Falcons: Are the Falcons a Great Team

[ChrisD]

This Falcons team is the best one I can remember in a very long time. It's certainly the best since Dimitroff and Smith came into the organization at the very least. While Turner has been a let down this season, I think we went out and showed everyone yesterday that we do have different ways to run the football. We ran pretty effectively on the #1 run defense, that was the plan by Mike Smith and what he wanted to show.

The defense looks fast out there, but I do think that there needs to be a few small changes with it. Loved the pass rush yesterday, it looked wonderful. I'm not sure about our tackling though. While some people think it was great yesterday, I think we held the Bucs to very few big plays on the ground and it was deceiving when looking at the tackles because there were still a lot of guys flying off offensive players before they went down. We need to have a healthy secondary, and whatever Nolan was doing with our guys back against the Denver Broncos - he needs to do that again come playoff time. I have full confidence Nolan will step it up.

Whether anyone likes it or not though, this teams playoff run IS going to come down to how well Matt Ryan plays. I've said it before and I'll continue to say it - Matt Ryan needs to play his best football when the playoffs come. He's been playing great, but the playoffs have been his personal wall and no one can deny that. I understand it takes an entire team to put together a winning game, but if Matt Ryan turns the ball over against some of these better teams - we could be finished with just one mere mistake.

The Falcons are a great football team, make no mistake about what I am saying here. They find ways to win games even when they play their absolute worst football. I want to see them play their best football just once down the stretch here before we get to the playoffs though.