3 New Orleans Saints the Falcons must slow down in week one
By Nick Halden
2. Cameron Jordan
Jordan’s days of haunting Matt Ryan are finally over for the former Atlanta quarterback. Matt Ryan helped Jordan’s career with the edge rusher routinely beating his would-be blocker to sack Ryan with regularity. While Marcus Mariota might not be as easy to chase down the Falcons are still going to have to do a better job against Jordan than they have over the last few seasons. The offensive line must find a way to buy more time for Mariota and not allow Jordan to be the game wrecker he has been.
From Atlanta’s perspective, Jordan is the ultimate villain leaning into the rivalry and consistently talking about sacking Ryan or Atlanta’s failures. As annoying as it might be for Atlanta fans you can’t help but respect Jordan’s ability and the fun he has leaning into the rivalry.
He is a player teams would love to have on their roster and hate to play against. His consistent effort and motor wears down an offensive line throughout the game earning him the ability to get more and more pressure.
Far too often Atlanta has allowed this to happen and Jordan makes a game-changing play in this rivalry. If the Falcons want to pull the upset they have to find a way to consistently stop a player who would love nothing more than to wreak havoc for the new Atlanta quarterback.