Pirate Galaxy » Who wins this matchup? Falcons vs Saints is o

Falcons offense vs Saints defense: ne of the under-appreciated rivalries in the NFL. These games are almost always nail-bitingly close no matter what the record or standing of either team. The Falcons offense will look to continue their high-scoring ways against a Saints defense that has been inconsistent so far this year. Here’s how things could shake out.Note: Assessments based on PFF grades where possible.In the trenchesWhen they play at their best Logan Paulsen Jersey 2019 , this Falcons offensive line can be a top 5 unit. In the middle, Alex Mack is a steadying presence who is still one of the best centers in the league. On the outside, Jake Matthews is a good left tackle whose game has only gotten better each year in the league. Ryan Schraeder is a nasty right tackle who is beginning to bounce back to form after a down year. Brandon Fusco has played decently at right guard and is a clear upgrade over the starter from last year. That leaves us to the conundrum at left guard. With Andy Levitre out for the season, Wes Schweitzer will step in. He looked good against the Panthers but has been inconsistent throughout his young career. He’s the name to watch on this offensive line.Across from them, the Saints feature a couple of very good players who could cause some issues on Sunday. Cameron Jordan is one of the best pass rushers in the league and is criminally underrated for the level of play he’s maintained over the years. Sheldon Rankins is a promising young defensive tackle who hasn’t quite lived up to the first-round billing just yet. Next to him, David Onyemata has shown glimpses of competence, but is inconsistent. Alex Okafor is a solid presence at DE, but is not a big pass rushing threat. First rounder Marcus Davenport has been playing well early, but has tremendous expectations heaped on him having cost the team two first-round picks.Jordan is almost enough of a factor to make this a close matchup, but until the rest of the defensive line can match his level consistently, this one favors the Falcons. Keep an eye on Schweitzer, though Qadree Ollison Atlanta Falcons Jersey , as he could be the wild card in this game.Advantage: FalconsThe skill positionsMatt Ryan bounced back impressively last week, completing over 80% of his passes while tossing two TDs and running in two more in the victory over the Panthers. We’ll need that version of Ryan on Sunday. Julio Jones was quiet as his teammates saw good ball distribution against Carolina, but Jones figures to be a big factor in this matchup. Calvin Ridley demonstrated why he was a first rounder last week. Let’s hope we see more of that against New Orleans. While his stat line wasn’t dominant, Austin Hooper is improving into one of the better young tight ends in the league. With Devonta Freeman out, Tevin Coleman proved he’s more than capable of carrying the load, and Ito Smith shocked Falcons fans with his impressive performance last week as well. Mohamed Sanu is a veteran whose blocking is fantastic and whose hands in tight coverage make him an asset. This is a highly skilled group with enough talent to dominate most competition — so long as they execute well.The Saints linebackers are headed by Manti Te’o in the middle. He’s decent, but certainly not on anyone’s top 10 list. A.J. Klein has had an inconsistent career, but has looked decent so far this season and Demario Davis has improved over the past couple of years to a relatively good linebacker. At safety, Marcus Williams showed tremendous promise last year but is off to a slow start so far in 2018. Vonn Bell is a decent safety as well, though not someone to write home about. At corner, Marcus Lattimore figures to match up with Julio. His strong rookie season has been followed up by some up and down play this year. Ken Crawley looked good last year but has been regularly torched so far in 2018. Patrick Robinson has been a decent player over his career, but his big year last year appears to be the outlier against the backdrop of his 8+ years in the league. The Falcons have enough weapons to overwhelm the talent in the back end of this Saints defense. They just have to execute. Though there are some intriguing players in the Saints secondary Color Rush Qadree Ollison Jersey , this group is average to above average which is enough to keep it close, but not enough to win this matchup.Advantage: FalconsOverallThe Falcons showed last week that with proper execution and better play calling, they are an offense that can score on nearly anyone. The Carolina Panthers defense is arguably more talented across the board than the Saints, and the Falcons put up 31 points on them. So long as the good Steve Sarkisian and Matt Ryan show up on Sunday, there’s no reason to think they can’t also score on this Saints defense.Advantage: Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are in the midst of evaluating every spot on the roster and determining its future viability, and no groups will get as much focus as the trenches. The team has been a perennial disappointment in fielding excellent offensive and defensive lines for as long as any of us can remember, with spurts of excellent play hidden by mediocrity. That was certainly the case in 2018, when the offensive line spent a significant part of the year operating as a liability. It sounds like, at least on the offensive side of the ball, the buck stops here for Dan Quinn, per 92.9 The Game’s Knox Bardeen in his report DQ’s weekly radio program. Quinn says the team is looking to revamp the run game, which Qadree Ollison Atlanta Falcons Jersey , as Bardeen notes, ranked 27th in the league in 2018. That will likely mean personnel changes on the line, where Jake Matthews and Alex Mack are the only sure things at the moment. If this holds true, the Falcons could have a new set of guards and a new right tackle heading into 2019. It’d be hard to blame the team if that’s the route they take. It doesn’t sounds like, by this, that pending free agent Andy Levitre is coming back, nor does it sound like his replacement, Wes Schweitzer, has done enough to solidify a spot on the starting line. DQ has praised Schweitzer for his work ethic in the past, but the on-field play is too inconsistent to really justify keeping him locked in there as a starter. Right guard was thought to head back to 2018 FA acquisition Brandon Fusco, but that even sounds like anything but a sure bet. Fusco was decentish before his injury, but maybe the team won’t settle for decent anymore at right guard. That’s long been the strategy there under Thomas Dimitroff Youth Qadree Ollison Jersey , with the team focusing on the other four spots on the OL. Dimitroff has acknowledged in the past his change of heart about investing in the interior OL. Fusco’s post-injury replacements, Ben Garland and Zane Beadles, don’t seem like viable options going forward, though we might expect Garland or Beadles back as a reserve. Probably not both. Schraeder comes with some pause, as he was playing at a high level just two seasons ago and might have an underlying issue with injury we aren’t aware of holding him back. Though, “scrub” is a definitive word, and it makes it sound like the team might move on from the former UDFA out of Valdosta State, too. Over the Cap says that designating Schraeder as a post-June 1 release would only incur $1.3 million against the 2019 cap, $1.3 mil. in 2020 and $1.2 mil. in 2021, and would save the team about $6.45 million for the upcoming league year. It’s very much possible that this is the avenue the team takes. That’d open the offensive line to any number of moves: new guys brought in via trade (the team has some mid-level comp picks to work with), free agency and in the draft (perhaps as high as the first round). While Jake Matthews had a career year at left tackle, and Alex Mack continues to chug along as a great center Black Desmond Trufant Jersey , it certainly seems that the other spots are prone to change-out. It also sounds like there will be no major scheme overhaul, and the fixes will be ‘subtle.’So that might mean the team is going for a guy for the offensive coordinator vacancy who will stick to that outside zone mentality, as opposed to something more focused on power. That would absolutely rule out Mike Mularkey, who the team has interviewed for the spot. At the end of the day, changing over three starting spots on the offensive line is a lot for one offseason. The Falcons, who appear ready to embark on an ambitious offseason, may just try to do it.