Observations from this week's games in the NFC South (Now With Falcons)

[Frizzy350]

1. Cam has improved significantly in the passing department. He's leading the league in yards/attempt at over 10 yards, and has completed just barely under 70% of his passes. I doubt we will see any retarded numbers like a 5k passing performance just due to the balance of our offense.

His footwork is much more consistent, he seems to be reading defenses better and he seems to have gotten much better at the short and intermediate throws. His running skills are as good as ever, I thought he was going to break that 40 yard run into an 80ish yarder. A few times while using the zone-read and DeAngelo got stuffed I felt if he kept it the play would have had a higher yield, but I feel on some of these plays the RB is getting the ball despite the read to limit Cam's hits taken.

The only truly stupid plays that were made were a poorly thrown ball that Pat Robinson should have picked (if Cam tossed that a bit further downfield it woulda been a huge catch by smith), and that 4th down option run in the redzone.

2. As I expected, our offensive line is completely fine once they worked out the communication kinks. There were still a few times 3 man rushes got around to Cam, but it was nothing like vs the Bucs. The Saints* have had a fairly solid Dline since the Peyton train came to Nahlins but not quite as good as the Bucs. Amini is a freaking bear out there, if he's on the right page (lapses in judgement will happen, he's a rookie) he mauls and wrestles his guy out of the play. He's a nasty and mobile downfield blocker as well.

3. That rotational defensive line. CJ is the only star talent we'll need on this Dline. Hardy's weight gain has not effected his speed and he's shown significantly better containment and ability to hold the point of attack. The Edwards wall is just night and day compared to what we had last year. Neither of them will be stars, but they won't lose games for us. Frank Alexander already seems to be worth the pick, he's great at using his long arms and gets solid pressure. Keiser has one hell of a motor and just always beats his man one on one. The stats don't show it, but we pressured Drew Brees as well as you can.

4. A lot of Josh Norman on the field. This is a dream scenario that might actually come true, Captain taking on the slot and Norman being a solid number 2. We contained the Saints* receivers extremely well. Gamble is proving that last season wasn't a fluke, we've had one of the league's premier shut down corners for a long time and hid it behind Foxy's poor zone scheme. Nakamura is doing exactly what we want, he's not fuging up.

5. Keuchly and the linebackers. Well for one Keuchly isn't truly starting. With Thomas Davis playing at what looks to be 100%... how can you really blame the coaches for not wanting him on the field? Despite Keuchly's lack in numbers, the guy doesn't mess around. He's always near the ball when he's on the field and he at minimum will occupy a blocker once he recognizes the play. It's possible Anderson cedes his starting spot to TD, but I got a feeling we are just going to constantly rotate these four guys.

The Saints*:

1. As expected, the Saints* still just have too many weapons to permanently contain. We pretty much shut down their receivers (5 total between Moore and Colston, 7 if you add in Roby and Morgan) and Brees still threw for 325. Sproles is a yardage machine and Jimmy Graham is the best receiving tight end in the league, he's practically uncoverable.

2. The loss of Carl Nicks hurts. That line stonewalled us BAD last year. Having serviceable DTs in the middle helps quite a bit but Nicks may have well dialed our pressure down considerably.

3. The Saints* have accumulated ridiculous stat totals in essentially garbage time, making these games very close (no it's not truly garbage time, they found ways to make the games winnable), however this Saints* team is still extremely talented. Don't expect them to stay winless for long, they will be back and in the playoff hunt this season.

The Bucs:

Even though last year we blew the bucs out of the water in both games, lets not forget they started the season looking quite well last year, then had an utter meltdown and lost out on the season. They didn't beat the giants, and they beat us in the ugliest fashion possible, but they won't roll over like they did during their meltdown. I still feel they are the worst team in the division, but I think they'll be competitive with any team they face.

(Edit)

The Falcons:

1. Julio Jones is more human than the pre-season hype had everyone thinking. As physically gifted he is, he does not have the concentration of a truly elite wide receiver. If anyone saw that endzone drop he had, you know what I'm talking about. He had some big drops last year as well. They still have probably the best wide-out combo in the league and Norman/Gamble will have their work cut out for them.

2. Mike Turner is looking exactly like his pre-season anti-hype. Who knows what will happen with his DUI, but on the field he looks sluggish and not nearly as much of a bowling ball as he has in the past. Here's to hoping Jacquizz Rodgers doesn't step up big time.

