OK Homers - How Good Are the Falcons? - Fess Up (1 Viewer)

[Sackhappysaint]

I hate Atlanta just as much as any of you but if youre thinking realistically, then you KNOW the Falclowns will win the division without a doubt. I hope we beat them in Georgia but highly unlikely. I say we'll finish the season 11-5.No way we win out 5 games. Thats wishful thinking.Our best hope is to play them in the playoffs and beat their feathers there.

I'm really close to just going for total broke..an "ALL IN" philosophy regarding what I want to happen.

Go ahead Falcons, win the division..because what I want to happen is to go to the Georgia dome and beat you for the NFC championship all the while their fans have to watch our team celebrate another Super Bowl appearance.. again, but this time, in their dome, on their soil..the interviews after the game on their field, with their fans watching, and fully knowing that not only did we win last year, but we knocked them out this year...and they have to watch the entire thing, or LEAVE their own dome..

And now we are celebrating in their dome of not only our second super appearance, but knocking them out.


ALL IN, BABY...

 

[FGE413]

The Falcons are good and well-coached, BUT...not as good as their record for many of the reasons already stated. They have no signature win where they've dominated a good team (like we did against NE or NYG or even our 2 TD win against the Jets last year). All of their wins vs. good teams were very close and many relied heavily on luck.

Yes, if it were the Saints in the same position, the emotional homer in me would say "we just know how to win, it's destiny!" But, logically...luck runs out. You play enough close games and you will lose one. I bet if you looked at past Super Bowl champs' weekly scores, none tiptoed between the raindrops the way the Falcons have in all of their big wins. There's always at least one or two signature routs against a good opponent.

It reminds me a little of how I felt last year about the Vikings. I told everyone I knew going into the playoffs that the combination of Peterson's fumbles, Favre's penchant for stupid decisions, and Childress' idiocy would kill the Vikings at some point. I just wasn't sure if it would be the divisional round, NFCCG, or the Super Bowl. This year, I am just as confident that the Falcons' luck will run out at some point. I just don't know if it'll be the divisional round (hopefully, b/c this is likely when we'd play them), the NFCCG or the Super Bowl. But I'd be genuinely stunned if they won the Super Bowl.

 

[zioncityintheatl]

:biggthumpup:

More important than pro bowlers are "threats," for lack of a better term. The Falcons have consistent threats at every position. Roddy White is a deep threat who will run a 5 and out for 2 quarters and then hit a double move and house it (with a little offensive PI....).

Gonzalez is a threat on short yardage situations. He is 6'5". If you single cover him on 3rd and 5, they will go to him every time.

Turner is a threat to get 5-10 yards every time he touches the ball. He can run over people, and because of Roddy White and Tony G, you can't just put 8 guys in the box against him.

Matt Ryan is a smart QB. He will take the short stuff, and he will not beat himself. In that sense, he is like the rest of that team through 11 games - they do not make costly mistakes; teams make costly mistakes against them. Half of winning a game is not shooting yourself in the foot. If you want proof, look no further than the 3 games the Saints have lost. 4 defensive TDs between AZ and CLE, and a missed chip shot FG in overtime against ATL - that is shooting yourself in the foot.

On top of all that, their defense is playing well. They don't miss tackles. They are not a top unit, but you do not see them making huge mistakes. They make you take the ball down the field one play at a time, and seem to avoid the big play well.

All that being said, the Falcons are not flashy. Aaron Rodgers is a better QB, than Ryan. There are better TE's thn Gonzalez, and a lot of elite WRs probably would not want to play the role of glorified possession receiver that White often plays. But Flash does NOT win games, solid team effort does, and that is what they have been bringing. In that sense, they are like the Saints of 2009 who had a group of mostly unknown WRs, a hard charging UDFA RB, and a QB who had never been considered top 3 until last season.

It pains me to admit all of that, but being delusional about it is not going to help anything. Not to mention, as good as the Falcons are, the Saints can obviously beat them, they just need to avoid the mistakes they have made thus far.

