The Atlanta Falcons week 13

[YoloinOhio]

Every game scares me, but this one really scares me. Great win on Sunday over division rival, bounce back for EJ, now 2 weeks to prep for ATL and a chance (no matter how small) to get a WC birth if the Bills keep winning and others start losing. OK... but the Bills haven't strung together two wins in a row since September. September of 2012!!

 

ATL is a perennial playoff team until this season. They have one of the best QBs in the league. They were an NFC favorite pre-season when they signed Stephen Jackson. Injuries (esp. Julio Jones) and a defense that has underachieved, but most importantly some very close games, have them at 2 less wins than the Bills. They may not have a chance at the NFL playoffs, but I am pretty sure Mike Smith is coaching for his job at this point. ATL losses are to:

NE

NYJ

NO

Miami

Arizona

Carolina

Seattle

Tampa

 

Bills also lost to 3 of those teams - NE, NO, NYJ. Of the others, Carolina, Arizona and Seattle are a combined 23-5. They lost to Miami by only 4, on the road. They have Roddy White and Tony Gonzales which will be very hard for Bflo to cover with our smaller DBs. I am very worried about the veteran QB Matt Ryan. I think our defense will give up yards and points in this game because I don't like the matchup or location. It will be a quiet atmosphere while Bills are on defense. I think the Bills will need to outscore ATL. I am hopeful with SJ and Woods coming back and ATL's defensive stats so far this year, but EJ will not have have thrown to Woods in a game in 2 months when this rolls around. Most importantly, this game represents a lot. It is the kind of game most Bills teams have lost. Get our hopes up, just to come out flat against an opponent that doesn't offer the same "rivalry" or "hype", and lose. I really hope they use this Bye week to get better and attack this game like it means everything. Because it does.... until the math tells us otherwise.

[C.Biscuit97]

This is why schedule strength before the season is so dumb. Teams change every year. Of course, Atlanta has talent. But they have a crappy oline, can't stretch the field without Julio, have a banged up Roddy, a terrible D, and a retired Steven Jackson.

 

Of course, Atlanta can win next week. But it would be a bad loss. They are a bad football team. And if this was at the Ralph, I think we would blow them off the field.

[ajzepp]

Bills 22 Birds 17

[YoloinOhio]

This is why schedule strength before the season is so dumb. Teams change every year. Of course, Atlanta has talent. But they have a crappy oline, can't stretch the field without Julio, have a banged up Roddy, a terrible D, and a retired Steven Jackson.

 

Of course, Atlanta can win next week. But it would be a bad loss. They are a bad football team. And if this was at the Ralph, I think we would blow them off the field.

That's exactly it... the Jets were coming off a huge win against NO at home, went into the Bye week thinking "Ok, we'll just beat the Bills and then if we can win in Balt..."... then the Bills starting 2 WRs went down, EJ looked horrible, we couldn't run against a Pitt D that gave up 55 the week before... I am sure they thought the same thing and came in and got rocked because of it. I fear the effort the approach. If they play to their ability, on paper, they should win. But they really should have beaten Cleveland, with Brandon freaking Weeden, with or without EJ, and they did not. If this was at RWS, I agree. But it isn't anything like the Ralph. Many of these guys have never played at Rodgers. Out of their routine, new place, different country. I don't know. Just have a bad feeling.

[C.Biscuit97]

That's exactly it... the Jets were coming off a huge win against NO at home, went into the Bye week thinking "Ok, we'll just beat the Bills and then if we can win in Balt..."... then the Bills starting 2 WRs went down, EJ looked horrible, we couldn't run against a Pitt D that gave up 55 the week before... I am sure they thought the same thing and came in and got rocked because of it. I fear the effort the approach. If they play to their ability, on paper, they should win. But they really should have beaten Cleveland, with Brandon freaking Weeden, with or without EJ, and they did not. If this was at RWS, I agree. But it isn't anything like the Ralph. Many of these guys have never played at Rodgers. Out of their routine, new place, different country. I don't know. Just have a bad feeling.

 

I got you and the Bills would be stupid to underestimate ATL. But they are a really bad team. They lost to the Jets at home. They got absolutely smoked by TB and let their 3rd string rb run all over them.

 

This is exactly the type of game that will show us where the Bills are. If you blindly watched gametape of both teams & didn't know who was who, you would come away thinking the Bills are the superior team. Add to that, we might be at 100% health for the first time since training camp. The only negative I see is the Bills have to play in that awful Toronto atmosphere.

[YoloinOhio]

I got you and the Bills would be stupid to underestimate ATL. But they are a really bad team. They lost to the Jets at home. They got absolutely smoked by TB and let their 3rd string rb run all over them.

 

This is exactly the type of game that will show us where the Bills are. If you blindly watched gametape of both teams & didn't know who was who, you would come away thinking the Bills are the superior team. Add to that, we might be at 100% health for the first time since training camp. The only negative I see is the Bills have to play in that awful Toronto atmosphere.

it is bad and I can't get the memory of Seattle rolling us for 50+ there last year. Maybe Rob Ford will show up and bring the Party. lol. Edited November 19, 2013 by YoloInTheBlo

[atlbillsfan1975]

Atl is my second favorite team way behind Buffalo.

Atlanta is bad. The Falcons have little to no pass rush to speak of. Abrahams left and the Falcons picked up Osi. But they have little outside of him. The Falcons best LB Witherspoon has been out but will be back for this game. The secondary for the Falcons has also been very suspect. The Falcons went with a CB Trufant in the first round but he has has his rookie struggles.

 

On O the Falcons still have Matt Ryan. But the line is very bad. They lost their starting left tackle in preseason and their center retired at the end of the season last year. The Falcons have been very very bad running the ball. S. Jackson has done little to replace M.Turner who sliped in production last year.

