Entries Tagged 'Game Preview' ↓

By: T. Love

Here we go again. Another chapter in this “epic” battle between the All-Pro receiver Steve Smith and pro-bowler Deangelo Hall. Smith brings his hard-nosed, never quit play to the field while Hall brings his nonstop mouth and average cover abilities.

Time for D. Hall to put up and shut up. If you remember my post, Pro-Bowl Talker, I am expecting big things from Hall this year and the team needs him tremendously to step up to a leadership role. I’m also just sick of hearing him talk.

Smith will be No. 21’s first test of the season and since 2005, Smith’s return after missing 15 games with an ankle injury, the former Utah Ute has not had a lot of opportunities versus the Falcons. In 2005, when Smith shared honors with New England Patriot Teddy Bruschi for Comeback Player of the Year (which was complete bullshit because Smith should have one the award outright), he caught 16 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns in two games versus the Falcons.

In 2006, Smith missed the season opener with a hamstring injury. In the second contest he was held to no catches with Jake Delhomme out and Carolina refusing to throw the ball with Chris Weinke under center. Somehow, Mora and company managed to lose the game.

This season, Smith leads the NFL in receiving touchdowns with four, third in yards with 271 and tied for sixth in receptions with 15.

The Falcons secondary has not been tested this season with the likes of Tavarious Jackson and David Garrard scanning the secondary, but Carolina likes to get the ball in Smith’s hands early and often.

D. Hall needs to bring his “A” game and start making his case for Honolulu. Hall has one pick on the year and I bet he takes a chance this week. Hopefully, Jimmy Williams and Chris Crocker will be able to back him up (unlike years past with the likes of Bryan Scott) in case he guesses wrong.

Key matchup to watch this week.

By: T. Love

In the final preseason game of the 2007-08 season, the Atlanta Falcons will welcome the Baltimore Ravens to the Georgia Dome as it team will get a final look at players on the bubble before the rosters need to be trimmed to the mandatory 53 players before 4 p.m. on Sept. 1.

Falcons head coach Bobby Petrino, who is probably kicking himself after watching Brian Brohm light up the scoreboard last night, has already indicated that the starters/veterans will sit tonight. None of the players on the Falcons roster are that good and they should all play some, but Petrino knows what is best. Besides, in 2003 when the Ravens came to town for a preseason contest, it was not pretty.

Free safety Jimmy Williams will probably play a majority of the game tonight since he still needs plenty of work at the position and Chris Crocker is out with a bone bruise. Williams looked a little better last week versus the Cincinnati Bengals, but he is still slow in diagnosing plays.

Rookie strong safety Daren Stone from Maine should get the start for Lawyer Milloy and this could be a preview of next season’s safety tandem since Milloy is coming to the end of his rope. Is it too early to speculate about next season?

Tonight’s game will be real vanilla and boring, but it is all about players getting better. I don’t know how much of the game I will actually be able to handle and the fact that college football is on tomorrow, will make me want to just wait.

Be sure to check out this weekend’s post for a breakdown of the 53-man roster.

Good luck to the alma mater, the defending back-to-back National Champion Appalachian State Mountaineers who head to the “Big House” tomorrow to take on the Michigan Wolverines.

By: T. Love

“Ocho-Cinco” comes to the Georgia Dome on Monday when the Atlanta host the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football. I’ll be honest, I am pretty damn excited that football is back on and this “Ookie” bullshit has gotten completely old.

The Atlanta starters will play into the third quarter so that will make the game somewhat entertaining to watch. This game will also give an indication of who will start on Sept. 9 in Minnesota.

Here are a couple of things to watch for.

Dunn back in the starting role
This guy just doesn’t give up. 11-year veteran Warrick Dunn will get the start after missing the first two games for surgery on a herniated disc. This will be the first time to see Dunn in the offense and there will be a new batch of plays use since Dunn has the ability to get between the tackles or bounce a play outside. The 1-2-3 punch of Dunn, Jerious Norwood and Jason Snelling needs to chew up at least 75 yards of rushing in the first half.

Demorrio Williams
OLB D. Williams makes his season debut, but he will have to earn his spot back as rookie Stephen Nicholas will open with the first unit. Williams tore a pectoral muscle during the offseason and was just cleared for practice. Williams signed a one-year tender in March and his battle with Nicholas for time on the field will give clarity D-Mo’s future with the team.

Joey Harrington
Get into a rhythm. Manage the game, throw the ball further than 10 yards and get a TD. Thank you.

Halftime Adjustments
For the past three years, we have watched our team go into halftime, whether winning or losing, and not make any adjustments in the second half. Since the starters are scheduled to play into the second half, Petrino will call as close to an actual game as possible and should work on adjustments. Will he attack weaknesses shown in the first?

By: T. Love

Our Atlanta Falcons hit the field for the second time in the Bobby Petrino era as the team heads to Buffalo to take on the Bills tonight. This is the first meeting between the two teams since 2005 when the Falcons took a 24-16 victory. We get a chance to see some old faces as well with Peerless “I Hate Y’all” Price and Jason “Toast” Webster suiting up for the home team.