 

[Flipx99]

I hate Atlanta just as much as any of you but if youre thinking realistically, then you KNOW the Falclowns will win the division without a doubt. I hope we beat them in Georgia but highly unlikely. I say we'll finish the season 11-5.No way we win out 5 games. Thats wishful thinking.Our best hope is to play them in the playoffs and beat their feathers there.

Come on now, we don't know that -- not at all.

I wouldnt be surprised if the Bucs pull this one off. Falclowns are favored by 3pts over Bucs. Of course this could change by the end of the week, but I dont see it changing very much. I think Tampa will take em this week to put us a half a game behind. Atlantas schedule looks as though they could win all 5, but they wont, theyll lost 2 of them. which 2 is anyones guess but ideally Bucs would be a favorable one.

BTW, since you believe the Bucs have a chance, you really should believe we have chance at the division. If the Bucs win then we could still drop a non divisional game down the line and still win the division.

Atlanta has the edge, but this race is tighter than you seem to think.

 

[Vrill]

The key this year is that Michael Turner is healthy. Last year they didnt have a great running attack like they do this season to compliment Matt Ryan and company.

With that said...

The Falcons are very vanilla on offense. They dont do anything fancy. They'll run the ball with Turner and play action off of that and Ryan looks for either White or Gonzo. That other WR that they have, Jenkins, is overrated. Their WR core in general isnt that great from top to bottom. Roddy White however is a prime time talent. Like him or hate him, he and Ryan have a nice chemistry going right now. Their offensive line is middle of the pack. So its avg at best. Its not great, but Ryan is good at getting rid of the ball quickly.

Their defense is also vanilla. They dont do a lot of fancy things. They do however swarm to the ball well. They dont have any stars on defense that stick out either. They dont do any single thing well, they are just good all around and they are well coached on that side of the ball.

Overall, the Falcons are a vanilla football team. I also feel as if they are not as good as their record says they are. Are they smoke and mirrors? No. However, I feel like as if they are a 6-5 football team right now posing with a 9-2 record.

They wont win the Super bowl this year. If they happen to sneak into the super bowl, they'll get destroyed by either the Jets, Patriots or whoever it is that they play from the AFC. So either way, they wont accomplish much this season besides being 0-2 in Super bowls at most.

With that said, the Saints are gonna be there at the end. I love the fact that nobody is talking about us.

 

[BIG DAWG]

I admit they are good. But they can be beat. If you can get to RYAN he will make mistakes just like any other QB. There DL is playing some good ball. Give them credit.

1. Stop Ryan(Pressure,Pressure,Pressure)
2. OL got to hold up in the trenches (Abraham and Jerry is bringing it)

Tampa Bay have a good DL that can pressure but I dnt know if they have the OL that
can hold off ATL DL and LBers. I hope so. We need Tampa Bay to come up big SUnday...

 

[SaintsFan83]

They are decent, but not Superbowl caliber. New England would rip them to shreds. The NFC as a whole isn't very good. If they happened to make the Superbowl, they'll embarrass the NFC like they did when they were crushed by the Broncos last time they went... and that squad was better.

 

[CCL36]

Anf how is it different from our win against the Cowboys?

And regarding the "dominant" label....nobody is saying they are dominant, not even the media. It seems that you guys don't realize that a dominant team like last year doesn't come around every season.....the Faclons are just one of the top 2-3 team in the NFC. and You don't need to play like the 2009 Saints to go to the SB.

But it's always the same here, if the media say a team is good and it's not the Saints, people pretend they are crowning them and they say it's the best team of all time (find me an article that say the Falcons are dominant?)...and if someone say something remotely bad against the Saints people act like the called us the worst team in history....

You haven't been reading much nor have you talked to very many Falcon fans for they have been indeed labeled, dominant, unbeatable at home...and they themselves are constantly trying to equate their luck this year with the 2 or 3 games where fortune smiled on us last year...

 

[Le_Moyne]

You haven't been reading much nor have you talked to very many Falcon fans for they have been indeed labeled, dominant, unbeatable at home...and they themselves are constantly trying to equate their luck this year with the 2 or 3 games where fortune smiled on us last year...

