Falcons @ Cards

[Vin+ 3,121]

 

http://hosted.stats.com/fb/preview.asp?g=20131027022&home=22&vis=1

 

(AP) -- With their longest losing streak in six seasons behind them, the Atlanta Falcons appear ready to move forward with confidence.

 

Hoping to avoid their first 0-3 road start since 2007, the Falcons look to win consecutive games for the first time this season while trying to hand the Arizona Cardinals a third straight defeat Sunday.

 

Minus injured stars Julio Jones, Roddy White and Steven Jackson, Atlanta (2-4) used some bye-week adjustments to snap a three-game slide by posting a 31-23 victory over Tampa Bay last Sunday.

 

"We talked during the bye week, if you had a Falcons logo on your helmet you were expected to step up and make plays," coach Mike Smith told the team's official website. "Whether a young guy, old guy, we all needed to do that, and I thought we did that.

 

"We are going to continue to work."

 

Harry Douglas caught seven passes for a career-high 149 yards with a touchdown, and Jacquizz Rodgers had eight receptions out of the backfield for 46 yards and two scores.

 

Defensively, the Falcons used a deeper rotation across the line to help record three sacks. Defensive back Thomas DeCoud gave Atlanta a boost early with a fumble he returned 30 yards for the opening touchdown.

 

"Confidence is a beast," said tight end Tony Gonzalez, who had two catches for 30 yards after recording 22 for 246 in the previous two contests.

 

"Hopefully this is something we can build on."

 

While it's uncertain if White will miss a second straight game due to hamstring and ankle problems, Jackson hopes to return from a hamstring injury that sidelined him the last four contests.

 

Jackson has carried the ball 14 times for 77 yards in a little over four quarters of action since signing with the Falcons in March.

 

"You've got to go in and take it one day at a time when you're coming back from an injury," Smith said.

 

Though Rodgers is a versatile threat who leads the team with four overall touchdowns, Atlanta rushed for 18 yards on 18 attempts last Sunday. The Falcons' 410 rushing yards and 115 carries are both the fewest in the NFL.

 

"As a group, running backs have to run harder," said Rodgers, who has averaged 2.7 yards per carry in the last two games. "Everybody's got to be on the same page, blocking the right man, and us as running backs have to get downhill faster, so we can be efficient going down the stretch."

 

With or without Jackson and facing ex-Falcon linebacker John Abraham, Atlanta might have a good chance to improve its run game against an Arizona team that's allowed 284 rushing yards in consecutive losses to San Francisco and Seattle. The Cardinals (3-4) gave up an average of 79.0 in their first five contests.

 

"We've done a good job of not giving up a lot yards on the ground, but things happen," Abraham said after recording two sacks and forcing two fumbles during last Thursday's 34-22 loss during which the Seahawks rushed for 135 yards.

 

The Cardinals' own rushing woes continued with a season-low 30 yards versus Seattle. Arizona is tied for 26th, averaging 3.5 yards per carry, right behind Atlanta (3.6).

 

"Anytime you put yourself in position where you've got to pass in this league and they know what's coming, you're going to be in for a long day," tackle Eric Winston said.

 

Carson Palmer has not helped matters by throwing 11 of his 13 interceptions in the last five weeks. He also was sacked seven times against the Seahawks after absorbing 13 in the previous five contests.

 

"Everybody needs to step up their game, mainly me being the quarterback - that's your job," said Palmer, whose 69.5 passer rating is better only than Brandon Weeden, Eli Manning, Christian Ponder and Josh Freeman.

 

"We've got to keep growing."

 

Larry Fitzgerald, meanwhile, continues to play through hamstring issues. The star receiver was held to two receptions for 17 yards last week after catching six passes for a season-high 117 and a TD during the 32-20 loss to the 49ers on Oct. 13.

 

Fitzgerald managed one catch for 11 yards during last season's 23-19 loss at Atlanta. He had 13 receptions for 184 yards in his previous two games against the Falcons, including 101 and a TD during the Cardinals' 30-24 wild-card playoff victory Jan. 3, 2009, in the teams' most recent meeting in Arizona.

 

Atlanta's Matt Ryan threw two touchdowns and two interceptions in that playoff defeat, but has won both ensuing games against the Cardinals. The Falcons prevailed in last season's meeting despite Ryan throwing no TDs and a career-high five picks.

 

 

[KempBolt 498]

Weird matchup. Cards have the better defense and both offensive lines are bad, but Ryan can make up for a lot. I'll guess Palmer makes a couple unforced errors, Goodman has a breakout game, and the Falcons win a close one.

 

24

20

[southgadawg 52]

I look for Jackson to be back but in a fairly limited role. I thought last week the Falcons would go with more two tight end sets featuring the pass catching capabilities of both Tony Gonzalez and the 6 ft 8 in 22 year old rookie Levine Toilolo but they were only on the field together for a few plays. This week however we may see more of them together. Harry Douglas had a huge week against the Bucs but I don't look for nearly as many yards this week from him although he may get more targets (I think last week he caught all 7 of 7). The Cardinals have a pretty good defense but I think someway the Falcons eek out a win (perhaps because of my belief that Carson Palmer like so many other former USC quarterbacks give away more games than they win.

 

Falcons 27

Cardinals 24

[Thanatos 2,847]

I really feel like if Carson Palmer doesn't give this game away, the Cards win.