3. Matt Ryan and the Oline. I'd like to think the Atlanta Oline is still weaker than the Saint's, and Matt Ryan (probably the only player in our division I have a shred of respect for) is not nearly as slimy and effective being pressured as Brees is. If we can dial up pressure with 3-4 man rushes we have a good shot at hurting what is looking like a spectacular season for Matty Ice.

4. The new Falcons defense scheme. Personnel-wise the Falcons have not gotten any better, but their new scheme is generating turnovers. I'm not entirely sure what Manning was thinking on any of those 3 picks, it seems like he didn't even count the number of defenders pre-snap. What the Falcons have been doing is hiding safeties behind linebackers and other defensive backs, giving the illusion of single coverage or a mismatch, then popping out of the woodwork when the ball is thrown. It really seemed as if Manning was more concerned with getting his guys on the same page pre-snap rather than taking a good long look to notice he can only see 9 defenders before the ball is snapped. So long as Cam is 100% aware of where everyone is pre-snap, he should be fine (assuming he and the coaches dissect the tape well enough).

5. The other side of the Falcons defense scheme. This heavy defensive-back oriented scheme and the lack of talent at linebacker is showing vulnerability to the run. McGahee and Jamaal Charles both racked up over 5 yards a carry, and neither were making stellar plays on their own. I would like to see us run some standard power running formations to test their toughness. I really think we can own them if we force a physical game on them.

[frash.exe]

Christ is Alexander doing a good job for a 4th round lineman in his second game

[Proudiddy]

Agreed with pretty much everything, but I'd like to point out also that despite hating all of the TEAMS in our division, I now have a most hated coach... Schiano is proving to be quite the S-bag. After their attitude and beating us last week, to see them take that cheap shot at Eli and the Giants' OL, that was just filthy. And the players didn't just do that on their own volition.

Schiano completely took credit for it and said he doesn't apologize.

I hope we destroy them when we play again.

[Frizzy350]

Agreed with pretty much everything, but I'd like to point out also that despite hating all of the TEAMS in our division, I now have a most hated coach... Schiano is proving to be quite the S-bag. After their attitude and beating us last week, to see them take that cheap shot at Eli and the Giants' OL, that was just filthy. And the players didn't just do that on their own volition.

Schiano completely took credit for it and said he doesn't apologize.

I hope we destroy them when we play again.

Well maybe he can enjoy a nice long vacation with Sean Payton soon.

But seriously, you can't tell just by looking at Schiano that the guy is a prick?

[rdog157h]

I hope someone puts there face mask into Schiano's tooth gap by "accident" of course! I am 100% behind Tom Coughlin, that was a bs cheap shot!

[frash.exe]

3. That rotational defensive line. CJ is the only star talent we'll need on this Dline. Hardy's weight gain has not effected his speed and he's shown significantly better containment and ability to hold the point of attack. The Edwards wall is just night and day compared to what we had last year. Neither of them will be stars, but they won't lose games for us. Frank Alexander already seems to be worth the pick, he's great at using his long arms and gets solid pressure. Keiser has one hell of a motor and just always beats his man one on one. The stats don't show it, but we pressured Drew Brees as well as you can.

A rotational defensive line that can produce is never a bad thing, but you'll get destroyed against a no-huddle offense if you rely on it too much. Seeing as how we have a bona-fide no huddle offense within our very own division, we'll need a little more versatility in the mode of the defensive line.

2. The loss of Carl Nicks hurts. That line stonewalled us BAD last year. Having serviceable DTs in the middle helps quite a bit but Nicks may have well dialed our pressure down considerably.

to be fair though our guys didn't do a bad job against an interior line anchored by Nicks last week. We put the pressure on Freeman and their running game wasn't gashing us. Our offensive line simply played so terrible that it didn't matter.

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

Agreed with pretty much everything, but I'd like to point out also that despite hating all of the TEAMS in our division, I now have a most hated coach... Schiano is proving to be quite the S-bag. After their attitude and beating us last week, to see them take that cheap shot at Eli and the Giants' OL, that was just filthy. And the players didn't just do that on their own volition.

Schiano completely took credit for it and said he doesn't apologize.

