Can We Beat The Giants?

The key to this game will be our offensive line keeping the Giants front four in check.

We don’t play very well on the road, so we will need to limit mistakes and keep Matt comfortable on the offensive side of the ball. Get Turner going and not abandon the running game early.

On the defensive side, we will need to shut down their running game forcing Eli to make plays and get the heck off the field on third down.

… THE ZONE/PREVENT defense BVG runs all game long is the biggest concern going into this game. BVG will have to adjust his gameplan to have any chance. Fall behind early and we are toast. If the Giants get a lead the pass rush will be unstoppable. Keep it close and the Falcons running game should at least slow down the pass rush.

I felt more comfortable about this matchup then the cowboys matchup. The Giants strength on defense is their DEs. We’ve played some good ones this year already, and had to deal with an abusive Eagles line. They are weak at LB and DB. Lastly, they are inconsistent, and caught a lucky break here at the end of the season playing the Jets who have imploded, and the biggest choke artist of them all, Romo. They were abused by the Redskins and Rex Grossman, 3 weeks ago at home.

On offense, there running game is a shadow of what it used to be. And outside of Victor Cruz, who I might add drops A LOT of passes, they don’t have any playmakers. Eli is a good quarterback, but prone to making bone head throws, and having his receivers drop passes into the DBs hands.

If we come out, smack them in the mouth and play the way we did in the first half yesterday, the game next week will be over by half time as well.

All the Falcons have to do is play smart mistake free ball. I don’t think the Falcons have to play their best ball to beat the Giants, but they have to be good and clean. I’m most concerned about the line protecting Matt and the fricken weather.

play like we want it. If we do that, we got it. O-Line will have a battle and I think that their running game will do well for some reason? Problem with the giants is they are a streaky team. One game, they are great, the next, well, they look like the 1st half bucs yesterday. Of course, after every scoring series the giants have, it seems the announcers (hell, everyone in the media) is ready to proclaim them ready for the super bowl. Peaking and all that. I say, good luck to both teams and may the best team (us) win and without any injuries at all.

Even though it’s been improved down the stretch, their running game has been terrible this year. Not good news for cold-weather outdoor games. They have two decent receivers in Cruz (speed) and Nicks. Grimes matches up well with Cruz, who is under 6 feet tall. Expect William Moore to get involved in the tackles to try and rattle Cruz. Nicks is decent, but not nearly as explosive as Cruz – he reminds me of Michael Jenkins.

Eli has done a very good job of moving around in the pocket, though he is still sackable. He’s not as maneuverable as Rodgers or Brees, but he knows how to get around the pocket. Falcons will need to mix up the blitz – I like bringing Moore in personally – if they want to consistently put Eli on the ground.

Dallas got burned repeatedly due to their absolutely horrible secondary. They’re old and slow and play lots of man-on-man. BVG’s soft-zones will actually benefit us (if mixed in with some man assignments) and likely limit the big downfield throws that Eli likes to send in Cruz’s direction. Cruz will go across the middle a good bit, so look for Weatherspoon to try and rock him into next week.

Giants have a monster front four that scares me badly. Tuck, Pierre-Paul and Umenyiora are all beasts and will force the Falcons to think creatively about protection for Matt. Falcons will probably look to establish the run early, or get creative and use play-action early to try and take downfield shots. Giants D is incredibly banged up in the secondary. Their corners are ripe for the picking. If JJ can play like he has the past few games, he could put up monster numbers (so long as Matt has time to throw).

I think the Falcons will snag their first playoff victory of the Smith era with a 24-21 nail-biter.

Eli Manning is on fire right now. Plus the weather will be cold and awful, not like in the warm Georgia Dome. Final score: Giants 34, Falcons 20.

And conversely the Falcon’s ululating offensive line. The giants can’t gash the falcons d, but Eli will perform well enough to put up a mid-to-high 20s score line.

If svitek and hawley decide to trough for keeping MR2 safe, there’ll be all sorts of trouble downfield for waddling lobs. Jason Pierre Paul is one of the long-term scariest DEs in the game today, I’d be upset we didn’t manage to bag him in that draft – if we didn’t pounce Spoon.

In the first 7 games, the line gave up 18 sacks. Since the bye week (when some changes were made all around – Hawley to RG, Svitek to LT), they’ve given up 8 in 9 games and kept Ryan sack-free in four of those games. In fact, in those games, they only gave up more than one sack twice (3 against Carolina, 2 against the Vikings).

