Atlanta Falcons vs. Arizona Cardinals: 3 X-Factors for the Falcons

1. David Johnson

David Johnson is a beast, simply put. For one, I have him on my fantasy football team so I’m a fan every game against a team not named the Falcons and can attest to his dominance. He consistently outscores everyone in my line-up by substantial margins, putting up astounding numbers each week, regardless of the opponent. The Falcons must limit his production this weekend and keep him from dominating as usual. He will put up his numbers, but the Falcon’s must control him enough to the point where he isn’t allowing the Card’s offense to move fluently up and down the field for 60 minutes. It’s a conflict of interests but I will definitely take a Falcon’s win over a fantasy loss any day. Sorry, David Johnson and fantasy points. We’ll be back to good terms next week.

Carson Palmer and the Cardinals offense has had their struggles, yet David Johnson has been the diamond in the rough for the offense which hasn’t been looking as dominant as their potential foretells. He has 863 rushing yards and 510 receiving yards on the season and has to be accounted for on all areas of the field, especially the read zone, hence his 12 touchdowns. He can do it all. He can run and block exceptionally well but what makes him most dangerous is his ability to line up as a wide-receiver.

That play made me happy last week but probably won’t make me happy to see this week. Okay maybe one won’t hurt but only if that’s the Cardinal’s only touchdown. It’s apparent I want my cake and eat it too.

We are familiar with running backs being able to catch the ball like wide-receivers exceptionally well. Just look at Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman. I always think how difficult it would be to defend these two if they lined up on the opposite side of our defensive line. Welp, this week we’ll will see it first hand as their clone will do just that.

The Falcons have struggled against pass catching running backs but I think they will be more prepared this week having two weeks of preparation. Again, they don’t have to completely lock him down because that seems to be impossible. As long as we tackle and limit the short passes to him, we should be fine as again, at times it has looked as if he is the only consistency in the Card’s offense.  The Falcons simply just have to limit him from invigorating life into the Card’s offense and maybe just allow him to get at least 10 points for my fantasy team as opposed to the 20 points he averages. I’ll sacrifice those 10 points for a Falcon’s win.