I hope we destroy them when we play again.

he seems like a poor man's belichick pretty much. we haven't seen much out of him but i don't like him either.

[Frizzy350]

to be fair though our guys didn't do a bad job against an interior line anchored by Nicks last week. We put the pressure on Freeman and their running game wasn't gashing us. Our offensive line simply played so terrible that it didn't matter.

True but I don't even know who the Bucs other guard is. I meant Nicks + Evans, probably the best guard tandems the league had to offer. The fact that they are split up makes it much more manageable.

[panther4life]

1. Cam has improved significantly in the passing department. He's leading the league in yards/attempt at over 10 yards, and has completed just barely under 70% of his passes. I doubt we will see any retarded numbers like a 5k passing performance just due to the balance of our offense.

His footwork is much more consistent, he seems to be reading defenses better and he seems to have gotten much better at the short and intermediate throws. His running skills are as good as ever, I thought he was going to break that 40 yard run into an 80ish yarder. A few times while using the zone-read and DeAngelo got stuffed I felt if he kept it the play would have had a higher yield, but I feel on some of these plays the RB is getting the ball despite the read to limit Cam's hits taken.

The only truly stupid plays that were made were a poorly thrown ball that Pat Robinson should have picked (if Cam tossed that a bit further downfield it woulda been a huge catch by smith), and that 4th down option run in the redzone.

2. As I expected, our offensive line is completely fine once they worked out the communication kinks. There were still a few times 3 man rushes got around to Cam, but it was nothing like vs the Bucs. The Saints* have had a fairly solid Dline since the Peyton train came to Nahlins but not quite as good as the Bucs. Amini is a freaking bear out there, if he's on the right page (lapses in judgement will happen, he's a rookie) he mauls and wrestles his guy out of the play. He's a nasty and mobile downfield blocker as well.

3. That rotational defensive line. CJ is the only star talent we'll need on this Dline. Hardy's weight gain has not effected his speed and he's shown significantly better containment and ability to hold the point of attack. The Edwards wall is just night and day compared to what we had last year. Neither of them will be stars, but they won't lose games for us. Frank Alexander already seems to be worth the pick, he's great at using his long arms and gets solid pressure. Keiser has one hell of a motor and just always beats his man one on one. The stats don't show it, but we pressured Drew Brees as well as you can.

4. A lot of Josh Norman on the field. This is a dream scenario that might actually come true, Captain taking on the slot and Norman being a solid number 2. We contained the Saints* receivers extremely well. Gamble is proving that last season wasn't a fluke, we've had one of the league's premier shut down corners for a long time and hid it behind Foxy's poor zone scheme. Nakamura is doing exactly what we want, he's not fuging up.

5. Keuchly and the linebackers. Well for one Keuchly isn't truly starting. With Thomas Davis playing at what looks to be 100%... how can you really blame the coaches for not wanting him on the field? Despite Keuchly's lack in numbers, the guy doesn't mess around. He's always near the ball when he's on the field and he at minimum will occupy a blocker once he recognizes the play. It's possible Anderson cedes his starting spot to TD, but I got a feeling we are just going to constantly rotate these four guys.

The Saints*:

1. As expected, the Saints* still just have too many weapons to permanently contain. We pretty much shut down their receivers (5 total between Moore and Colston, 7 if you add in Roby and Morgan) and Brees still threw for 325. Sproles is a yardage machine and Jimmy Graham is the best receiving tight end in the league, he's practically uncoverable.

2. The loss of Carl Nicks hurts. That line stonewalled us BAD last year. Having serviceable DTs in the middle helps quite a bit but Nicks may have well dialed our pressure down considerably.

3. The Saints* have accumulated ridiculous stat totals in essentially garbage time, making these games very close (no it's not truly garbage time, they found ways to make the games winnable), however this Saints* team is still extremely talented. Don't expect them to stay winless for long, they will be back and in the playoff hunt this season.

The Bucs:

Even though last year we blew the bucs out of the water in both games, lets not forget they started the season looking quite well last year, then had an utter meltdown and lost out on the season. They didn't beat the giants, and they beat us in the ugliest fashion possible, but they won't roll over like they did during their meltdown. I still feel they are the worst team in the division, but I think they'll be competitive with any team they face.

Great post top to bottom, but had to bold # 4, that is spot on.