American Football

[kieran_vale]

Got a little lucky before when Gunter should have picked it off but either way have to admit am in complete awe watching this Falcons team when they have the ball. Whoever wins out of the Pats and Steelers after is going to be in for a long day against this lot.

 

[Bobbin']

Total domination.

 

[Aberstone]

The Falcons offensive line has been fantastic so far, I can only recall two snaps where Matt Ryan has felt any kind of pressure.

 

[kieran_vale]

Green Bay have done amazingly well to get to this point but I think if they are to take that next step they really need to develop some semblance of a running game going in to next season. Whether that's through the draft or bringing back Lacy I don't know but it's asking a hell of a lot to just rely on Rodgers arm all the time.

 

[Renegade]

I know the Packers have been decimated by injury, but if the Packers don't sack Dom Capers this off-season, they don't deserve success. His defence has been a shambles for years now and they have consistently failed to address it. Shanahan vs Capers is a biiiiit of a mismatch regardless of personnel.

This is reminiscent of the Cardinals vs Panthers NFC title game last season. We expected a classic and it turned into an embarrassment. I really hope the Falcons win the Superbowl now, would be nice for that fan base who have had very little to cheer about in their history. They have been very impressive.

 

[Tom_CUFC]

Well, that was fun.

Good job Atlanta, now let's have a competitive game in this one as we've been a little devoid of them in these playoffs so far.

 

[Anon]

Won a little something on the total points being above 64... and so whacked it all on needing both Lewis and Bell to score TDs.

 

[kieran_vale]

Catch the ball Mitchell

Ah well score on the board and moved it nicely I guess.

 

[Ciderhead]

Fair play Atlanta, totally outplayed us. Hope they win the big one.

We just didn't get going at all, too many mistakes all over the field. Especially those first few possesions, dropped catches, fumbles. It was always going to be a struggle on defense their offense is so good, so well rounded, but we didn't have a clue how to stop them, so when we got off to such a bad start there wasn't really any hope. Thought their pass rushers did a great job as well preventing Rodgers getting out of the pocket as much as he'd like and disrupting our rhythm.

Ah well, we had a good run.

 

[Aberstone]

Jesus Christ Sammie Coates, can you catch a ball, like ever?

 

[kieran_vale]

Thuney the idea is you're meant to block him ffs.

Less said about Andrews on the snap before the better.

 

[Aberstone]

 

[kieran_vale]

Pretty pleasing first quarter at least. TFB did a great job checking into that play on the TD pass to Hogan.

Long way to go though, think it will go to the wire.

 

[Aberstone]

x2

 

[kieran_vale]

Great execution, felt 7/11 could have been an x factor for us in this game but exceeded anything could have hoped for.

Positive for the Steelers though with Bell sidelined for a bit have stumbled on DeAngelo who gashed us on that last drive. When we played the Steelers at Foxborough opening day of last year he did the same, bad matchup for us.

 

[Renegade]

Looks like it's going to be the Superbowl matchup that no one outside of New England and Atlanta wanted.

 

[kieran_vale]

Great drive again by the Pats. One more score and I think we should be ok.

The enjoyment of the game is being tempered by the commentators I have to say. Could someone please tell Phil Simms its Malcom Brown not Jamal

 

[Renegade]

So we were treated to two competitive games these entire playoffs. It's been a disappointing NFL season overall, can only think of a few classic games (GB vs Dallas, Pittsburgh vs Dallas, Chiefs vs Broncos). The Steelers getting embarrassed now, imagine if the Patriots had Gronk...

 

[kieran_vale]

Get in, absolutely fantastic all round performance tonight. The team is just so well coached compared to other teams it almost isn't fair at times.

One more game to go. Would love nothing more than to see Goodell have to hand that trophy to Brady in a couple of weeks time however if not would be cool to see the Falcons win also. Should be a great offensive show, do not envy BB and Patricia setting a gameplan to take on that offense.

Edit - how ratarsed is Kraft at that presentation?

 

[Renegade]

"Average margin of victory in playoffs has been 15.7 points. Take out GB-DAL and PIT-KC and it balloons to 19!"

 

[Tom_CUFC]

I would like to think that this knocks on the head the idea of expanding the playoffs, but as Goodell is only interested in plain hard cash then I doubt it sadly.

 

[Anon]

I know the Packers have been decimated by injury, but if the Packers don't sack Dom Capers this off-season, they don't deserve success. His defence has been a shambles for years now and they have consistently failed to address it. Shanahan vs Capers is a biiiiit of a mismatch regardless of personnel.

