the VG board football thread

The Mongoose said
I'm okay with it. The falcons aren't built for the playoffs. I know they think they are, but they aren't.

Things change in the playoffs. I remember this from the first few times the saints made it there - Steve Walsh and Hebert era. I used to want to just get in the playoffs and who knows, anything can happen. But what really happens is that your opponent breaks down your game microscopically. If you can only do one or two things, you're going to get stomped. They will take those things away. The pressure is ratcheted up and everything seems harder.

I mean, today was just a tough division game for them late in the year, and a beat up Tampa defense took away Gonzales. Ryan's numbers were terrible.

And the bucs stink, with no real offense to capitalize on anything.

Atlanta has been doing the same boring stuff all year. I think they run 5 routes or so. And while they execute really well right now, it won't be that way in the playoffs.

This is all my opinion of course. I could be wrong. But it seems to me that they are in for a terrible fall, and the more success they have now, the worse it will be for them later. Should be fun to watch.

At the same time, I can't figure us out yet. We obviously have enough talent and are dynamic enough to go all the way. But I would have thought that at this point in the season we'd be done with letting teams hang around and having to get all herculian at the end. I'm not sure we're in championship mode or if we're even capable of it this year despite being talented enough to do so.

I think it's become painfully obvious that while our defense might be better than last year, they are incapable of generating the insane amount of opportunistic turnovers. Our offensive line also is not nearly as dominate as we thought. Last year they were just in the groove and playing above their heads.

That being said, they are good, just not dominant.

And oh year, Darren Sharper, yes, he has been hurt this year, but there is just no way he could have duplicated the herculean opportunistic success he had last year. He had one of the best season a safety has ever had in the NFL. Porter and Greer were also playing insane. Porter and Greer have come back down to earth and Sharper is just another good safety(not Jesus)

the good? Drew Brees is still incredible and we appear to be more fundamentally sound in stopping the run. Alex Brown is a pass rushing liability, but he is wonderful in defending the rush.

I'm not sure what to expect going forward either. I know the Falcons will win the division and we will go to the playoffs. If the offensive line can "get hot" then the sky is the limit. This is important because we will be on the road in the playoffs and the pass rush with guys flying off the edge will be brutal. If our offensive line continues to play like this? We might win one playoff game max..then be ousted.

It definitely scares me playing at the Bears in the playoffs, for example, it scares me to death. Our offensive line is capable of being manhandled in a crazy playoff environment in the cold. I do not trust our offensive line against that defense in Chicago.