Why the Atlanta Falcons will beat the Philadelphia Eagles
The Atlanta Falcons have been through a lot of ups and downs over the course of the last two years, but it’s a new culture, and with that brings great promise.
The Falcons will have to watch the rest of the NFL play before they can kickoff on the biggest stage, Monday night football against the Philadelphia Eagles. This is very saddening because we are all ready to watch our team play, but the extra day off will come as a good thing.
The Falcons are still dealing with some injuries including left tackle Jake Matthews, running back Devonta Freeman and return specialist Devin Hester. If the game were to kick off on Sunday afternoon, these three may not be able to play, but a Monday night kick off will hopefully allow these three key players to lace up their cleats and get out on the field.
Why will the Falcons beat the Eagles you ask? Because we’re in better position to win. Does that mean we have the overall better team? No, but are we primed to win? Absolutely. Here’s why.
Regardless of how Eagles’ quarterback Sam Bradford has played during the preseason, there will always be question marks surrounding his health. And on top of that, Bradford doesn’t have a ton of weapons around him. When it comes to wide receiving corps, the Falcons have the Eagles dominated.
The biggest question mark surrounding the Eagles in 2015 is how will the offense perform? New (injury rattled) quarterback, a running back who is injury prone himself and not a ton of talent at wide receiver. Your argument back may be something along the lines of this.
“Well, we have DeMarco Murray and he led the league in rushing in 2014 with the Dallas Cowboys,” Said Jimmy Newtron.
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Yeah you do, but is the Eagles’ offensive line as good as the Cowboys? The answer is no because nobody has a better line than the Cowboys. The Eagles have major issues at their guard positions. Left guard Allen Barbre and right guard Matt Tobin/Andrew Gardner aren’t very good.
Last time I checked, having good guards are what makes the running game come to life while the tackles keep your quarterback upright. The Eagles have that, but not men who can create the amount of running lanes that the Cowboys can.
So, will Murray have a repeat year? Not a chance in… So, what do the Falcons need to do to stop the Eagles’ offense? Clog the holes with Ra’shede Hageman, Paul Soliai and shut down wide receiver Jordan Matthews. Who will do this? None other than Desmond Trufant.
if the Falcons’ defense can hold Murray to 100 yards or fewer and force Bradford to throw the ball, the Falcons will win. This will allow guys like Vic Beasley and Adrian Clayborn to apply pressure to Bradford which could lead to all sorts of bad stuff for Philadelphia.
Okay so that’s what we have to do on defense. What about offense? Our offensive line has to give Matt Ryan time to throw the ball. If they can do that, Ryan will pick apart the Eagles’ secondary with throws to Julio Jones, Roddy White, Leonard Hankerson, Justin Hardy and Jacob Tamme.
The offense will also need to convert third downs. If the team can score touchdowns in the red zone rather than field goals then we will win. Which ever team scores more points in the red zone will win this game. Which would also mean whoever wins the third down battle will win this game.
This should be a very fun game to watch. It is Falcons’ head coach Dan Quinn’s first game, it’s Monday night football and it’s at the Georgia Dome. What more could ask for? If you still aren’t sure what to look for in the game, check out my five key’s to win.