The poor Atlanta Falcons.  They ran into a defensive buzzsaw last week in Minnesota and now they will have to deal with the talented and angry defense of the Jacksonville Jaguars.  The Falcons will definately try to run the football against the Jags who allowed 282 yards rushing on 49 carries last week (5.8 ypc) against the Tennessee Titans.  Warrick Dunn rushed for 55 yards on 22 carries (2.5 ypc) against a tough Vikings defense but Coach Petrino wants to expand Jerious Norwood’s role in the offense.  Dunn is starting to look beat down and old while Norwood has an extra spring in his step.  Norwood carried the ball 5 times for 33 yards (6.6 ypc) last week and he also caught 2 passes for 24 yards.  If the Falcons can get the running game going it would likely slow the pass rush down a little bit which would enable them to throw the ball down the field a bit.  More than likely the Falcons will concentrate on getting the ball to TE Alge Crumpler against the young safeties of the Jags.  Joey Harrington must not get happy feet if the Jags are bringing a blitz as he threw two pick sixes last week against the Vikings.

This is a game built for the Jaguars to punish someone.  They are likely angry after the Titans came into Jacksonville and pushed them around.  That will not happen this week against the Falcons.  Look for the Jaguars to get back to basic football as they will attack the Falcons soft run defense repeatedly.  The Falcons allowed 139 yards rushing on 27 carries (5.1 ypc) last week against the Vikings.  Look for the running game to be a time share between Fred Taylor (16 yards) and Maurice Jones-Drew (32 yards) pounding away at the Falcons defense.  LB Keith Brooking will likely be the main man that the Jags need to block to run amok on the Falcons defense.  Look for the Jags to throw the ball a little bit more than usual on first down to trick the Falcons defense.  They really need a receiver to step up and be the main man starting this week.

PREDICTION:  After this game the Falcons will be looking forward to there bye week because they won’t lose.  The Jaguars will stuff the Falcons running game and run all over them.  The Jags should win this football game by at least 10 points.

The Falcons have lost DT Rod Coleman for the next three to five weeks after he underwent surgery on his right knee.  This will hurt the Falcons run defense as Coleman allows the linebackers to run free.  Hopefully Jordan Babineaux will be able to help the run defense until Coleman is ready to return.  He made a whopping 2 tackles against the Vikings in the season opener.  Also, the Falcons have re-signed running back Jason Snelling to the practice squad.

One thing I figured out watching this game is that it’s going to be a long, long season for the Falcons.  QB Joey Harrington flat out stunk up the joint in Minnesota as he completed 23 of 32 passes for 199 yards and 2 interceptions.  Both of the pickoffs resulted in TD returns for the Vikings!  Warrick Dunn carried the football 22 times for 55 yards (2.5 ypc) and he also caught 4 passes for 26 yards (6.5 avg).  Jerious Norwood looked better than Dunn as he carried the ball 5 times for 33 yards (6.6 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 24 yards (12.0 avg).  TE Alge Crumpler led the receiving corps with a whopping 4 grabs for 40 yards (10.0 avg).  The Falcons finished up rushing for 96 yards on 28 carries (3.4 ypc) and they also completed 23 of 32 passes for 169 yards.

The Falcons defense also had issues especially against the run.  The Vikings rolled up 139 yards rushing on 27 carries (5.1 ypc).  But, they only threw for 163 yards on 13 of 23 passing.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=270909016

Many sportsbooks have taken the Falcons off the board due to Michael Vick going to the pokey and that was a smart move because people would be pounding the under.  If Matt Schaub was still in Atlanta I might have been tempted to take the over, but I’m scared of Joey Harrington.  Also, Warrick Dunn is finally starting to near the end of his career due to all the wear and tear his little body has suffered.  Don’t discount that the Falcons are going with a rookie kicker which means they could leave some points on the field.  They will be lucky to win 5 games this season let alone 8.

