The Atlanta Falcons have impressed many people this season, but are yet to be recognized as one of the NFL’s elite teams by most NFL experts and fans. They will have a chance to put themselves among that group this Sunday evening, as the eyes of the nation will be upon them when they host the Chicago Bears.
Atlanta enters the game with plenty of momentum after last week’s 45-point explosion in the Bay Area, while the Bears are coming off of a bye week that was preceded by three consecutive victories. The Falcons will have a great opportunity to present themselves as one of the best teams in the conference if they can put forth an exceptional and victorious effort this weekend.
DA BEARS ON ‘D’ …
Lovie Smith’s defense has long been Chicago’s bread and butter, but this year it hasn’t been quite the same story. The secondary has been in steady decline over the past couple seasons, and they gave up over 250 yards of passing to rookie Matt Stafford and backup Seneca Wallace in the two weeks heading into their bye.
Surely it will be time for Matt Ryan to go to work for the second consecutive week. He threw for a career-high 329 yards in last week’s blowout of San Francisco. This week calls for more of the same. Roddy White will surely be booming with confidence after his record-setting performance last Sunday.
It’s a different story for the Chicago run defense, which hasn’t yielded a 100-yard rushing day yet this season. Despite the loss of its undisputed best player and leader in Brian Urlacher, the run D has still done an admirable job with three-time Pro Bowler Tommie Harris anchoring the middle and athletic ends Alex Brown and Adewale Ogunleye manning the outside.
It won’t be easy for Michael Turner and company to get going, but anything is possible after Turner shocked a stout 49ers run defense with three touchdowns and 97 yards, totals that could have been much more had Mike Smith not called off the dogs before the fourth quarter.
CUTLER GETTING SHARPER …
Last week’s performance was certainly a positive for the Birds, but let’s remember that this is the same defense that was ripped by Jake Delhomme and Tom Brady in recent weeks. That could present Jay Cutler with the chance to finally get himself going. The former Denver quarterback has made strides since the opening-day disaster in Green Bay, and the Chicago coaches could be looking to turn him loose after having an extra seven days to prepare for Atlanta thanks to the bye week.
Someone must quell the big-play threat that is Devin Hester, an assignment that Brent Grimes and Chris Houston both struggled with when the two teams met last season. The rest of the receiving corps is inexperienced, although rookie Johnny Knox has shown flashes of brilliance this year.
In the run game, Atlanta must deal with Matt Forte, a do-it-all back who looked like a franchise player last year, and exploded two weeks ago against Detroit after getting off to a slow start. He will draw the attention of the entire Atlanta front seven with his ability to hurt you in the run game or catching the ball out of the backfield. Look for the Atlanta linebacking crew to keep a watchful eye on him in the passing game. Forte is also a big back at 6-2, 220 pounds, meaning this could be a week where the absence of Peria Jerry hurts more than ever in the middle.
Bagriansky can be reached at jbagriansky@scoreatl.com.
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