Three match-ups the Atlanta Falcons have to win Sunday against the Colts
The Atlanta Falcons get a little reprieve this Sunday as they take on the Indianapolis Colts in Lucas Oil Stadium. The Falcons have to be ready to play, but the Colts will be without all-pro linebacker Darius Leonard.
The first two weeks of the season, the Atlanta Falcons had to face arguably two of the best defenses the National Football League has to offer in the Vikings and Eagles. While the Colts have some talent on the defensive side of the ball, they are not loaded like the Falcons first two opponents.
The Colts being without former defensive rookie of the year, Darius Leonard is a big break for the Falcons as well. Leonard plays with a chip on his shoulder and has made opposing offenses pay for that chip week after week.
The Colts offense is another story.
Sure, former all-world quarterback Andrew Luck abruptly retired just before the start of the season, but former Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett has stepped in nicely and thrown for five touchdowns, just one interception and is completing nearly 70 percent of his passes.
Here are three matchups that the Falcons have to win Sunday in order to beat the Colts.
Quenton Nelson vs Allen Bailey/Tyeler Davison
Quenton Nelson is easily the best guard in the NFL and unfortunately, we will not get a chance to see him and Grady Jarrett go at it on Sunday as Grady is used on the left side of Atlanta Falcons defensive line and Nelson is the Colts left guard.
Instead, Allen Bailey and Tyeler Davison will have the pleasure of facing off against Nelson, whom the Colts love to run behind. Both Davison and Bailey are going to have to bring their lunch pails on Sunday afternoon.
T.Y.Hilton versus Isaiah Oliver
Conventional wisdom is that the Atlanta Falcons will have Desmond Trufant cover the Colts best wide receiver, T.Y. Hilton. However, the Falcons tend to run a lot of zone and the Colts will make sure that Hilton is matched up with Oliver instead of Trufant.
Blogging Dirty stated several times that Oliver would be the most test corner in the NFL and was going to have to put his big boy pants on if he was going to be able to handle the on slot of balls that quarterbacks throw in his direction.
Last week against the Eagles, Isaiah Oliver played all 81 snaps, had two pass breakups and five tackles. IT could have been a lot worse for the second year corner, but he got a lot of help from the defensive line. Nelson Agholor beat Oliver several times last week and Carson Wentz was simply unable to get him the ball.
The Colts and Brissett will take advantage of this matchup every time they get it Sunday; Oliver has to be ready for this.
Matt Eberflus versus Dirk Koetter
The Colts defensive coordinator against the Falcons offensive coordinator. Koetter was much better last week in his game plan than he was week 1 against the Vikings. He was more creative and allowed Matt Ryan to spread the ball and took deep shots to open up the offense.
Eberflus is going to be without his best defender and Koetter has to be ready to take advantage of that. Just like the Colts will try and match Hilton up on Oliver, Koetter has to get the matchups with Devonta Freeman and Ito Smith on E.J. Speed, Anthony Walker, and Matthew Adams.
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If Koetter can exploit those matchups and get his running’s backs going, that will give Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley more field to work with as the Colts will have to choose who they can double and who cannot for fear of giving up big plays to the Falcons running backs, who are both more than capable of big games.