Looking ahead!

[Marco102]

We'll definitely have a shot next week. New England isn't playing that well this season.

The team that concerns me the most is New Orleans. Their offense is terrific. Their schedule is slightly easier than ours. It looks like it's going to be a two team race for the south.

Comments?

[1981falcsny]

NE we have to worry about their run game...... they have mucho depth and talented players, IF Wes Welker is back.... him vs Grimes (and i like grimes as depth) we are toast there......... we need Kroy and the line to PRESSURE Tom Brady or he will pick us apart, stepping into his throws or not he will pick us apart.

Also let's not get into a throwing match, let's use ball control, our quality depth of RBs , use some screens and we CAN win!!!

Go Falcons!

[fabolous]

NE will be a tough matchup for this team. Hopefully they come ready to play. I'm not scared of N.O. The Falcons play them twice a year. So that offense isn't going to scare them at all.

[The Dude Abides]

the aints are really good

[xfistfulofhatex]

NE will be tough i would be more confident if they won this weeks game

[bossFALCON™]

NO's O looks good but it looks good every season. we spanked them up once last year and we were extremely close to beating them in their house. NO looks super tough on paper until you're playing them, and then you realize that they can be beaten just like any other team.

as far as NE it should be a good game. you can never sleep on brady and our D isn't the jets D. then again our O isn't the jets O. it's definitely winnable but it looks to be really tough. i don't remember the last time the pats were 1-2 under bill b and brady and they should be very motivated next week. we can beat them though.

[The Gritz Blitz]

the aints are really good

They let Kolb almost throw for 400 yards on them. That D is still pretty bad.

[The Dude Abides]

They let Kolb almost throw for 400 yards on them. That D is still pretty bad.

i meant to say on offense lol

[gjlaf]

Any team that can put up 90+ points on offense in TWO GAMES scares me....N.O. is on fire, but if we get some pressure on Bree's we can significantly (sp) throw off their game and win.

NE I am not afraid of we have played the last two games better then they have and if we can continue to play that way we can definately win against the PAT's!!

[JayOzOne]

Now would be a good time for last year's version of Roddy White to make his presence felt on this year's football field.

[JOEinPHX]

What's the Saints run defense like? Ball control and pressure on Brees will be the keys to the game.

[AtlantaFalconPokerPro]

We can beat the saints with proper clock control, If Brees is on the bench he cant score.

[FalconinPA]

They let Kolb almost throw for 400 yards on them. That D is still pretty bad.

Yeah, when we play them it is gonna be a shootout!! But at least we have a resemblance of a defense

[atlantaprodj]

We'll definitely have a shot next week. New England isn't playing that well this season.

The team that concerns me the most is New Orleans. Their offense is terrific. Their schedule is slightly easier than ours. It looks like it's going to be a two team race for the south.

Comments?

New Orleans is the team to beat in the NFC South and the NFC... We're going to have to win shoot outs IMO.

That kills me to say but I believe it's an objective truth.

[Hatch]

They let Kolb almost throw for 400 yards on them. That D is still pretty bad.

Yup, same offense every year and their defense is not that great.

[joe horn]

Our Defense is good enough to protect a nearly 2-1 scoring advantage, despite weak links in the return coverage. Also, they seem to have a knack for generating turnovers. Sleep on our D if it gives you peace of mind, though. We haven't allowed a 100 yard rusher yet, so the more you put it in the air the more you play our game.

Just sayin'.

[duncja]

New Orleans is the team to beat in the NFC South and the NFC... We're going to have to win shoot outs IMO.

That kills me to say but I believe it's an objective truth.

My thoughts exactly.

[norbendon]

The Saints defense ranks 26th in points allowed, 14 against the pass, and 3rd against the run. Now the thing to think about is that they faced the Lions in week one and the Eagles with a third string QB.

They jumped out to big leads in both games and forced both of their opponents to abandon their running games early. That's not as likely to happen with us. Basically, their run defense has not been tested at all yet. They have worrysome statistics, but I wonder how skewed they are by their circumstances.

[norbendon]

What's the Saints run defense like? Ball control and pressure on Brees will be the keys to the game.

Good stats, but I believe totally untested at this point.

[Falcon Fantom]

The Saints defense ranks 26th in points allowed, 14 against the pass, and 3rd against the run. Now the thing to think about is that they faced the Lions in week one and the Eagles with a third string QB.

They jumped out to big leads in both games and forced both of their opponents to abandon their running games early. That's not as likely to happen with us. Basically, their run defense has not been tested at all yet. They have worrysome statistics, but I wonder how skewed they are by their circumstances.

Good F'n point

[falconidae]

Saints have faced a NFL rookie QB in his very first game and quite possibly the worst back-up QB in the league. Good wins, don't know that it shows an improved D just yet.

[ugafan3287]

what are our weak links in our return coverage?

[-DirtyBird-]

The Saints defense ranks 26th in points allowed, 14 against the pass, and 3rd against the run. Now the thing to think about is that they faced the Lions in week one and the Eagles with a third string QB.

