Very interesting stuff. The problem is all the games mentioned happened before December and it's hard to make judgements on games before that. Think about it. People made judgements about the Pats based on the Houston game that happened a week ago., How many of them turned out to be valid on Sunday?
However there was one item that I think bears thinking about. And that was the idea of shutting down everyone and "make Julio Jone beat you." By saying that he noted that making the Falcons one dimensional harms their offense.
One of the mistakes some people have is the concept that keeping AB controlled is the same as keeping Jones under control. That's not even close to the truth. They are completely different kinds of players, and only their production is similar.
The best discription I've heard of Jones is Terrell Owens without the attitude problem. Jones is really the perfect combination of size, speed and hand, whose only criticism has been that he occasionally can disappear in game. But it hasn't been one THIS season, and I doubt it will be this game.
I wonder if you CAN shut him down since like Dez Bryant he's a good chance to come down with the ball even if he is is doubled and "essentially" covered. So why not concede Jones his 150+ yds and 2 TDs and shut down everyone else. Saunu has been getting a lot of pub this season, but isn't he really just JoJo LaFell on a more high powered offense. What if you doubled HIM and shut him down some times and put Malcom to do the best he can on Jones and concede he's going to be beat now and then. It can also be effective if you make it look like Jones is getting single coverage an then have Ryan throw into double coverage.
Certainly not the only way to to do it, but one worth thinking about.
