Falcons vs Lions – Five Falcons That Need To Perform

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 – Lions encounter on Sunday afternoon.

• CB Brent Grimes – “Grimetime” will for sure be covering Calvin Johnson for at least some of Sunday’s game. This puts an incredible amount of pressure on B Grimes and the rest of the secondary to stop the NFL’s hottest receiver. This matchup does not favour Grimes in the slightest, but the Falcons need him to play above and beyond his usual level to compete and slow down Calvin Johnson.

Follow the Jump to see who else must perform for the Falcons…

• T Tyson Clabo – His play has come on in recent weeks, but is still not playing close to his level of performance last season. This week he faces Lions DE Cliff Avril, who has a quick first step and should cause Clabo some issues. Clabo is not one of the quickest tackles out of his stance and will need to be quicker, in order to protect Matt Ryan.
• QB Matt Ryan – Although I expect a heavy dose of the run, i think Matt will get plenty of opportunities to fling the ball around on Sunday. With the Lions daunting pass rush coming at him, he will need to be on form with his quick timing routes.
• LB Sean Weatherspoon – Spoon has been a revelation this season, and is fully living up to his first round pick status. This week he will be responsible for covering TE Brandon Pettigrew in passing situations. Pettigrew, should be familiar to Falcons fans as before the 2009 draft, his name was pencilled in as the Falcons pick, before the Falcons traded for Tony Gonzalez. Pettigrew has performed well last week while being covered by arguably the best linebacker in the NFL Patrick Willis. Spoon will have to be on his game again this week.
• DE John Abraham – Abraham has been banged up in recent weeks, but I would like to see him get back to his former self. He should have a good matchup this week against Lions LT Jeff Backus and should be able to pressure former UGA QB Matthew Stafford.