While I would hesitate to call the Falcons a great team, the Buccaneers should not look past them.
Their team is very gritty and can beat opponents in a variety of ways. