Seahawks. Their athletic secondary scares me and will be quite a matchup against our receivers. While our running game is hopeless. The X factor in this game is Tony G, I think we can get him going.

As you hopefully have seen on this board, a lot of us feel the same way. Seattle has a tendency to lose track of RBs and TEs slipping out of the backfield. At least for awhile.

 

[hawks4thewin]

Remember.. Browner and sherman do NOT switch sides... they only move sherman over when browner is NOT in...
if they do i have never seen it...
matter of fact while browner is in... Sherman, and browner will be on there respected sides Prior to the offense even coming out..

 

[arghawkfan]

Kam cannot cover Gonzalez. KJ Wright got burned by Gonzalez last year as well as Chancellor.

Chancellor didn't play in the last game against the falcons, Atari Bigby started in his place, so we can't say whether or not Chancellor can do it.

Kam didn't look great giving up 2 touchdowns last week, but i think the threat of Morris and RG3 running had him hesitating alot and leaving paulson and royster open in the end zone, he wasn't beat by them physically or anything. I believe the hawks have the personnel to match up with the falcons, i just can't see the value Trufant brings anymore over maxwell or lane.

 

[SE174]

Kam will probably be on Gonzalez is my guess, He's pretty decent on coverage, and if he hits him like he did Davis, then Tony retires early.

As for the 2 other boys, White and Jones, I think with Thomas in the back, and if sherm and browner can disrupt their timing, we should be ok.

We HAVE to get a pass rush HAVE to rattle Matt Ryan.

+1

Sando agrees, for the most part.

Yasinskas: I think the Falcons have to come out and be very aggressive with their passing game. It's the strength of their offense. This is a different team than in the past. Michael Turner is at the end of his career and this is not a running team any longer. Roddy White and Julio Jones are big, physical receivers, so I say let's see strength on strength with Seattle's corners. I think White and Jones can get open against anyone, so the Falcons need to take their chances. Plus, this passing game is about more than just Jones and White. They command so much attention that tight end Tony Gonzalez and slot receiver Harry Douglas could be forgotten about. I think Douglas and/or Gonzalez could end up being key players in this game.

Sando: Seattle has been very good against tight ends for the most part. I'd be surprised if Gonzalez factored in a big way. Seattle has allowed three touchdown passes to tight ends this season, tied for second fewest in the NFL. The Seahawks have allowed 10 scoring passes to wide receivers, the fifth fewest in the league. Sherman had eight picks and three forced fumbles this season, joining Ed Reed, Charles Woodson and Walt Harris as the only players to reach those totals in a season over the past decade. The Seahawks are not as strong at nickel corner, however. And with leading sacker Chris Clemons likely out with a knee injury, life could get tougher for Seattle in the secondary.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/ ... at-falcons

 

[scutterhawk]

This game is really bothering me. My gut said this game was easier than the Washington game. But guts are dumb, math is better.

It’s easy to see; the Falcons beat you by passing the ball... a lot. For the 2012 season they are ranked 26th (378) in rushing attempts as opposed to 8th (615) in passing attempts. And when they do run the ball its bad, ranked 29th they are averaging 3.7 yards per carry and 87 yards per game (which is an inflated number, from runs happening after 10+ point leads… clock management runs).

So how the heck does an arguably one dimensional offense put up a 13-3 record. Well of course by having a very talented triple threat called Roddy White, Julio Jones and Tony Gonzalez.

Interesting Receiving Facts
1) WR1: Roddy White is technically the WR1 with 124 targets. But as shown below the equal distribution between all three is relatively close.
2) WR2: The “WR2” position is technically split between Jones and Gonzalez, with 129/124 targets respectively. The point being, Gonzales is targeted more like a receiver then a TE.
3) Slot: Same with your slot receiver Harry Morgan, who has split targets with RB Jaquizz Rogers this year 59/59 respectively.
4) LONG: White and Jones are both deep threats with 17/18 20+ yard catches on the season.
5) YAC: Among Receivers (Not RB’s) with 50 or more catches Jones is ranked 11nd and White is ranked 20th in Yards after the Catch. Only Dallas and Cinci have receiver pairs in the top 20 in YAC.
6) TD: White/Roddy/Gonz has near equal TD distribution.

SEA DEF v. Passing. (FO.com)
v. WR#1 - Rank 1 | White
v. WR#2 - Rank 10 | Jones
v. SLR - Rank 10 | Harry Douglas
v. TE - Rank 17 | Gonzales
v. RB – Rank 9 | Jaqquiz Rogers (Turner isn’t worth putting here for passing)

Keys to the game:

1) Seattle has to win the first half of the game: Atlanta has won every game in which it was leading in the first half. Atlanta has lost every game in which it was not leading in the first half. (We may not want to defer the kickoff this game)
2) Atlanta always finishes strong: Atlanta has outscored every opponent in the second half this year, except twice against Detroit (both wins).
3) You’re dealing with 3 legit primary receivers when playing the Falcon’s.
4) Pass Rush or CB’s: Since we probably aren’t going to out pass Matt Ryan, and even if we slow the game down by rushing Lynch, what is the answer to 3 Quality Targets, and 2 Mid Targets(Rogers/Douglas). I don’t think we have an answer unless we are running some type of Bandit/Nickle D all 4 downs? Because our pass rush against good O-Lines has only been good in spurts and never sustained.