Why would I care what stupid Falcons fans say about their team? Of course they think they're the best....they're fans, they're biased! Just like many Saints fan were thinking we would go throught the season 16-0 and unscratched.

But when it comes to the media, I'm reading quite a lot of articles from the national media and I don't see many people saying they are dominant, good, very good, yes, but not dominant. Like I said, show me one.

 

[Broad St. Saint]

The 2010 Falcons = Jim Mora Era Saints

This will be apparent once the playoffs start.

This is 100% correct. They don't have that dominance on offense or defense that you need to win playoff games. Once the intensity is turned up to 11, and the teams are all good, an efficient check-down offense and power running alone will not win for you. It might work if you have a 00 Ravens or 02 Tampa or 85 Bears D, but they don't have that. Conversely, you can win with an above-average defense and a great offense (Rams, Indy, NE).

Martyball (aka Moraball) = 1 and done.

You need that difference-maker. For the Saints last year in the playoffs, it was (1) Drew Brees throwing 8 TD, 0 INT w/ QB ratings of 125, 106 and 114 PLUS (2) a ferocious pass rush (think about what happened to Favre and Warner) plus Tracy Porter. Even with all of that, the wins over the Vikings and Colts were not blowouts, because those teams were that good.

 

[BCK30]

They're a very talented team and it pains me to say that but I speak the truth. However, they've gotten so many breaks that at this point realisticly they have NO excuses not to go to the Super Bowl. Garrett Hartley basicly handed over the game to them, Nate Clements decides showboating is more important that actually winning. Refs turned the other way when Roddy "Mr. Pushoff" White makes his presence felt. Green Bay's coaches decided to take the day off last Sunday. I mean they've virtually had everything go their way. I'm still confident their luck will turn on them in some form or fashion. Either late in the season or in the playoffs. Mark my words!!!!

 

[Swimmer]

I wouldnt be surprised if the Bucs pull this one off. Falclowns are favored by 3pts over Bucs. Of course this could change by the end of the week, but I dont see it changing very much. I think Tampa will take em this week to put us a half a game behind. Atlantas schedule looks as though they could win all 5, but they wont, theyll lost 2 of them. which 2 is anyones guess but ideally Bucs would be a favorable one.

This is extremely interesting. The Vegas books know their stuff and they are saying that on a neutral field the Bucs and Falcons are pick-it. The Vegas books are not buying into the Falcons SB march yet. That really surprises me and gives some support to those on this post who say the Falcons are not as good as their record.

 

[stevend]

Hate to bring this up, but if Garret would've made that field goal in overtime, then there would be no talks about the Falcons like they are gettin right now.

In fact, if that FG was made, we would be leading the NFC conference.

Do you really hate to bring up the easy target? Yes he missed.


Don't forget after the missed FG the Falcons had a holding call that put them 1-20 at their own 10.

 

[bergeaux]

In all honesty:

They are better than I thought.

They are worse than the hype.

They will lose to someone, hopefully us once more and two more if we face them in the playoffs. I KNOW the Saints are a better team now that they have gotten through that rough patch in the beginning of the season.

 

[bobad]

I think they're in the top 5 best teams in the NFL. Making few mistakes is a big part of why they're so good. They're not great anywhere, but are good everywhere.

 

[OneBigEasy!!]

Well, they're 9-2 so obviously they are very good. They're balanced, have a good enough D, and play well at home. Not to mention, alot of the breaks are falling their way. (Sounds alot like a team from 2009). And there's nothing wrong with that. Any coach whose won a Superbowl will tell you that getting lucky breaks is part of being successful.

I will never like the Falcons but they're well-coached and talented.

No disrespect but it doesn't sound alot like a team from 2009.

Said it before in a similar thread

In 2009 the Saints

Didn't even relinquish a lead until the sixth game of the season

Totally Beat Down and Destroyed numerous marquee teams

Beat five Superbowl winning qbs on their march to the Championship.

Sounds more like a slightly above average team that has barely escaped numerous defeats and is way overhyped!!