Malcolm Jenkins: Falcons Tony Gonzalez
 

S Malcolm Jenkins on slowing down Falcons TE Tony Gonzalez:
"I think we’re just going to rely on guys stepping up and rely on guys manning up and take him. He’s a Hall-of-Fame player. We’ve just kind of got to deal with it and make sure he doesn’t kill us by himself.

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Gonzalez AND Turner steamrolled us in the last game. After watching Ray Rice gash us, I'm not feeling too confident that we can do more than "limit" Turner.

The key is 3rd and longs for Ryan and company.

Standard rules apply. We need to get ahead early and force them to put the game in Ryan's hands. They're screwed if they have to abandon their running game.

We are going to hope our LBs and Roman Harper step up in covering Gonzalez. He ate our lunch in the first game and he's not even having a great season.

I hear you. If we can't get them in 3rd and 7 or more we are just going to have to trade punches with them and hope for the turnover advantage or a miscue on their part. They aren't spectacular in any sense, few shots downfield and Turner is slow. Thing is, he weighs 245lbs. It's tough keeping him from getting 2-3 yards every carry.

They can cover him.Just by Jenkins comments you know they are perpared.

You are so correct. If we don't stop him we don't have a chance. He was catching alot of passes and big first down catches at that. We need to stop him at all costs this game!

If I see Shanle trying to cover Gonzalez, its over guys.

Saw a lot of Gonzo beating Shanle and Porter last time.... I'm with you Danno.

Here's the thing, too many turnovers in the last game - and we STILL could've (should've) won.

This time New Orleans is a much healthier, more focused team.

I look for Lance Moore and Reggie to have big impacts and for the defense to play much better vs. Gonzo and Turner

Yep, if we don't play sloppy, we win.

But if I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say "look fook for Reggie to have a big game", and he didn't, I'd be a freakin zillionaire.

Reggie is irrelevant. I'm more worried about Reggie coughing it up than I am confident that he'll have a good game.

I'm hoping the Falcons think #25 is irrelevant also.

Regardless of how poorly this season has gone for him (and I recognize that his stats have decreased each of the last 3 seasons), this is an important game for him and stats will never tell his true impact. * NO, turnovers (with limited touches) don't exactly help...BUT, he'll draw two defenders all game and we know how lethal our offense is vs one-on-one matcups.

Now without turning this into another Reggie Bush thread, let me say that his impact as a receiver is much greater than as a RB (duh) and with PT and Ivory healthy, Payton's game plan is much more flexible.

Okay dude, get to the point!! :p Alright, so why does 25 have a "big game"?

Because the entire offense is focused and Reggie will have opportunities to move in space - where he's always one missed tackle from going all the way.

Game Plan: Removes the need for our Defense to stop the run or pass.

Score a TD every possession.
Get one more possession than they do.

We win!

We don't turn the ball over, we win

And we almost got away with THREE the last game...

He rarely draws 2 defenders any more. I can't remember the last time Reggie was double-teamed.

But he may have that game we've been waiting for, he's certainly overdue for one.

I expect our defense to really mix things up. I doubt that Shanle will be left alone on Gonzales very much.(hopefully) We need to score early and take the running game out of the equation for the dirty rats with wings.

Here are my two keys to the game:

1. Pierre Thomas needs to have a big game not only running the ball, but in the screen game as well. If we can't keep ATL off balance then we don't stand much of a chance.
2. 3rd DOWN DEFENSE!!! We got killed on third downs in the first game; either big catches by Gonzalez or conversions on third and shorts by Turner. We have to get off the field.

THAT should be number one. Great point.

They wore us down, and then by overtime our defense was totally spent.

Like someone said earlier, they only averaged 4.0 YPC against us. Thats respectable. But those damn 3rd down and 4th down conversions destroyed and demoralized our defense.

We have to get them off the field. Maybe more run blitzes, less pass blitzes? hell I dunno. It may be a feast or famine scheme, but at least they won't kill us with 10 minute drives.

Reggie has 6 TD's in his last 4 Monday Night Games.

Keep the streak alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We play pretty good in spotlight games. I expect a sense of urgency and to not get embarrased on the national stage.

To me, the simple key to winning this game is that the Saints NEED TO SCORE POINTS IN THE 2nd and 3rd QUARTERS, not just explode big in the first quarter, go to sleep for a while, and then suddenly come alive again in the last 4 minutes of the game looking for a miracle play... Going up by a big lead in the 1st period is NOT going to "force the Falcons to pass more" and start Ryan throwing the ball wildly...trust me,the Falcons will keep dinking and dunking and Turnering, all game long, even if down by 2 scores...but if the Saints' offense gets ahead and then pulls a Rip Van Winkle in the 2nd and 3rd quarter, like they've been doing so often this year...then Ryan, Turner and the Falcons will have all night to grind their way back into the game, 5 yards at a time.

Matt Ryan and the Falcons are kinda like the Monty Python "But I'm not dead yet!" guy...they don't know when to quit. Even if they're losing, you're telling them they're dead, they'll keep on arguing with you, and singing to you, insisting "but I'm feeling much better now," until you BONK THEM ON THE HEAD, by scoring enough points ALL THROUGH THE GAME, to take them out of it...that's how the Eagles did it. Not just that they went up big by 14 early, but that they KEPT SCORING all game long, and kept their lead.


When the Broncos beat Ryan and the Falcons at home (last home loss for Ryan in the GA Dome), the Broncos didn't do anything exceptional or magical, they weren't even that good of a team...they just didn't turn the ball over and they had good offensive drives, consistently all the way through the game, they scored points methodically and then when the game got within two minutes, with the Falcons behind, Turner became irrelevant and they turned it over on downs. But the early lead was actually completely insignificant -- it's just the last two or three minutes where you can take Turner out of it if you have the lead.