Hawks vs. Falcons

Scottemojo":19gm9uqz said:

Sarlacc83":19gm9uqz said:

Until the Falcons prove they can win in the playoffs, I'm not scared. Not scared of GB in GB, either. (Rodgers is playing terribly again.) No, it's the Giants and 49ers who worry me.

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I don't think about what the Falcons did last year at all. They have a good team and home field advantage and create some matchup problems.

But yes, this year the Giants and Niners (and Packers, now that they are discovering their run game) are all worse matchups.

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They've also blown their last bye in 2010. Matt Ryan has never won a playoff game and he's been there 3 times. That kind of thing weighs on a team and can turn into a self fulfilling prophecy, especially against a physical team like Seattle.

It really depends, since a lot can happen in the next 3 weeks.

We seem to be peaking. If we can go to Buffalo and handle them easily, it gives this team more confidence about playing a road game. If we take care of business at home and win out, we're looking like a Giants team peaking at just the right time the last couple years. That being said, we make way too many dumb penalties. We extended 4 Cardiinals drives on Sunday due to penalties; just think of how few yards they'd have had if we could play a bit more disciplined. Against good teams, that will cost you the game, and it has this year for us.

The Falcons are very tough at home. They play almost mistake free football, and do all the little things right. To beat them, you have to be mistake free. I need to see the Seahawks play mistake free in Buffalo to know we can do it on the road. That said, the Falcons don't seem to have positive momentum, and they rely on big plays from their WRs a lot....they also seem a bit soft.

I'd like our chances against them, even there, if we win out and learn to handle business correctly on the road.

Sarlacc83":34n18105 said:

Scottemojo":34n18105 said:

Sarlacc83":34n18105 said:

Until the Falcons prove they can win in the playoffs, I'm not scared. Not scared of GB in GB, either. (Rodgers is playing terribly again.) No, it's the Giants and 49ers who worry me.

Click to expand...

I don't think about what the Falcons did last year at all. They have a good team and home field advantage and create some matchup problems.

But yes, this year the Giants and Niners (and Packers, now that they are discovering their run game) are all worse matchups.

Click to expand...

They've also blown their last bye in 2010. Matt Ryan has never won a playoff game and he's been there 3 times. That kind of thing weighs on a team and can turn into a self fulfilling prophecy, especially against a physical team like Seattle.

Click to expand...

Peyton Manning had his playoff struggles too. But you did hit on the key, physicality. Indy got over the hump when their physical dude, Bob Sanders, was making hay in the playoffs. I don't know if Atlanta has that kind of guy.

I think the Falcons are overhyped. And just like their season showed earlier from the start, they were undefeated but once the tougher part of the season begun they started losing. Also, there were lots of games that came down to the last minute. OVERHYPED!

Texans not as much, but I think Texans are the AFC's version of the Falcons.

Seattle would pound them

i would LOVE to play the falcons in the playoffs, cuz every team that beats them in the postseason tends to win the superbowl...except the cards...

The 2007 Falcons were 4-12 and then jumped to 11-5 with rookie Matt Ryan in 2008. From a hype, competitive life cycle standpoint, I see Seattle as the 2008 Falcons (i.e., one of the emerging powerhouse teams with the world in front of them). However, I see Seattle as having a much higher ceiling over the subsequent years and will hopefully realize the promise.

Pete Carrol with the Seahawks has more playoff wins than Mike Smith. :1:

rainger":3co11t07 said:

Atlanta has only played 2 teams with winning records and both at home.

They got to play Denver when PM was still getting use to the team and them to he. Im addition Atlanta has not played a single team that currently are one of the 12 playoff teams.

What does that tell you. EASY SCHEDULE!.

I think the Hawks would be able to take them even in their home.

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This is exactly what I was going to say. I think when it is all said and done, Atlanta will have had THE easiest schedule in the NFL. As stated they have only played 2 teams (SD and Tampa) who posted winning records when Atlanta played them. Their 2 losses come to NO and CAR not stellar teams to say the least. I think we would easily beat the Falcons. They are a paper tiger for sure.

We'd definitely need Browner for that game. Julio Jones would be a problem for WT3/Maxwell/etc.

Aside from that, I think they're very beatable. The game being indoors would definitely help as well.

The Falcons remind me a lot of the Lions, who if I remember correctly beat us earlier this year. They are both pretty soft in my book, but have a QB who is calm and cool and if he gets going then he could do exactly the same thing Stafford did to the Hawks. I think the home/away thing wouldn't make much difference in the playoffs. I just think if Ryan got on track, that he'd Stafford us to death and that would be that. So it would be imperative that the Seahawks set the tone early and just beat him up pretty badly and not allow a rhythm to be established. I don't think it would be easy by any means, and I think their past playoff record means very little. Eventually they are going to win a playoff game, and that could happen on any given Sunday. I've seen them look nearly unstoppable at times, which is pretty obvious by their record.

I have a hard time seeing the Falcons beating any of the NFC playoff teams other than maybe Chicago. They're above average to good at almost everything but they aren't great at anything.