 WHAT TO WATCH FOR ON MONDAY NIGHT, BY FOOTBALL
NAZI(Sept 16) |
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I've been having some fun
with some post-Sunday analysis and am really looking forward to several games this weekend
which will further our understanding of the state of the Rams. The games to watch include:
Steelers vs. Ravens, Vikings vs. Raiders and of course the Falcons vs. Cowboys Monday
night game. First two games are both on at 1:oo ET so I will be doing some flipping, but
will stay primarily with the Steelers-Raven game. The Monday night game is a taper
and worth breaking down during the week next week. I watched the Falcons-Vikings game in
its entirety last week & have some post-game thoughts about what we can highlight
& watch in the Monday night game to give us some insight into the Falcons &
probable Rams strategies for Week # 3. Here's what I saw in last weeks game against the Vikings and what we should be looking for against the Cowboys as indicators. Falcons Offense: 1.) 1st & 10 is Jamal Anderson's down. Out of 27- 1st & 10 plays the Falcons went to Jamal 11 times. 81 of them went up the middle (where he killed us last year).The Falcons insist on gaining control of the clock & of middle of field, but they couldn't do it against the Vikings. I'm real curious--will the Falcons deploy the same strategy against the Cowboys? Can they run up the middle against Dallas without double teaming anyone? The Dallas game plus the Minnesotta game will give the Rams two games worth of tapes showing the Falcons playing against two teams with varying defensive talents on the line. Additional Note: Vikings controlled the clock with a 7 minute advantage in spite of gaining 60 less total yards. 2.) 1st & down passes were largely ineffective. Out of 16 1st & 10 plays, they were incomplete 10 times & one was the last play of game when they were at their own 14. I think Graziani passed to Jamal who ran for 32 yards to end the game. By the way, the most effective reciever that day was Ronnie Harris (except for his fumble). He had the most big yadage completions as the 3rd WR, so I hope Dre can cover by then, but expect Taje to be covering him unless he goes in slot and then Lyght will cover him leaving Taje on Terrance Mathis (Yikes). The unknown factor Monday night is Deion who can shut down one side of the field. I'm hoping he doesn't play so we can see how Falcons try to expose the seams with the whole field in front of them. If game # 1 is any indication expect to see a lot of OJ Santiago & Ronnie Harris in the holes after Terrance opens up the field for them & Chris freezes the LB's with his extremely effective play action fakes. 3.) After the 1st down, the Falcons are a primarily passing team with several exceptions that usually paid of for them---like when they ran on 2nd and long. Regardless, they continually looked for Santiago for something in the 5 to 20 yard range (this is another area where we were exposed last year). The Falcons are very predictable here & so I fully expect them to do the exact same thing against the Cowboys, and then against us the following week. Only way I would reconsider that is if they keep the defense honest with some draws & wide sweeps with Jamal, but these plays were non- existent in Viking game. 4.) Not surprisingly Ed McDaniel was the man in the middle stopping Jamal from breaking it long. This will also be the responsibility of London Fletcher, considering the fact that the majority of Jamal's runs were on 1st & 10. Jamal was rarely stopped by the front four. John Randle was routinely double & triple teamed, but the Falcons can avoid doing that against the Rams, which means London will have to shed blockers while McDaniel didn't have to. This puts a lot of responsibility on Billy Jenkins, so he will have to cheat a bit & gamble, leaving the middle stuff open for the TE's. This is the most important thing to watch for Monday night in my opinion. If the Falcons can play the Cowboys defensive line straight up and if Christian can seek & destroy Coakley before Jamal gets there, than the Cowboys safeties will have Jamal's ribbed thigh pads indented in their helmets as he powers through them. The key to tackling Jamal has always been to go very very very low..... like no higher than his ankles. This bodes well for Coakley & Fletcher, since they can get even lower than Jamal, who always lowers his shoulders on defenders. If Coakley can tackle Jamal low Monday night I will feel much better about Fletcher's chances. 5.) The Vikings corners made most of the tackles because of the predictable but effective passes in the seams to Mathis, Calloway & Santiago. The plays that were really effective for the Falcons came from the 3 WR sets with Ronnie Harris exposing the Vikings lack of depth in coverage guys. Dre Bly in the 2nd isn't looking like a reach when you consider this. I will be watching the areas of the defense that Falcons expose on Monday & then will closely watch their adjustments at the half. In the Vikings game they adjusted pretty well, getting with a higher level of success with the kinds of intermediate passes that hurt us badly last year. 6.) The Falcons offensive line was able to neutralize a very good interior Viking line. Vikings did not have much to offer outside except Dwayne Rudd on the corner, but he was usually making other reads. Bob Whitfield will be another strong test for Grant Wistrom, who surprised all of us against Jonathan Ogden last week. I hope Ray Agnew & D'Marco can push the pocket from the middle against Gene Williams, Robbie Tobeck & Calvin Collins. I like the Carter matchup against Ephraim Salaam. Only way we can expose Salaam is to keep Gene Williams honest. Remember, watch the Falcons blocking schemes Monday night & their ability to handle the Cowboys front four straight up, and watch to see if Christian will punish the 1st guy trying to get to Jamal. If they can't then I feel we can expose the same weakness. Falcons Defense: I want to give my opinions of the Falcon defense and their play against the Vikings but won't go into as much detail. Here's my synposis. The Falcons refused to let the Vikings stretch the field deep on them & took Moss out of the game even when that meant very weak & pathetic intentional pass inteference plays. This opened things up for Cris Carter. But this also plays right into the Cowboys & Rams hands. Both teams have the speed to stretch a defense, and both like to run a lot of motion. So look for mismatches as the Falcons expose themselves with this deep centerfield, cherry-picking sort of play from the corners. The Vikings had little success running the ball, and they stayed clear of Chuck Smith. They went predominantly up the middle and to the right side. The Cowboys have a very good offensive line & I'm looking forward to seeng how they handle Chuck Smith, since I would like to see more of Faulk following closely behind Orlando who will get the assignment of slapping Chuckie boy (which isn't very easy or likely). To sum up, I believe the Monday night game is a must see & worth taping for some isolation replays---for those like me who are weird enough to like that sort of thing. |
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