The Falcons gave us a small taste of what the “power spread” offense will look like. Hopefully Coach Petrino installed a few more plays for Joey Harrington and the O to run and the defense will give a couple of different looks. The starters on both sides of the ball are expected to play into the second quarter so here is what I will be looking for in tonight’s game.

Jason Snelling totin’ the mail
It is still unknown at this time if running back Jerious Norwood will be able to go tonight after suffering from cramps earlier in the week and Warrick Dunn is still not game ready at this point, so rookie Jason Snelling gets the start for the Falcons in the backfield. Snelling was a load last week picking up 48 carries on 10 attempts. He is a strong runner between the tackles, but lets see if he can bounce outside and his pass blocking ability. Impressive last week, now it’s about continuity.

Joey Harrington
Joey did not look too bad in his first showing completing six of nine passes for 88 yards. He struggled big time on the deep ball. Quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave hopefully helped Harrington with his timing so he can do better on those routes this week. Will Petrino even call for shots down the field since it isn’t one of Harrington’s strengths?

D.J. Shockley
You embarrassed me last week. I wrote a long post about how you deserve a shot. I’m eating crow right now so pick it up.

Stop the run
The Falcons front line gave up 146 rushing yards to the Jets last Friday. Granted Rod Coleman is out still rehabbing his thigh injury and big Grady Jackson, who led the league in tackles for loss a season ago, were out but these guys are older players anyways. They are going to need breaks during games. The young guys have got to step it up and hold the point of attack. Football is won in the trenches!

Former Falcons
I want to see plenty of shots taken downfield against Jason Webster. I use to hate watching him play D, but I bet it is real funny when he is not on your team. Also, jam Peerless at the line. If he makes more than two grabs I’ll be ticked.

Jimmy Williams
Just try and be somewhere around the ball tonight.

By: T. Love

With second-year man Jerious Norwood suffering from extreme cramps and veteran Warrick Dunn still not up to game speed after having surgery on a herniated disc prior to training camp, rookie Jason Snelling will get the call at running back for the Falcons when the team heads to Buffalo for its second preseason game on Friday night.

Selected in the seventh round out of Virginia, Snelling was drafted to be a short-yardage back that could run behind fullback Ovie Mughelli and a quasi-beefed up line. As we have learned by now, Bobby Petrino’s offense calls for a big powerful running back and neither Norwood or Dunn fit the bill. Anyone else wish we would have held on to T.J. Duckett?

During his collegiate career, he took a medical redshirt as a sophomore and also missed a couple of games due to his battle with epilepsy. Now that the situation is under control, he appears ready to earn his keep on the professional level.

Snelling was impressive in his first NFL action when he racked up 48 yards on 10 carries to lead all Falcons’ rushers. He also caught three balls out of the backfield for twelve yards. When given a chance to play last Friday, he showed that he could be more than a short yardage back and has a little speed once he gets to the second level.

With the starters scheduled to go into the second half of tomorrow’s game, Snelling needs to continue to run hard between the tackles, show the ability to bounce a play outside and be able to help in pass protection. Those three things should secure a roster spot and keep the Falcons deep at running back.

It is unknown at this time if Norwood will be able to go on Friday, but if not, journeyman Arlen Harris who played with the Lions last year will get a chance to show his stuff.

By: T. Love

It is finally here. After days, weeks and months of agonizing it is finally football season again. I can’t believe it, but it is finally here. Our Atlanta Falcons are heading up to the Meadowlands to take on the New York Jets in the preseason opener for both teams.

I’ll admit that my enthusiasm is not where it could be, largely because No. 7 is chillin’ back in Virginia. Oh well, got to move on. Here are some of things I will be looking for in Friday night’s game.

Pass Rush
The play calling on defense will probably be as vanilla as it can be, so I want to see how much pressure the defensive line can get on the quarterback. The Falcons finished 14th in the league with 37 sacks; however, the team needs to get more pressure to help out the secondary which gave up 229.2 (29th) yards per game a year ago.

Jerious Between the Tackles
With Warrick Dunn out since an operation on a herniated disc, second-year man Jerious Norwood has taken all the reps with the first-team offense during camp. Last season, Norwood rushed for 633 yards on 99 carries as a compliment to Dunn. If Norwood can excel running between the tackles AND improve his pass blocking, then Dunn might have a hard time getting back on the field when he is healthy. Let’s keep rooting for Jerious.

Tight End Play
With Alge Crumpler sidelined with continued knee problems, we will need someone to step up at the tight end position. Daniel Fells and Martrez Milner appear to be battling for the No. 2 position. Crumpler will catch balls when he returns and we all know that, I want to see someone that can block. With our weak offensive line, we need all the pass protection we can get.

Free Safety Battle
Chris Crocker vs. Jimmy Williams. Who wants it? Crocker gave up a ton of deep balls last season, but he is ahead of Williams on the depth chart still. Williams has all the physical tools, but something isn’t right upstairs. Is it too early to start calling this guy a bust?

Receivers
Please don’t make me curse at the TV during a preseason game. Seriously.

Bobby Petrino
How does Coach Petrino manage the game, how long do the starters play, play selection. New coach, new schemes, some new personnel. Lets see what this guy has got.