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Giants (8-5) vs Falcons
(11-2)
Last Sunday
with a big boost by David Wilson who scored three times, the Giants
put up more points then they ever had under Tom Coughlin's coaching
regime. They finished with a 52-27 win over the Saints to maintain
their lead, knowing all the teams in the NFC East had won their
games played earlier.
The Falcons came up with only 35 yards of offense in the first
half of their game and soon found themselves behind 23-0 to the
Panthers. That was too much of a lead to overcome. The final score
was 30-20 as they sustained only their second loss of the year,
with both coming from their division rivals in the NFC South.
Atlanta Falcons.
The last really bad football
year for the Falcons was back in 2007 when they finished with
a 4-12 record. Since then they have made the playoffs three times,
twice as wildcards and once with a division title. With 11 wins
under their belts, they have already won more games than last
year to clinch the NFC South division title, and are headed to
the playoffs once again. Mike Mularkey's offense was a big part
of their success and even though his offense was shut out in the
24-2 NFC wild-card round loss to the Giants, the following week
he was hired on to be the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
A few days later, the Falcons hired Dirk Koetter from Jacksonville
to replace Mularkey as their new offensive coordinator.
The biggest improvement would be in passing yardage, with a big
dropoff in rushing yardage. Defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder
moved back to the college ranks to head Auburn's defense and he
was replaced by Mike Nolan. The biggest improvement would be in
points allowed, with a big dropoff in rushing yards allowed. This
is Mike Smith's fifth year as head coach and the team has a 54-26
record under his guidance, but is 0-3 in playoff games. The Falcons
are in a position to clinch a first
round bye or be the NFC's No. 1 playoff seed by beating the Giants
and then getting a little help from a couple of teams, mostly
losses by Green Bay (9-4) and San Francisco (9-3-1).
Falcons Offense.
It's all Matt Ryan and his
top three receivers as the Falcons are fourth in the league, averaging
289.2 passing yards a game. Pro Bowl wideout Roddy White, with
77 catches for 1,140 yards and 5 touchdowns, missed practice and
will be playing with a sore right knee. Julio Jones, with 63 catches
and 997 yards and 7 touchdowns, has already exceeded what he did
as a rookie last season when he missed a few games. The Falcons
gave the Browns five picks just to get Jones a year ago. He cost
them their 1st- (27th overall), second- (59th) and fourth-round
(124th) picks and their first- and fourth-round picks in 2012.
Jones led the rookie class with 8 touchdown catches in his first
year and in the playoff game with the Giants he caught 7 of 8
balls tossed his way for a 9.1 average with 2 first downs and
he ran 13 yards once for another.
Tight end Tony Gonzalez is in his 16th year and still producing.
Gonzalez leads the team with 81 catches where he's picked up 831
yards and 7 touchdowns. On the ground the Falcons are ranked 28th
in the league and with passing success almost seem to have lost
interest in the running game. Michael Turner had more than 1,300
yards each of the last two seasons and now with less touches,
just 689 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns. Second-year back Jacquizz
Rodgers is getting more opportunities and guess what? He's not
only effective at running the ball, he's great at catching it
too and that seems to be a requirement for this team. Rodgers
has been targeted 49 times and caught 43 of them and for 14 first
downs. This powerful offense
got off to a real slow start last week on the road and it really
cost them.
Falcons Defense.
With a Thursday night win
over the Saints, the Falcons became the first NFC team to earn
a playoff spot. Then last week this defensive unit got a nice
wakeup call from the Panthers, making them realize that even though
they are playoff bound there are still a few more games left to
play. Over the last three in fact, opposing teams have a combined
average of 50 percent on third down conversions. The Giants are
waiting to explode on this group with David Wilson's running and
Eli Manning's passing to help insure their own playoff hopes.
Defensive end John Abraham leads the team with ten sacks and has
a total of 122 sacks in his career, putting him at number 13 all
time. He must be watched.
Cornerback Asante Samuel, picked up by the Falcons this year,
looks to return, having spent the past two games mostly on the
sidelines while trying to recover from a right shoulder injury.
A while back, playing for New England in Super Bowl XLII, it was
Samuel who dropped an easy interception that would have basically
ended the game to preserve the Patriots perfect season. Samuel
knows Manning's tendencies from playing four years with the Eagles
and does have three career interceptions off him. Safety William
Moore, who intercepted the Saints Drew Brees twice in Atlanta,
missed the game last week with a sore hamstring. Moore and Thomas
DeCoudare are the only safeties on one team with four or more
interceptions.
Giants Offense.
