Atlanta Falcons Final Thoughts and Game Predictions
By Kit Anderson
The Atlanta Falcons are headed into Philly to play the Eagles for a chance to go to the NFC Championship game for the second consecutive time. Can the Falcons overcome the Eagles without Wentz or will their season end in Philly?
Coming into Saturday the Atlanta Falcons will be favored to pick up a win on the road in Philly against the top seeded Eagles. The Eagles have made it no secret that they are using that doubt to fuel them as they head into Saturday’s game.
Defensively it is an even match with the Falcons having the advantage in the secondary and the Eagles front four having an advantage as well. They will likely put pressure on Matt Ryan often forcing him to make good decisions quickly as he did against the Rams.
Nick Foles is starting for the Eagles and based on one bad game the Eagles would apparently be better off going with almost any other quarterback in the League. What pundits and fans seem to be forgetting is before Foles’ scoreless outing against the Cowboys he had led the Eagles to victory and has faced playoff pressure before.
Foles won a playoff game for the Eagles advancing their season not that long ago. He has proven he can make tough throws and make clutch plays in big moment in his career. That said it is also true that he is a back-up quarterback who is a huge downgrade from Carson Wentz.
If the Falcons can maintain their focus and not listen to the hype they will be just fine in this game on defense and give Foles a hard time for much of the day. The one worry for the Falcons has to be a very strong Eagles run game with two legitimate starting running backs tagging in and out for each other. Sound familiar?
Loading the box and shutting down the run and playing man across the board forcing Foles and his receivers to make plays to beat you is what the Falcons almost certainly will do for the start of Saturday’s game.
On the other side of the field the Falcons need to continue to play keep away and find a way to punch the ball in the end-zone and stop settling for constant field goals as they have through the last two games.
This game is going to be a lot closer than people expect and is going to come down to a clutch field goal at the end. Matt Bryant may just be the new Matty Ice and is going to help put this game away for the Falcons as they win and advance to the next round with a 20-17 win.