The Atlanta Falcons are now 0-1 in the regular season. The battle for the playoffs won’t get any easier this week, as Alanta’s upcoming game is against the Dallas Cowboys. The ‘boys lost in week one to the Los Angeles Rams and the Cowboys offense looked stale at times. Under Mike McCarthy, this offense may get hot at times and get cold at times.
But with a quarterback that has something to prove, a 1000 yard running back, and two 1000 yard receivers, this offense is loaded. How can the Falcons win a crucial game with an average defense? I’ll tell you.
The Falcons have to come out swinging with an aggressive offense:
The offense needs to come out more balanced. The last game can be attributed to being behind, but the running game has to be there if we want to win. In week one, Todd Gurley started off the game with the first 3 snaps. The third snap being a 15-yard run. The Falcons need to process big yard plays without Matt Ryan throwing 50 times again–although, it was good to see three receivers get 100 plus yards each. If Todd Gurley can break 100 yards this game, I can see the Falcons keeping up with the Dallas. Another thing the Falcons need to do is capitalize on fourth downs. Many people did not like the decisions by Dan Quinn to go for it on fourth down, but I did. Analytics show you that going for it on fourth isn’t always bad, so I like the way Quinn is thinking, I will say, though, that coach Quinn does need to draw up some better schemes in these situations. The Falcons situational football was not very good, and the Seahawks were picking them apart every time.
The Falcons passing defense has to be on point:
In week one, the Falcons started strong on defense in the first quarter. The first defensive possession led to a quick three and out for the Seahawks. The Defense even got to the quarterback a couple times as well. Grady Jarrett ended his week one with one and a half sacks while Takk McKinley finished with one as well. The Cowboys have a few injuries upfront on their line, but the Cowboys line is much better than Seattle’s. The Falcons will still need to pressure Dak Prescott and force him to make tough throws. In week one, the secondary got burnt a lot. So to keep them out of trouble, the line will have to keep constant pressure on Dak. That may be a huge problem because Prescott has weapons all around him in the passing game. Ezekiel Elliott, Amari, Gallup, and new addition CeeDee Lamb could all go off for 100 receiving yards. I’m going to want to see if safety Ricardo Allen, and corner back Isaiah Oliver can have bounce back games. The defense will also need to lower the amount of penalties against them. There were a few last game that ended up putting the Seahawks in great field position. If the Falcons can do these things, I think we can expect to see a win on Sunday.

Prediction :
This Sunday, I think we will see a lot of offense, and I do mean a lot. Fanduel has this game at an over/under of 51, which I personally think is kind of low. Dallas only scored 17 points last week, but that was against a good Rams defense. Against the weak Falcons defense, I think they will have more at the end of this one. The Falcons offense is always high volume. These two teams could catch themselves in a shootout towards the end of this game. I have the Cowboys winning this game 30-27, in a game where it comes down to the last possession. Should be a fun one.
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