How About the DEFENSES that Each Team Has Played?

[CISGS]

Please look at this and look at how cake the defenses have been that the Falcons have played.

All I have heard is the Pat's record against Top 10 QBs, but no one mentions how trash the defenses are that the Falcons have played.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Has there been a thread about the offenses the two have faced? It's really both teams' defenses that are in question. We know the offenses will score.

 

[CISGS]

Has there been a thread about the offenses the two have faced? It's really both teams' defenses that are in question. We know the offenses will score.

The narrative that everyone is talking about is that New England's defense has not faced a legitimate offense.

No one in the media has mentioned that the Falcon's offense hasn't been tested much.

Everyone assumes the Falcons will hang 35 on the Pats. I don't agree.

 

[scott99]

The narrative that everyone is talking about is that New England's defense has not faced a legitimate offense.

No one in the media has mentioned that the Falcon's offense hasn't been tested much.

Everyone assumes the Falcons will hang 35 on the Pats. I don't agree.

To play Devil's advocate, even in their losses, Atlanta's offense scored 24+ points in 4 of the 5 games. Philly held them to 15 points, held them to 303 yards of offense (only 48 yards rushing) and only 11 first downs. Don't know how they did that, but I'm sure BB has studied that game already.

 

[Nikolai]

The narrative that everyone is talking about is that New England's defense has not faced a legitimate offense.

No one in the media has mentioned that the Falcon's offense hasn't been tested much.

Everyone assumes the Falcons will hang 35 on the Pats. I don't agree.

That's been the hardest part of trying to analyze this game. You've gotta dig way beyond the media pale, because they've painted a masterpiece of a narrative. I'm not convinced it stands up to scrutiny.

It's possible the Pats may completely whitewash the Falcons and surprise everyone...except those who looked at the numbers, watched the players, and knew the level of coaching.

I'm still reviewing the numbers myself, so I'm still sticking with my earliest line: 31-23

For now...

 

[PatsBoy12]

The narrative that everyone is talking about is that New England's defense has not faced a legitimate offense.

No one in the media has mentioned that the Falcon's offense hasn't been tested much.

Everyone assumes the Falcons will hang 35 on the Pats. I don't agree.

I hear you and neither do I.

 

[mosi]

To play Devil's advocate, even in their losses, Atlanta's offense scored 24+ points in 4 of the 5 games. Philly held them to 15 points, held them to 303 yards of offense (only 48 yards rushing) and only 11 first downs. Don't know how they did that, but I'm sure BB has studied that game already.

The eagles harassed Ryan and forced them into lots of 3rd and long situations. That game was nowhere as close as the score. Against a real team, it would have be 40-15.

 

[scott99]

The eagles harassed Ryan and forced them into lots of 3rd and long situations. That game was nowhere as close as the score. Against a real team, it would have be 40-15.

Since our defense doesn't specialize in that type of attacking defense (0 sacks vs Pittsburgh and only hit Roethlisburger once), it may be tough to hold Atlanta to 15. I'm guessing if we hold them to under 25, we have a chance to win.

 

[bbobbo]

i posted this in the Atlanta's Defense thread:

some observations:

• the patriots have not played many very good offenses (only 1 offense ranked 1-8)
  
• the patriots have played against a lot of very bad offenses (7 ranked 25-32)
• the falcons have played against a lot of very good offenses (6 ranked 1-8)
• the falcons have played against very few very bad offenses (2 ranked 25-32)
• HOWEVER, in each offensive quartile rank, the patriots have held offenses to 6-8 fewer points than the falcons have (the exception being the 4th quartile, where the difference is less than a field goal)
• the patriots have faced a few more good defenses (11 in the top half, vs 8 for the falcons)
• against teams in the top two quartile ranks of defense, the patriots have scored only a field goal less than the falcons (25.0 vs 27.8 for ranks 1-8, 27.3 vs 30.0 for ranks 9-16)
• the main difference in points comes against bottom half defenses, against which the falcons offense has scored about a touchdown more than the patriots offense; i note that the the score differential against bottom quartile defenses is 20.3 for the patriots vs. 12.7 for the falcons, so it could be that the patriots were under less pressure to keep scoring than the falcons in those games).

conclusions: the offenses are roughly comparable, with the falcons probably being slightly better (by a field goal or less), but the patriots defense is better than the falcons defense by about a touchdown.

 

[mosi]

Since our defense doesn't specialize in that type of attacking defense (0 sacks vs Pittsburgh and only hit Roethlisburger once), it may be tough to hold Atlanta to 15. I'm guessing if we hold them to under 25, we have a chance to win.

This is my biggest concern. The Eagles rushed Ryan into everything. On 3rd and 8, he went to his dump off because he did not have time for the plays to develop down field. Can the Pats do that? If the Pats can't really pressure or confuse Ryan, they are going to have to score lots of points to stay with them.

The Eagles game may have been the worst game of the year for the Falcons. They looked terrible. Their D could not stop the run and their offense did not look great either. The Eagles tackled well that game and really limited the falcons. The Pats should be able to do the same.

If the Eagles game was the worst game by the Falcons, what would people consider to be the worst Pats game of the year (Brady games only)? I actually thought it would be the Houston playoff game (for the offense) and the Seattle game (for the defense). If I were an Atlanta fan, watching the Seattle game, I would feel confident that the Falcons could do exactly what Seattle did and more; lots more actually.

 

[BKapatsfan]

Yea...Falcons o is for real though. Outside of JJ it's not really scary but the RBS run such good routes they really make it great. They definitely aren't overrated.

 

[CISGS]

I think our D, coming off of this two week bye with 5 ATL losses of film to look at, will do just fine.

 

[BobDigital]

Yes the Pats have had a harder road due to the Ds they faced but I don't mind saying Atlanta has a better offense. However I will argue the Pats have the 2nd best offense (since Brady has come back).

Also I think it is the more dependable unit offensively. Since Brady has come back it scores a little under 3 points less on average compared to Atlanta. And doesn't have as many hills or valley's than Atlanta and really sticks pretty close to 30 a game consistently.