After narrowly falling short in their comeback against the Green Bay Packers, the Atlanta Falcons now hold the NFC South division at 5-8. But what have we learned about the current leaders of the NFC South from the game against the Green Bay Packers?
Matt Ryan finally has a fit and firing Julio Jones at his disposal, a weapon which should be feared by opposing defenses. Jones now leads the NFL in receiving yards this season with 1,428, 53 yards above Steelers receiver Antonio Brown. The Falcons receiver broke a franchise record last Monday night with 259 receiving yards, leaving the Packers for dead with a touchdown to cap off an amazing night. This 200 plus night follows after torching the self-proclaimed best cornerback in the league Patrick Peterson for 189 yards and a touchdown which aided the Falcons to victory. Julio has struggled with fitness this season and even went on a streak without scoring, but that streak is firmly behind him with three touchdowns in three games. It has never been doubted that Julio can be in the top bracket of receivers when fit whether he is the best like Mike Smith claimed is another debate, but he is for certain a wide receiver alongside the likes of Megatron. The Falcons have three shootouts coming, it is vital that Julio steps up and is counted.
Matt Ryan is hitting form at the best time. The reality is that Ryan is an extremely talented quarterback put in awful positions by a defense that hands out points on a regular basis. Yes he isn’t in the Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, or Aaron Rodgers bracket, but no one has put him in that bracket. But very rarely do those quarterbacks have to win shootouts every single week of a season, because their defense can’t win a game. Many of Ryan’s interceptions are via forced situations which in returns makes him try and force plays when they just aren’t there. When the Falcons defense was just about a good quality, the NFC Championship defeat season two years ago, we saw a Ryan who was intelligent and made plays with fewer interceptions. But the last two seasons his interceptions appear worse than he is. Against Green Bay he forced one bad pass which was picked off but for the rest of the evening he ran the 30 point comeback of the Atlanta Falcons with over 350 yards and three touchdowns. He is finally back to near his best and this is the perfect for him to reach his best, he has to lead his side into three must win games and without a running game Ryan must like Jones step up.
The Falcon’s running backs are capable of making the odd play but they are not reliable enough to aid the offense. Jackson was his usual self not making many big plays but consistently making two to three yards a play. He did get over 50 yards rushing and a touchdown against the Packers so he still has some value to the side. Rodgers in the absence of Antone Smith was required to make the bigger plays and one key play he did make was converting on 2nd and 12, but bar that his role in the game was very little. Freeman made even less of an impact having one rushing attempt for a loss. The Falcons running game has been below par for a long time now and they need to address this in the coming off-season regardless of whether the Falcons do indeed go to the playoffs the running games has to be improved if the Falcons are to have any chance of improving as a team. It does appear likely that Jackson will leave at the end of the year meaning Freeman will have to step up as the number one, or the Falcons draft another running back.
The Atlanta Falcons pass rushing is one of the worse in the league. Kroy Biermann sacked Aaron Rodgers on Monday night, the only Falcons sack of the night, to become the Falcons top sack machine this season. With three. Just three sacks after 14 weeks is enough to become the top of the sack list at the Falcons, this in itself says everything. The Falcons need a pass rusher if not two. Kroy Biermann is a decent pass rusher and Hageman is a big rookie developing into a good pass rusher. So what they really need is one more prolific outside pass rusher, at one point during Monday Night Football Aaron Rodgers had nine seconds untouched in the pocket and under no pressure to make a play. A pass rusher is a must for the Falcons franchise.
The playoffs are in the Falcons hands but as their record would suggest they’re far from a very good team.