They jumped out to big leads in both games and forced both of their opponents to abandon their running games early. That's not as likely to happen with us. Basically, their run defense has not been tested at all yet. They have worrysome statistics, but I wonder how skewed they are by their circumstances.

My thoughts exactly.

Gameplan starts with clock control... Brees can't throw TD passes from the bench. As far as New England, I think the game is very winnable. Brady just doesn't look good right now. The Pats are lucky to be 1-1 when in reality they should be 0-2.

[falconfoozball]

Our Defense is good enough to protect a nearly 2-1 scoring advantage, despite weak links in the return coverage. Also, they seem to have a knack for generating turnovers. Sleep on our D if it gives you peace of mind, though. We haven't allowed a 100 yard rusher yet, so the more you put it in the air the more you play our game.

Just sayin'.

lol @ your sig... That Pantie musta said something to incite that action.

[theonenotthe2]

The Saints defense ranks 26th in points allowed, 14 against the pass, and 3rd against the run. Now the thing to think about is that they faced the Lions in week one and the Eagles with a third string QB.

They jumped out to big leads in both games and forced both of their opponents to abandon their running games early. That's not as likely to happen with us. Basically, their run defense has not been tested at all yet. They have worrysome statistics, but I wonder how skewed they are by their circumstances.

Hmm, skewed stats. Let's have a discussion on skewed stats. First, it amazes me how there's a discussion taking place here about the ineffectiveness of the Saints defense as if the Falcons defense has lit the world on fire. Last time I checked, the Saints have given up a total of 694 yards of offense while the Falcons have surrendered 712 yards of offense. Seems about the same to me. An offense that looked anaemic last week managed 440 yards against the Falcons. Oh, but the Saints played the Lions last week. Yes, and gave up 231 yards. That same Lions team had 265 yards today against what is suppose to be one of the best defenses in the league--the Vikings.

Second, the Saints have given up 49 points. Very true. But in your own message, you mentioned skewed stats. Well, here it goes. The Lions scored 27 points. One came off a defensive touchdown. 20 points to go. Another touchdown came after a punt return of 43 yards inside the Saints 10. 13 points to go. 3 pionts came off an 87 yard kick return. Only 10 points came from sustained drives by the Lions. Credit the Lions for capitalizing off dumb special teams mistakes. However, the defense held them in check and forced three turnovers on the day. Also, there were times where the defense stopped the Lions only to have a penalty called that gave the Lions a new set of downs. Then, you get an obvious fumbled overturn because the forward progression of the Kevin Smith was ruled down even though no whistle had been blown.

Third, the Saints gave up 391 yards to Kevin Kolb, the Eagles third string QB. Correction Falcon fans, he's their backup QB. But that's neither here nor there. Talk about skewed stats. The guy threw the ball 51 times today. Everyone here should know that when a team is down big in a game, the opponent will play a deep zone in order to prevent any quick big plays over the top. Basically a prevent defense. Inevitably, limiting the big plays over the top that could lead to quick scores and a chance for the team that is down large to get back into the game will allow for that team to complete a lot of stuff underneath. About 180 to 200 of Kolb's yards came in the late third/fourth quarter when the Eagles were down and the Saints were allowing them to complete passes underneath. Otherwise, the Saints defense had one of the better offenses in the league in check. You can say it was Kolb, but he had a week to prepare. It is not as though he was just thrust into action. I was only upset with one play today and that was the blown coverage by Roman Harper. He took the TE inside and Desean Jackson was able to find the soft spot of the defense. Furthermore, if I am not mistaken, the Falcons were playing against Jake Delhomme today. He's hardly a prolific passer. Yet his career sort of rebounded today as he was able to throw for 308 yards in a game where the Falcons were not up so big that his yards came in garbage time.

The Saints defense has FORCED seven turnovers. 3 last week, 4 today. When your defense is playing opportunistic football, and your offense is capable of scoring 40 to 50 points against any defense, then you are going to win a lot of football games.

Finally, the stats of the run defense could be skewed. When you're up big, it is difficult for the other team to run the football at that point. You're right about. Of course, you must then acknolwedge how much easier it is for them to gain yards throw the air by throwing it so much. That said, let me say this about the run defense. A good way to guage a team's run defense is to look at the average ypc given up. Last week, the Saints gave up 1.7 yards per rush. That's pretty d**m outstanding. This week, they gave up an average of 4 ypc though most of the yards came on the Eagles running gimmicky plays. But holding the Eagles to 4 ypc is still pretty solid considering they were able to rush for 185 yards against the Panthers last week. That same Panthers averaged 5.8 yards against your defense so I would not be very careful in my criticisms if I were you.

Your team is 2-0. I give them credit for winning because in this league, there's such a small margin for error, which can make the difference in determining the winner and loser of each game. It's always a few plays here and there, and that's true even in games where there are blowouts. That said, my team is also 2-0 and coming off a huge win in a hostile environment against a team whose defense was ranked #1 after the first week and is suppose to be one of the best. Slight them if you want, believe the defense is still terrible and then we can discuss it each time after the team plays. The Falcons have a very solid coachng staff so I know they want overlook the Saints defense, choosing to embellish some stats while playing the skew game on others. Have a great day! Enjoy your team's victory.