Falcons vs Panthers – Five Players That Need To Step It Up

Heading into this weekend there are a few Falcons players that will need perform well for the Falcons to be victorious. Here are five Falcons that will be crucial in deciding the fate of the Falcons – Panthers encounter on Sunday afternoon.

• QB Matt Ryan – Matty has struggle at times this season especially throwing the ball deep. That is due to a multitude of factors, Play Calling, Scheme, Poor accuracy on deep throws and a lack of separation from the receivers.  For the Falcons to win, we need Matty Ice to look after the football, make good reads and turn long drives into points.

• WR Harry Douglass – With Julio out injured, the onus will be on Douglass to show up and get some catches out of the slot. The preseason favourite to have a break out year, has yet to show that he can live up to the hype. He will get an opportunity to do so on Sunday.
• WR Kerry Meier – Now that the big physical threat in Julio Jones is out, Meier must fill that role to some degree on Sunday. When he was first drafted, we all expected him to take the Brian Finneran role in the offense. As of right now, there hasn’t seemed to be that role at all in this year’s offense. I think the Falcons want to use more 3 or 4 WR sets, which means Meier may have a chance to catch a few balls on Sunday.
• FS Thomas Decoud – Now that Decoud seems entrenched as the starter for now at Free Safety, I would like to see him play slightly better in coverage. It seems all too often that a receiver makes a catch around his zone and then Thomas has to make chase after the catch. To do so he just needs to sharpen up his positioning when in the deep coverage.
• CB Dunta Robinson – Dunta so far this season, has been a pretty big disappointment, especially when you compare his play to other starting corner Brent Grimes, who was been great. I think Robinson just needs to react a bit quicker and play a bit quicker, he’s capable of it, he just needs to continue to improve week by week. Remember he had an injury during the preseason, that still could be hampering him.