Eli Manning has thrown seven
touchdown passes in the past
two games. Last week four different players pulled one in as Manning
spread things around to Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, Domenik Hixon
and tight end Martellus Bennett. He's been a big asset for the
Giants this year. Bennett has been good
in the red zone and is second on the team in receiving touchdowns
with five. Victor Cruz had a nice 8 catches for 121 yards and
increased his touchdown total to nine. Hakeem Nicks is dealing
with a knee injury, but says he's feeling better each week. The
Falcons will certainly remember Nicks catching 6 passes for 2
touchdowns, especially the 72-yarder as he weaved through their
secondary.
On the ground they won't have Brandon Jacobs hitting them for
92 yards or Ahmad Bradshaw for 63 as they did in that game. Bradshaw
is hurt and so the Falcons will be greeted with a new wrinkle,
David Wilson who will start in his place after coming off a three
touchdown scoring game against the Saints, including one on a
97-yard kickoff return. Though starting, Wilson is expected to
still continue returning kickoffs. One thing the Falcons won't
see is a Wilson backflip even if he scores. After flipping three
times last week, he's been encouraged not to do so for the good
of the team. Recently signed running backs Kregg Lumpkin and Ryan
Torain may see some playing time.
Giants Defense.
As usual, the front unit will
have to make Matt Ryan feel uncomfortable whenever he drops back
to throw. Like Eli Manning, Ryan has a knack of getting rid of
the ball in time and sacks have been low, but his line allowed
him to be hit 66 times overall. Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell
said what he drew up last week wasn't the most sack-friendly game
plan and he wouldn't reveal the details. There was only one sack
by Osi Umenyiora, but it all sure worked out well as the results
showed. Aside from covering Ryan's three main receivers, they
will have to be prepared for running back Jacquizz Rodgers catching
the ball as well as running it. His 43 receptions on the season
is as many as starter Michael Turner has had in his last three.
Covering tight end Tony Gonzalez is imperative. It would help
if safety Kenny Phillips was available but he's out with a knee
injury. Linebacker Jacquian Williams was back after six weeks
and he played well against the Saints and Safety Will Hill had
a career-high seven tackles last week. The secondary will certainly
be tested by Matt Ryan with maybe an extra eye on safety Stevie
Brown who had two interceptions last week and 91 yards with his
returns. Brown's 259 interception return yards this season leads
the NFL. Prince Amukamara is
out for this game (hamstring) and his replacement is Jayron Hosley,
who has started four times, made some rookie mistakes, but has
one forced fumble and one interception.
Overall
In a return trip, the Saints were
egged coming off the plane in Atlanta for stopping their unbeaten
season in game 9. What should the Giants expect for taking the
Falcons out 24-2 in last season’s NFC divisional playoff game?
The fans at the Georgia Dome certainly won't be welcoming them
with open arms. The Giants two best games to date have been against
two of the three teams they defeated in the NFC playoffs last
season, San Francisco 26-3 and Green Bay 38-10, and the Falcons
are up next. That has to weigh on the minds of the Falcons and
they will be treating this one like a playoff game. That might
not work out too well since playoff wins don't seem to come their
way.
NFC East
The Eagles (4-10) lost a Thursday
night game to the Bengals (8-6). The Redskins (7-6) play their
game in Cleveland against the Browns (5-8) on Sunday at 1pm, the
same time the Giants play in Atlanta. The Cowboys (7-6) host the
Steelers (7-6) later in the afternoon in a 4:25pm game. The Redskins
are favored to win their game. The Giants and Cowboys are not.
Next up, the Giants have a
road game in Baltimore and finish at home against the Eagles.
The Redskins have a road game at Philadelphia and finish at home
against the Cowboys. The Cowboys play at home against the Saints
and finish on the road against the Redskins.
Check out.
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Giants DVDs
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TeamGiants on Twitter.Notes.
Giants David Wilson's 327 all-purpose
yards last week set a franchise record.
Giants David Wilson became the first
player in NFL history with at least 200 kickoff return yards and
100 rushing yards in the same game.
Giants have won four in a row against
Atlanta.
Giants have won their last seven
games playing in Atlanta.
Giants are the second least-penalized
team in the NFL.
Falcons are the least-penalized
team in the NFL.
Falcons never saw consecutive winning
seasons before head coach Mike Smith and now have five straight.
Falcons have won 10 straight home
games dating back to last season.
Falcons don't tend to lose two in
a row. Following a loss they are 19-3.
Falcons Matt Ryan is 32-4 at home
in four-plus seasons.
Falcons Matt Ryan has beaten every
team in the NFC except the Giants.
Next Games
Dec 23 - Giants at Ravens.
Giants Tickets - Buy
or Sell
Dec 30 - Eagles at
Giants.
Giants Tickets - Buy
or Sell
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