The Falcons just don’t match up well with the Vikings.  The Falcons are trying open up the offense more through the air and that’s the best plan of attacking a Vikings’ defense that just doesn’t give up any rushing yards to anyone.  The Vikings have a good set of DBs in CBs Antoine Winfield, Cedric Griffin and safeties Dwight Smith and Darren Sharper and they match up very well against Joe Horn and the rejects (Roddy White & Michael Jenkins).  Look for Darren Sharper and Dwight Smith to shut down Alge Crumpler in the passing game.  The Falcons running game was so good last season because of Michael Vick and he’s no longer around.  The rushing yards will be hard for the Falcons to come by as DTs Pat Williams and Kevin Williams are hard to move.  Also MLB E.J. Henderson is an assassin in the running game when running free which he will likely be doing against the Falcons.  Look for Warrick Dunn and Jerious Norwood to each have long days against the Vikings on Sunday.

The Vikings are going to be very vanilla on offense as they are going to run the football.  The Falcons do have the size in the middle to challenge the offensive line of the Vikings with DTs Rod Coleman and Grady Jackson.  Also, MLB Keith Brooking is all over the football field and he will likely be dealing with Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor on a lot of power runs.  OLBs Demorrio Williams and Michael Boley must contain the running backs on outside runs or the Falcons will be in for a long day.  Falcons strong safety Lawyer Milloy is a good run defender and the front seven of the Falcons defense will need his help.  The Falcons do have a nice set of pass rushing ends in RE John Abraham and LE rookie Jamaal Anderson but Vikings’ QB Tavaris Jackson will not be passing much.  CB DeAngelo Hall who is outstanding in coverage will be negated by the fact that the Vikings don’t throw and they have no #1 WR.  Get used to seeing the Vikings run to the left behind tackle Bryant McKinnie and guard Steve Hutchinson because the Falcons won’t likely be able to stop them from doing it.

PREDICTION:  The Falcons are a mess right now and Coach Petrino will wish he was back coaching at Louisville after this game.  Look for a low scoring, boring football game that the Vikings will win.

The Falcons have traded CB/KR Allen Rossum to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a late round draft pick in 2008.  Rossum had a decent pre-season as he had 4 tackles, returned 4 punts for 28 yards (7.0 avg) and he returned 3 kickoffs for 110 yards (36.7 avg).  Rossum was apparently beaten out by WR Adam Jennings as the new return man for the Falcons.  Rossum played in all 16 games last season for the Falcons and he made 34 tackles and defensed 2 passes.  Rossum also returned 46 kickoffs for 1,082 yards (23.5 avg) and 37 punts for 288 yards (7.8 avg).

The Falcons have signed RB Atrose Pinner.  Pinner was released by the Vikings after carrying the football 22 times for 70 yards (3.2 ypc) with 1 TD run and he also caught 2 passes for 4 yards.  Pinner has now played in 40 games in the NFL (7 starts) and he has carried the football 245 times for 812 yards (3.3 ypc) with 8 TD runs.  He also has caught 39 passes for 308 yards (7.9 avg).  Pinner will likely be the #3 RB on the Falcons behind Warrick Dunn and Jerious Norwood.

The Falcons have released RB Jason Snelling, linebacker Jordan Beck, RB Arlen Harris and WR Vincent Marshall.  Snelling had a great pre-season as he carried the football 39 times for 172 yards (4.4 ypc) and he also caught 7 passes for 35 yards (5.0 avg).  Linebacker Jordan Beck also had a decent pre-season with 9 tackles to no avail as it wasn’t good enough to get him a job.  RB Arlen Harris didn’t play too well in the pre-season and that’s why he was cut.  He carried the football 23 times for 57 yards (2.5 ypc).  WR Vincent Marshall had a solid pre-season but it wasn’t enough to crack the WR corps of the Falcons.  He caught 5 passes for 87 yards (17.4 avg) in the pre-season.

The Falcons have signed QB Casey Bramlet to their practice squad.  He completed 5 of 9 passes (55.6%) in the pre-season for 80 yards with 0 TDs and 0 INTs (85.4 QB Rating).  Bramlet will be the #3 QB on the Falcons behind Joey Harrington and Chris Redman.

The Falcons have cut veteran kicker Billy Cundiff who was 6 for 8 on field goal attempts and the only ones he missed were 50+ yards.  The Falcons will go with Matt Prater who has never attempted a field goal in a regular season game.  I can just see the Falcons having Morten Andersen’s number on the Falcons’ GMs speed dial.