 

Unfortunately, I don't see Carson Palmer not giving the game away.

 

20

16

[CampinWithaMissingPerson 2,025]

20

13

[BigBen07 285]

[BwareDWare94 723]

The problem with Carson Palmer is that he's a statue since his knee injury, and he's playing behind a screen door that doesn't even latch of a line. Teams have no trouble getting to him, and if you can pressure him, he either takes countless sacks or throws up some awful passes. It's hard to blame him too much, but he's definitely responsible for some of Arizona's losses.

[KempBolt 498]

A lot of Palmer's picks have been unpressured. The case can be made that the pressure is in his head, but regardless-- he's made a lot of mistakes that weren't due to poor protection.

[southgadawg 52]

A lot of Palmer's picks have been unpressured. The case can be made that the pressure is in his head, but regardless-- he's made a lot of mistakes that weren't due to poor protection.

LOL I probably really shouldn't be going there but with that GIF of Phillip Rivers in your sig (and yeah he is having a fantastic year this season) I couldn't help it.......but couldn't the same thing had been said about Rivers in the past? Is my perception of his play in my memory just wrong or hasn't he had some totally awful plays where he just gave games away that you thought were sure wins for the Bolts?

[KempBolt 498]

 

A lot of Palmer's picks have been unpressured. The case can be made that the pressure is in his head, but regardless-- he's made a lot of mistakes that weren't due to poor protection.

LOL I probably really shouldn't be going there but with that GIF of Phillip Rivers in your sig (and yeah he is having a fantastic year this season) I couldn't help it.......but couldn't the same thing had been said about Rivers in the past? Is my perception of his play in my memory just wrong or hasn't he had some totally awful plays where he just gave games away that you thought were sure wins for the Bolts?

 

 

Nope- you're exactly right. Rivers threw plenty of picks under duress, but many more when he wasn't being pressured because it got into his head. That's pretty much how I know what it looks like.

 

Actually, the biggest reason why I've predicted since day 1 that the Arians-Palmer-Cardinals approach wouldn't work is because it reminds me so much of Norv-Rivers-Chargers in 2012.

[southgadawg 52]

Maybe Rivers is just more relaxed or something this season (there has had to be some type of change even if it is just mentally) because he has played lights out so far this season. Perhaps it will continue for him because before the season is out he will have some big time type games facing him versus the Chiefs and the Broncos.

 

Oh and imho you were definitely right about Matt Ryan compensating for his poor o-line play. He has shown (at least to me) the ability for the most part to get rid of balls quickly to a receiver or make the decision to throw it away. Ryan takes relatively few sacks for having a below average line.

[RazorStar 4,025]

Once again, Matt Ryan is the second coming of Peyton Manning. As long as he's around you're gonna compete.

[KempBolt 498]

Maybe Rivers is just more relaxed or something this season (there has had to be some type of change even if it is just mentally) because he has played lights out so far this season. Perhaps it will continue for him because before the season is out he will have some big time type games facing him versus the Chiefs and the Broncos.

 

Oh and imho you were definitely right about Matt Ryan compensating for his poor o-line play. He has shown (at least to me) the ability for the most part to get rid of balls quickly to a receiver or make the decision to throw it away. Ryan takes relatively few sacks for having a below average line.

Rivers is getting the ball out faster than all but 2

others (Stafford and Manning) and his protection is slightly better. Last year he was worse OL play and was being asked to hold the ball on lots of slow developing 5 to 7 step drops and he had no running game. The uptick in line play, the better running, and the quick passing game have restored his confidence. He always had the ability.

 

This is definitely the most satisfying part of this season for me. I argued ad nauseum in Rivers' defense for the better part of two years- that it was his circumstances and not him that was the problem. Thus far, 2013 has been vindication.

 

Ryan is legit. They had better fix the situation around him in a hurry. The line needs a lot of work.

 

EDIT: Looked up some numbers. Rivers has been sacked 11 times in 249 pass attempts this season. Once ever 23 attempts. Last season he was sacked once ever 11 attempts, which was tops in the league. So he's getting sacked less than half as awesome. Furthermore, the San Diego paper published that he's only been hit 18 times (including sacks), which is a league low. It ain't rocket science people.

Edited October 26, 2013 by KempBolt

[southgadawg 52]

Definitely ugly for the Falcons. They had a tough time in the first half converting yardage into touchdowns instead of fieldgoals and absolutely could not give Ryan the protection he needed in the second half after the Falcons fell way behind.

 

Bad as I hate to say it PLEASE trade Tony Gonzalez to the Chiefs for ANY draft pick they will give up for next year. Just lose the rest of the season too because this year is OVER.

[Glanvilles Grits 142]

*sigh*

 

Circa 2007.

[southgadawg 52]

*sigh*

 

Circa 2007.

LOL Definitely NOT as bad as 2007...although I am sure the record will end up stinking. That team had very few players who ended up being key members of the 2008 team. The 2014 Falcons will probably have several players who key members who played on this team (although some of them have been hurt this season). Also I don't expect that Mike Smith will just up and quit on the team either.

Edited October 28, 2013 by southgadawg

[Thanatos 2,847]

Well, the Falcons had a chance to still be relevant if they beat the Cards, now at 2-5, I think we can officially count them out. That was a very ugly game.