Is Browner an answer to Julio Jones (does he have the speed to keep up with Jones on fly’s)? Is our LB core the answer to Gonzales? What about Jauqizz and Douglas?

Somebody help me here, I’m worried

Patriots are a pass happy bunch---We beat them, because we MADE them play smashmouth Football.
Packers?, they too had to deal with a totally different kind of game that wasn't geared to favor their style of play.
This won't be an easy game for EITHER team.

 

[drdiags]

Chancellor didn't play in the last game against the falcons, Atari Bigby started in his place, so we can't say whether or not Chancellor can do it.

How did I miss this?

CRS.

I forgot that Kam didn't play. I just remember Gonzalez making big time catches in the 4th quarter to extend drives and the TD he caught on KJ Wright. Sorry Kam. But please do better than you did in Washington.

 

[CANHawk]

Remember.. Browner and sherman do NOT switch sides... they only move sherman over when browner is NOT in...
if they do i have never seen it...
matter of fact while browner is in... Sherman, and browner will be on there respected sides Prior to the offense even coming out..

When they're playing man, they will move with their assignment if they go in motion (as you would normally do when playing man). I've seen Sherman and Browner on the same side of the field plenty of times, but I don't think they ever swap sides to change the match-up.

 

[HansGruber]

I agree with most of the stuff I'm hearing, BUT...

Seattle has done very very well against passing offenses this season. Only two offenses have beat us with a passing game - Miami and Detroit. And neither of those teams put up crazy points. In fact, both of them beat us in the final minutes of the game. Our offense was as much to blame in those losses as our defense as well.

The way Seattle is playing right now, I honestly don't see them losing. I think they're going to get very creative and aggressive, we should see more blitzes than we've seen all season. The #1 way to eliminate the deep threat is to get Sherman and Browner into man coverage, play single high safety to help out the CBs, and bring up one safety to rush the passer from the opposite end as Bruce Irvin, or fake the rush and drop back into the middle for coverage. The Seahawks do this very well. They were sacking the hell out of Rodgers with this same strategy. Yeah, Rodgers got some short passes completed up the middle, and they were able to dink-and-dunk their way to a single TD that way. But that's all they got.

I don't believe Atlanta has a better passing game than Green Bay. I've watched Matt Ryan closely the last few seasons, because I kept drafting him in my fantasy league. He's not a mobile QB, he's not going to roll out of the pocket to escape two unblocked rushers and find one of his receivers deep. He doesn't read coverage as well as Aaron Rodgers and is not as effective under pressure. He doesn't necessarily panic, but his accuracy gets "off" a little when he's getting rushed. I can see the Seahawks taking advantage.

Also, he has not faced a secondary like Seattle yet this season. It will be fun to see him trying to pass on us. It actually gives us an advantage. I don't think you can beat Seattle with just a passing attack, you MUST be able to run and have good balance, and Atlanta does not have that. These Falcons fans talking about Jaquizz Rodgers must be kidding. The guy is no threat to Seattle's defense, they will easily shut him down. Jaquizz is not a power runner, he is light on his feet and doesn't get yards after contact. He averages about 3.5YPC most games. He's had 2 TDs his entire career. The mention of his name earlier had me laughing. Seattle will destroy Rodgers, I'm actually worried about him staying healthy in this game.

I watched both the Panthers and Bucs games last night to refresh my memory and saw some similarities in those losses. Both teams focused on running early against the Falcons, who were unable to stop the run. I'm not sure how they've won so many games other than that I think teams are trying to keep up with them. They tend to score early with that passing game, and you see teams abandoning the run trying to catch up. Seattle will not do this.

Also, in both the Panthers and Bucs game, I noticed a tendency in Matt Ryan and how he reacts to being down early. I saw him trying to force some passes under pressure, and both teams were able to take advantage with turnovers. If there is one secondary out there who can shut down a vertical passing attack, it is the Legion of Boom.

Also, our running game is relentless, and we are able to get rushing yards from the QB position. If you watch the Panthers game, Cam Newton looked like an All-Pro out there. The Falcons defense wasn't quick enough to stuff Newton, so he was getting solid yardage on every scramble. Their defense does not respond well to mobile QBs, or at least, they didn't in that game.

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts......

 

[Shock2k]

Was watching NFL network. They brought up a point about how the Refs call the game. Could you imagine getting a PI or 2 in the first quarter. How would that change things?

