It’s been eight months since we saw the Atlanta Falcons fall
10 yards short of reaching the Super Bowl in a 28-24 loss to the San Francisco
49ers in last year’s NFC title game. Now
the Falcons are just five days away from opening the 2013 season against the
hated division rival, New Orleans Saints as they look take the next step to
getting a Lombardi to the great city of Atlanta.
In 2012, the Falcons (13-3) got off to a franchise best 8-0 start
before suffering their first loss of the season in the Mercedes-Benz Super Dome
in a week 10 battle in the bayou. This year Atlanta is heading to New Orleans
with even more weapons in its arsenal by replacing Michael Turner with long
time Rams workhorse Stephen Jackson. The addition of Jackson to an already potent
offense should be more than enough to stress last year’s 32nd ranked
and historically the NFL’s worse defense in terms of yards allowed in a single
season, 7,042.
After serving a yearlong suspension for his involvement in the Bounty Scandal, what better way for Roger Goodell to welcome Saints coach
Sean Payton back then throwing him into the fire and testing his offensive
schemes against an opportunistic Falcons defense?
Last season New Orleans got
off to a 0-4 start before finishing 7-9 without Payton, easily making last year
their most disappointing season in recent memory.
Last November, Payton looked on helplessly from his couch as
the Falcons intercepted his star quarterback, Drew Brees, five times and ended
his NFL record 54 consecutive games of throwing at least one touchdown in a
week 13 rematch in the Georgia Dome.
Since then, Atlanta’s defense has experienced a miniature
overhaul this offseason by replacing three of last years starters—Brent Grimes,
Dunta Robinson, and John Abraham—with two rookie corners, Desmond Trufant and
Robert Alford and two time Super Bowl Champion defensive end Osi Umenyiora ,
formerly of the New York Giants. The unit hopes to build off a year where they
ranked 24th in total defense but 5th in points allowed
with 18.7 under now second year coordinator Mike Nolan.
The Falcons defense isn’t the only unit that will be looking
to improve off last year’s performance. Aforementioned, the Saints fielded the
worse defense in the history of the league in 2012 and not surprisingly ranked
toward the bottom in nearly every statistical defensive category.
During the off-season, New Orleans fired first year
coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and replaced him with Rob Ryan. The team also used
three of its five draft picks on defensive talent along with bringing in
cornerback Keenan Lewis and linebacker Victor Butler in hopes of improving on
last year’s debacle of a defense.
However, Atlanta is no stranger to Rob Ryan’s schemes; in 2012
they faced Ryan in a week nine match up versus the Dallas Cowboys. The Falcons racked up 453 yards and averaged
over seven yards per play against the Ryan’s defense as they went on to a 19-13victory.
While it is a new year and anything could happen, the Saints
simply do not have enough talent on defense to contain; Roddy White, Julio
Jones, Tony Gonzales, Stephen Jackson, and Matt Ryan, but to be fair a lot of
teams don’t. If Atlanta jumps to a big
lead, Drew Brees could be a sitting duck behind an offensive line that has had
some turnover as Nolan likes to send pressure at the quarterback from every
level at any time.
Since Atlanta has had some issues covering the position, New
Orleans best bet would is to try and outscore Atlanta behind Brees and stellar tight
end Jimmy Graham, or the Falcons will cruise to victory in the Big Easy.
Look
for the Falcons to take an early lead in the division as they try to become the
first back to back division champions in the history of the NFC South.
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