You can't detach the personnel part of the equation. Granted it's gone through some troughs - but also at time been very good in certain stats/areas, mind - and season-to-season we can never quite tell how good it'll be, but to say it's been a shambles for years isn't true. There's just no consistency.

However I'm probably inclined to agree it might be time to freshen it up. The biggest (and tends not to be written about) concern for me is the drop in performance from Randall and Rollins who were very good last season and allowed us to move on from Hayward (who after a great rookie season got less effective each year and wasn't a controversial decision). Hayward departing and Shields unlikely to play again, Rollins/Randall levels dropping, lead to Gunter playing the most snaps at corner this season. Makes me wonder if Capers wasn't using Hayward properly, from memory he was confined to the slot, or why the performance levels have dropped elsewhere at the position. Given we've got a very good pair of safeties, and in theory a good pass rush, it should have helped limit the weakness somewhat.

Pass rush is the other issue. It wouldn't surprise me if sack-wise we're at an average/above average level, but I could never shake the feeling that despite some of the numbers we never really consistently threatened all season long. Matthews' shoulder is a problem, as is his age, Peppers could possibly be done and we've got Nick Perry, club hand n all, hitting free agency. If it wasn't for Mike Daniels' pressures upfront...

Two key units that should be deep in talent and production, but to the eye aren't as good as they should be. I hate change for change sake, but it wouldn't be a hard decision to move away from Capers for sure.

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

National Signing Day

 

[Abertawe]

Are we ready for the big one heads? HEADS HEADS HEADS

 

[Anon]

Cmon Atlanta...

Hard to pick against the Pats but I do think the Falcons are a better team. I do like the versatility of the two offences, and although it seems the Falcons defense is oft over looked, it has been getting better during the season.

Have a bet on the Falcons as well. Need all of Falcons win, Ryan MVP, Julio TD and Sanu to get 45+ yards.

 

[kieran_vale]

I would disagree with you saying the Falcons are a better team than the Pats (though more than a hint of bias on my part granted). Offensively yes without doubt but our D is the #1 scoring D in the league and the Falcons last I checked were down the bottom somewhere. The Pats are a lot more rounded than them.

That ultimately I'm hoping will be the difference. Our D is more likely to slow down them than vice versa. By that I mean limiting them to Field Goals etc as realistically you are not going to limit them yards wise.

One game away from Goodell having to hand that trophy to the Pats. It almost feels like we have reached the end level of a video game and finally face to face with the big boss. I doubt TFB will do what would really love to see and him flip him the bird on national TV but it would be sweet nonetheless.

Will make a most likely completely wrong prediction of 33-27 Pats.

 

[RavenBish]

I've finally decided that the Falcons probably should win on paper but I'll stick with the trusty mantra of not betting against Bill and Brady coming off 2 weeks of game planning

 

[Abertawe]

I would disagree with you saying the Falcons are a better team than the Pats (though more than a hint of bias on my part granted). Offensively yes without doubt but our D is the #1 scoring D in the league and the Falcons last I checked were down the bottom somewhere. The Pats are a lot more rounded than them.

That ultimately I'm hoping will be the difference. Our D is more likely to slow down them than vice versa. By that I mean limiting them to Field Goals etc as realistically you are not going to limit them yards wise.

One game away from Goodell having to hand that trophy to the Pats. It almost feels like we have reached the end level of a video game and finally face to face with the big boss. I doubt TFB will do what would really love to see and him flip him the bird on national TV but it would be sweet nonetheless.

Will make a most likely completely wrong prediction of 33-27 Pats.

O will be more crucial I feel...

 

[RavenBish]

stop pretending you know anything about the NFL

 

[Abertawe]

stop pretending you know anything about the NFL

Fool you're the one who pretends to know about sports. How ironic you would say this on the very night Price got beat by a Romanian who couldn't land a punch on Fury, you do remember when you swore blind Price would beat Fury yeah?

I know NFL, I was immense when I played american football before other sports took precedence. I just don't choose to talk about it on here. As for the game itself the pats coach is a genius who is good at specifically negating top offensive weapons so it's on falcons to see how they can utilise coleman and freeman in passing game and getting good match ups with linebackers as I think they'll double up on Julio jones, that will be key to falcs on O. On the other side It will be damage limitations for falcs D as brady is a god and they are a mediocre D. They'll play a lot of soft zone and just hope their decent secondary can make clutch plays on 3rd down. Do see them being okay against run though.