Gonzalez is still the premiere TE. The guy always gets open or makes a tough catch. R White has also been banged up a lot of the year and not playing anywhere near what he has been the past 4 years with Ryan. J. Jones getting injured and out has also really hurt this team. Ryan has been in my opinion 'pressing' trying to win every game. Thus his Int numbers are way up.

 

 

Honestly guys- If the Bills play as determined as they did against the Jets. And the coaches call a game like they did against the jets this game should have a similar outcome. ATL is not a good team right now.

[YoloinOhio]

Atl is my second favorite team way behind Buffalo.

Atlanta is bad. The Falcons have little to no pass rush to speak of. Abrahams left and the Falcons picked up Osi. But they have little outside of him. The Falcons best LB Witherspoon has been out but will be back for this game. The secondary for the Falcons has also been very suspect. The Falcons went with a CB Trufant in the first round but he has has his rookie struggles.

 

On O the Falcons still have Matt Ryan. But the line is very bad. They lost their starting left tackle in preseason and their center retired at the end of the season last year. The Falcons have been very very bad running the ball. S. Jackson has done little to replace M.Turner who sliped in production last year.

Gonzalez is still the premiere TE. The guy always gets open or makes a tough catch. R White has also been banged up a lot of the year and not playing anywhere near what he has been the past 4 years with Ryan. J. Jones getting injured and out has also really hurt this team. Ryan has been in my opinion 'pressing' trying to win every game. Thus his Int numbers are way up.

 

 

Honestly guys- If the Bills play as determined as they did against the Jets. And the coaches call a game like they did against the jets this game should have a similar outcome. ATL is not a good team right now.

Thanks for the insight since it looks like from your screen name you live there and follow the team closely. My fear lies in that Pitt was in this exact spot before we played them 2 wins. Bad team. OL struggles. No running game. Bad defense. While that all may have been true, we were worse. Couldn't take advantage of their weaknesses, and Pitt exposed ours. Granted LeBeau doesn't coach for ATL but our issues at Pitt weren't just on offense. Plus our mistakes on ST have not gotten better and are going to cost us again in one of these games. They really need to get a handle on ST during the bye week. Specifically penalties, and blocking.

[rayray808]

but Spiller has two weeks off... EJ will fall in love with him after the Falcons game

[Mark Vader]

We'll get a chance to see how the Falcons look on Thursday night.

 

By all rights the Bills should beat the Falcons, but that's why they play the games.

[YoloinOhio]

We'll get a chance to see how the Falcons look on Thursday night.

 

By all rights the Bills should beat the Falcons, but that's why they play the games.

Didn't realize they play Thursday.... so they have a mini bye week too. Of course.

[C.Biscuit97]

but Spiller has two weeks off... EJ will fall in love with him after the Falcons game

 

If Spiller doesn't have a monster game against that defense and with 2 weeks to heal, it ain't happening for him this year. IT's scary to think how good this offense could be with the Spiller we saw last year.

[Big Turk]

Atlanta's D is horrible, I see us putting up 500+ yards on them

[YoloinOhio]

If Spiller doesn't have a monster game against that defense and with 2 weeks to heal, it ain't happening for him this year. IT's scary to think how good this offense could be with the Spiller we saw last year.

This is how I look at it too regarding Spiller. Bobby Raney racked up 246. Spiller better make it happen.

[C.Biscuit97]

This is how I look at it too regarding Spiller. Bobby Raney racked up 246. Spiller better make it happen.

 

In a 2 player keeper league, I kept Spiller over Brees (keep Jimmy Graham though).

[YoloinOhio]

In a 2 player keeper league, I kept Spiller over Brees (keep Jimmy Graham though).

I had a chance to draft Spiller this year but didn't because I was afraid to jinx him. He still has a chance to make a huge impact this year. These next few games are his time to shine.

[SactoBillFan]

If this was at RWS, I agree. But it isn't anything like the Ralph. Many of these guys have never played at Rodgers. Out of their routine, new place, different country. I don't know. Just have a bad feeling.

 

Agree, playing in Toronto has never been an advantage. Don't like giving up home field.

[atlbillsfan1975]

Thanks for the insight since it looks like from your screen name you live there and follow the team closely. My fear lies in that Pitt was in this exact spot before we played them 2 wins. Bad team. OL struggles. No running game. Bad defense. While that all may have been true, we were worse. Couldn't take advantage of their weaknesses, and Pitt exposed ours. Granted LeBeau doesn't coach for ATL but our issues at Pitt weren't just on offense. Plus our mistakes on ST have not gotten better and are going to cost us again in one of these games. They really need to get a handle on ST during the bye week. Specifically penalties, and blocking.

I hear ya man. but the Falcons have given up it seems. by the time the Bills play them the Falcons will be 2-9. i am going to the game this Thursday night here in Atl against the Saints. Smith is no Tomlinson. And EJ appears to have his confidence back.

There are no sure fire wins for the Bills i get that. But you look at this one from a here and now stance and the Bills should be a 6 point fav.

[KDIGGZ]

My take: if the Bills that played on Sunday show up then we win. If the Bills that played in Pittsburgh show up then we lose. Simple as that. It's a "home game" but it's really not unfortunately. If this game was at the Ralph I would feel more confident but playing a dome team in a dome makes us lose our homefield advantage unfortunately

[KikO M G]

The Bills are currently drafting 7th. For them to overlook any team would be absolutely ridiculous. Marrone has his flaws, but one thing he seems to be very good at is getting the team ready to play, both game plan-wise and psychologically. The PIT game was the only game of the 11 they've played where it seemed like they weren't ready for it, and a lot of that I'm sure had to do with Manuel's first game back after the injury.