Falcons Week 9 Preview

The winless Colts are up next on the schedule and although it should be an easy game, we all saw what happened to the Saints last weekend in the largest upset of season, when they got beat by the also winless at the time Rams. It can happen any week in the NFL, any team can beat any other team. Every player is big, fast, and strong and has made it to this level for a reason. If you take anybody for granted and don’t bring your A game, then you are going to get beat. This game although it looks like a no brainer win and not much to worry about is actually very critical. These are the games that you have to win. A loss in this game would be a major set back and a possible play off run killing loss. That’s why an excellent head coach like Mike Smith will not take any game lightly.

Well here we go out of the bye and in it for the long haul. Nine straight weeks of Falcons football with no breaks. With not only the NFC South in a bottle necked tight race, but the entire NFC really, it is going to be an exiting second half of the season. The Falcons after getting off to such a rocky start are right back in the thick of it with a 4-3 record and looking to put together a nice little 3 game win streak by the time this weekend is over.

Offensive Game Plan:

The biggest thing that the Falcons need to do to take a W back home from Indy is get off to a fast start. Like I said just because the Colts are winless doesn’t mean they are a bad team. What it does mean though, is that they are not a confident team. That being the case, the first few drives are extremely important. Long drives and points to start can really break their will early in the game.

The start of the season has shown that in order for this offense to run efficiently, Micheal Turner has got to get his carries. 20-25 are the numbers he needs and that usually creates some great opportunities for Matty-ice to use the play action. The run getting kicked off well will also help slow down the Colts stellar pass rush. Freeney and Mathis have not put up the numbers that you would expect this year, but they are definitely capable of getting to the QB. With the injury to Falcons LT Sam Baker, slowing the pass rush will be even more important to help his replacement Will Svytech out in protection some. Having Julio Jones back will be very nice for Ryan. Prior to the injury he was able to a nice job of spreading the ball out between the deep receiving core and that really helps get Roddy White out of the double coverages that defenses love to throw at him. The Colts defense is ranked the bottom of the league in most major categories, so this should be a good game for the Falcons offense to show what they are capable of. Look for them to put a least 30 points on the board this weekend.

Defensive Game Plan:

As far as the defense goes, we need much of the same intensity that they played with against Detroit. Indy is going to be fairly similar to what we faced against the Lions. They have a good pass game (even with Peyton out), a poor run game and an offensive line that can be beaten fairly easy by a good blitz scheme. I know that Peyton is out and Curtis Painter is just a serviceable at best back up, but Painter still knows the offense well and has the arm to make all the throws. So the pass rush cannot get lazy. They have got to get some good shots on Painter early and attempt to give him happy feet and not trust his line. The Colts have a ton of weapons in their receiving core, so our defensive backs will have their work cut out for them. With the addition of Kelvin Hayden though it seems to have really helped sure things up.

Over all it looks like the Falcons over match the Colts just about across the board. As long as they stick to the fundamentals and don’t draw too many penalties then the Falcons D should be able to shut down the Curtis Painter lead Colts. I’m calling for them to keep Indy to a 17 point max.

This should be that first complete game of the season and I truly believe that Micheal Turner will be the key player in this game. Do you agree or do you think someone else will be the player of the game? If so who and why?