 

[Shock2k]

I agree with most of the stuff I'm hearing, BUT...

I don't believe Atlanta has a better passing game than Green Bay. I've watched Matt Ryan closely the last few seasons, because I kept drafting him in my fantasy league. He's not a mobile QB, he's not going to roll out of the pocket to escape two unblocked rushers and find one of his receivers deep. He doesn't read coverage as well as Aaron Rodgers and is not as effective under pressure. He doesn't necessarily panic, but his accuracy gets "off" a little when he's getting rushed. I can see the Seahawks taking advantage.......

Interesting stat I saw when researching Matt Ryan.

Atlanta has one of the lowest # of sacks (Rnk 7th with 27)
But one of the highest amount of QB hits (Rnk 8th with 84)

Not sure if I should interpret this as a guy who hangs tough in the pocket. Haven't seen a lot of Atlanta games this year. May have to pony up for the NFL Rewind.

 

[HansGruber]

I agree with most of the stuff I'm hearing, BUT...

I don't believe Atlanta has a better passing game than Green Bay. I've watched Matt Ryan closely the last few seasons, because I kept drafting him in my fantasy league. He's not a mobile QB, he's not going to roll out of the pocket to escape two unblocked rushers and find one of his receivers deep. He doesn't read coverage as well as Aaron Rodgers and is not as effective under pressure. He doesn't necessarily panic, but his accuracy gets "off" a little when he's getting rushed. I can see the Seahawks taking advantage.......

Interesting stat I saw when researching Matt Ryan.

Atlanta has one of the lowest # of sacks (Rnk 7th with 27)
But one of the highest amount of QB hits (Rnk 8th with 84)

Not sure if to interpret this as a guy who hangs tough in the pocket. Haven't seen a lot of Atlanta games this year. May have to pony up for the NFL Rewind.

I downloaded a handful of Falcon games via bit torrent. Hit me up via PM if you're interested, the mods have asked me not to share that info on the forum due to potential copyright issues.

I've only watched 4-5 Falcon games this season, but one common theme I noticed with Matt Ryan is that he is pretty cool in the pocket, in the sense that he won't panic and take off running, or make really bad decisions. He's pretty good that way. But he does seem to lose some accuracy. I saw a handful of plays where he threw deep under pressure and his receivers were able to use their size and athleticism to recover and make the catch. That works well against most of the small CBs in this league. It will not work against Seattle's secondary. If Ryan is not pinpoint with every pass, we WILL come up with INTs. I said it last week against Griffin and I believe it holds true this week as well. Our secondary is so large and so fast that no QB can throw medium or deep passes against them without laser-tight accuracy on EVERY throw. Because one of those guys WILL pick you off.

 

[HansGruber]

I also think this game will come down to turnovers. Atlanta is disciplined but they rely too heavily on their passing game, which gives us our defense a lot of opportunities for turnovers. With a high-scoring and effective offense like Seattle, that can run the ball and chew down the clock, it will be difficult for Atlanta to recover from turnovers. They just don't have the defense to effectively stop Seahawks offense from running the clock and grinding out points.

 

[rideaducati]

Seattle's offense is better than the Falcon defense and I consider the Seahawk defense vs. Falcon offense a wash. Russell Wilson has moved this team against much better defenses and Seattle's defense has stopped much better offenses this year. Just sit back and enjoy the game.

GO HAWKS!!!

 

[ariel9302]

I think Atlanta has a hard time winning against teams that produce big yards on the ground because it throws their offense out of rhythm. keep matt ryan off the field long enough and I bet he starts to feel anxious and out of sync. let him just pour on the yards in a game with all those weapons and i'm sure they will go 13-3. oh what do you know? in their two recent losses they lost the time of possession battle 35-24, and 32-27. we owned the ball for 34 minutes against a MUCH better run defense in Washington. to calm your fears, if we hold turner out of the endzone in the redzone and force field goals, we win. that's where the battle will happen. to further calm your fears, tarvaris Jackson almost beat the falcons last year. yes, Julio jones and roddy white were both there, jones went off actually, and tarvaris Jackson almost pulled it off. ok, one more time to calm your fears, they beat Oakland by 3, Arizona by 4, cowboys by 6, lost to the bucs once and beat them by one the other. this team is as mortal as it gets for a #1 seed.

 

[BASF]

Seattle has done very very well against passing offenses this season. Only two offenses have beat us with a passing game - Miami and Detroit. And neither of those teams put up crazy points. In fact, both of them beat us in the final minutes of the game. Our offense was as much to blame in those losses as our defense as well.

I don't think I will ever understand this line of thinking. Any game that you have a lead in the fourth quarter that you end up losing, it is on the defense for not holding the lead. We scored 21 and 24 respectively, which should have been good enough to win.