Keep in mind – that doesn’t speak to QB pressures or hits, which were still high compared to last year. But, it does appear adjustments that were made have been largely successful in keeping Ryan off of his back. It’s also showing in his passer rating: in the first seven games, Ryan had only one game with a passer rating over 100. In the last 9? He’s had 6.

If the O-line can hold up and give time for Matt to throw the ball, Falcons offense should be fine. The biggest problem on the defensive side is the DL, they must show up and not give lots of time for Eli Manning. In this league some receiver will get open if you give more than 4 or 5 seconds to the QB. Last but not the least Roddy should hold on to the balls.

especially offensively, our game plan is likely to remain the same. We run the same thing over and over and when it doesn’t work the coaches say, “We didn’t execute” After four seasons everybody in the league knows what we’re going to do and we have an “Take what they give you” attitude. It hasn’t worked in the playoffs so far.

I don’t find the Giants unbeatable at all. But make no mistake the pressure is on the Falcon coaching staff and especially Matt Ryan. Said it before that if we don’t win next season all we’ll hear is “Yeah sure but they can’t beat anybody good” or “Guys like Tony Romo and Matt Ryan can’t win a big game” The Falcons can beat the Giants. They can beat the Niners and they can beat either the Saints or Packers. Do I expect this to happen? No.

We just don’t come out with attitude and during the playoffs you gotta’ do that.

The advantage at QB is exponentially bigger than the Falcons advantage at RB. The Giants WR’s are slightly better than the Falcons. TE isn’t even close, TG is the best ever and still a force. Then you look at the Giants pass rush. Our top 3 DE’s are all top 7 caliber DE’s in the NFL. With JPP and a healthy Tuck both being top 4. After JA, who do the Falcons really have?? Ray Edwards isn’t as good as people thought he was. Then you look at the secondary. Webster is the best CB on both teams but your overall secondary is probably better. And maybe it’s just because I don’t get to see a lot of Atlanta but Grimes has never been confused with Revis so I highly doubt he can shut down Cruz or Nicks. This game will hinge on two things. The Giants pass rush and the Falcons running game. Which ever one of those has a better day will more than likely determine the outcome. Regardless, I expect one helluva game.

Now is this team to really show cohesion and really show everyone that they belong,because we all know we have the talent,maybe not the right coaching. Consistence is the key right now,every second,minute and play counts,there is no room for any more letdowns or mistakes, We have to play mistake free football,not 1 or 2 quarters but the whole game,something that we definitely have not done. I don’t
know about anyone else but I know that there isn’t a team out there that we can’t honestly play with the right coaching,and schemes,we have been to predictable,and everyone knows it.I miss the days of old,the gritz blitz,the year we first made it to the big dance,and I know we can do it again. We would have avenged the defeat by green bay earlier,if not for bad coaching decisions. We had then until the second half,Van Gorder and co fouled up,We need to have pizzazz,fire,quick strike ability and stop being conservative. We seriously lack that killer instinct as well,( continue to floor the accelerator when we have the lead. We need to not only rise up but stay up with the elite teams,New Orleans is not that much better than we are,I know this and I have faith that very soon this team will make it ,and win it all. It could be this year,it is not to late. “Remember, Any given Sunday.”Mark my word,but this team has to really want it,there is no tomorrow.

The giants pass rush can be dominant like we saw against the cowboys last night. But at other times it can seem like JPP is the only player trying to play on their whole defense. We need to control their rush and we should be fine on O. We need to create pressure with our pass rush and force Eli to make some mistakes.

The team that most predicted to make a run this year,and take the championship. We are long overdue in Atlanta,we want this ,and I hope this team wants it even badder.

Legitimate point at the end,who really wants it.

No Doubt,now who is next on the list. We will see a team that we have not seen all year in the playoffs,our real falcons. Watch ,and believe

if the falcons can hold ny to only 3 sacks on ryan, and if turner can rush for 100 + yards the falcons will win this game easily.

keys for ATL
-establish the run early and often against new yorks average rush defence.
-protect matt ryan
-get after the giants oline and punish eli
-after that play falcons football and it should be reletivley easy from there.

if the falcons can address 2 of these 4 things they will win, if they can address all of them it will be reminscencent of the bucs game