Falcons' defense not statistically up to par with final four teams

[northwinds]

To put it in perspective, two of the Packers LBs (Hawk and Matthews) put up better playmaking numbers than our three starters:

Hawk/Matthews–14 sacks; 8 tackles for loss; 4 interceptions

Atlanta’s starters–4 sacks; 8 tackles for loss; 3 interceptions

And I'm not even gonna mention that we passed on Clay Matthews in the draft......

[Anomaly]

I just don't understand all these "we passed up [player]" or "we could have had [player]", seriously we could have had Tom Brady but we don't so just deal with it and move on.

[northwinds]

(01-23-2011 05:41 PM)Va Falcon 88 Wrote:  I just don't understand all these "we passed up [player]" or "we could have had [player]", seriously we could have had Tom Brady but we don't so just deal with it and move on.

That's why I said I wasn't gonna mention that we passed up Clay Mathhews in the draft for some kid named Jerry.....LMAO.

[JDaveG]

(01-23-2011 12:48 PM)northwinds Wrote:  To put it in perspective, two of the Packers LBs (Hawk and Matthews) put up better playmaking numbers than our three starters:

Hawk/Matthews–14 sacks; 8 tackles for loss; 4 interceptions

Atlanta’s starters–4 sacks; 8 tackles for loss; 3 interceptions

And I'm not even gonna mention that we passed on Clay Matthews in the draft......

That's not exactly a fair comparison though. 13.5 of those sacks were Matthews alone (meaning A.J. Hawk -- who actually plays a position more akin to our LBs, only had .5 sacks this season). Why is that an issue? Matthews plays OLB in a 3-4, meaning he's functionally the same as our DE. The OLB in a 3-4 rushes the passer (alternating with the other OLB, of course, but I'd bet they sent Matthews a lot).

John Abraham had 13 sacks this season. Given their respective roles, he's the guy to compare to Clay Matthews.