Matthew Judon ready to feast in Falcons debut after latest Steelers injury news

Matthew Judon has made a living in the NFL when it comes to getting the quarterback on the ground. The new Falcons defender has tallied 66.5 sacks over his eight seasons, 32 of which have come in his past three seasons.

Meanwhile, one of the NFL's most sacked quarterbacks will take the calls for the opposing Pittsburgh Steelers. With Russell Wilson's calf injury, Justin Fields will take the field as a player who likes to hold onto the ball for too long. For Judon, that is gold as he will have plenty of time to beat his blocker and dominate in his first game in Atlanta.

Matthew Judon gets favorable matchup in first game with Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons main goal in Sunday's contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers should be stopping Arthur Smith's ground attack. If they can do that then they can unleash a hungry Matthew Judon on a suspect offensive line and two quarterbacks who love to hold to ball.

Judon's goal will be to beat offensive tackles Broderick Jones and Dan Moore Jr., two tackles who were far from elite last season. The rookie, Jones, allowed nearly 30 pressures in 11 starts while Moore allowed a pressure rate that ranked in the bottom ten among 2023's qualified starters.

Things don't improve for Pittsburgh when you move to the quarterback position. The two guys they brought in have been infamous for taking sacks. Russell Wilson has been sacked 166 times since 2021 while Fields has been sacked 135 times.

While Wilson might be the easier QB to get to, Fields is the one you can take advantage of. The younger passer is always looking to make those 'wow' plays, rather than play within the timing of the offense.

As you have likely heard by now, Russell Wilson was announced as the starter but news has broken about him potentially missing his debut with his new team due to calf tightness. It sounds like Fields will be the guy for the Steelers giving Atlanta's new toy plenty of time to count up the sacks.

Even if the de-facto starter does play, he will be less eager to get out of the pocket with his compromised calf. Needless to say, no matter what the QB decision ends up being for Mike Tomlin, Judon will have a once-in-a-lifetime performance wearing red and black for the first time.