A little over two weeks from now, the Atlanta Falcons will play host to the Tampa Bay Bucs in what could be the biggest game they’ve played in some time. But Atlanta will need to get at least one win over the next couple games, both of which are on the road, for that game to matter on Dec. 14. The first of those two road games comes on Sunday against a very talented, although wildly inconsistent, San Diego Chargers squad. Here are some keys to getting the victory on the west coast.
1. WATCH LT
Sure, LaDainian Tomlinson has had a bad year by his standards. Of course when you’re LT, 770 rushing yards, 329 receiving yards, and six touchdowns through 11 games is considered a disappointment. That still makes him a huge threat for an Atlanta defense that gave up too many big plays to Carolina last week.
Michael Boley, one of the league’s better linebackers in pass coverage, will lliely draw the assignment of shadowing one of the most dangerous receinvg threats out of the backfield in NFL history.
Tomlinson is going to get the ball from Phillip Rivers, there’s no stopping that. But teams have been able to control him and keep him away from creating a big play with his feet by tackling well. If Boley and the linebacking core can find away to get physical and contain the 5-10 back, they will be able to at least control LT, and significantly slow down the San Diego offense.
2. START QUICKLY
San Diego sits at 4-7, putting them two games out of the divisional lead with the Denver Broncos. The Chargers were the overwhelming favorites to win the division when the season started, but they’ve underachieved this season.
If the Falcons get off to a fast start and jump on the board early behind the legs of Michael Turner and arm of Matt Ryan, the already downtrodden Chargers could easily fall apart with a postseason birth starting to look farther away than ever.
The good news here is that Atlanta has made habit of jumping out of the gates quickly. They did just that last week then they started quickly last week against the 8-2 Carolina Panthers. But the Panthers got back into the game and they showed why they had garnered such a record, as they gave Atlanta a serious run in the second half. But for a desperate Chargers’ team whose confidence is at an all-time low, a big early lead could mean a relatively easy victory.
3. AIR IT OUT
Ryan is a rookie, but he doesn’t play like one. That shows in the way that Mike Mularkey has called plays from upstairs. He’s let Ryan throw early and often, encouraging him to throw the ball downfield, and even running the no-huddle with him at any time in the game.
He should do that again this week. The Chargers secondary is one of the worst in the league. After looking to be one of the league’s great young units last year, they have completely fell apart in 2008. They’re dead last in yielding yards through the air, giving up 265.5 yards per game.
For Ryan and Roddy White, a duo that has torched even the top defenses this season, that stat hould be music to their ears. But with the rise of secondary receivers Michael Jenkins, Brian Finneran, and Harry Douglas over the past few weeks, the Falcons have started to develop into a legitimately dangerous receiving core, and also flashed the ability to be one of the league’s better passing offenses. Those guys should all be licking their chops as they look forward to Sunday’s matchup.
Bagriansky can be reached at jbagriansky@scoreatl.com.
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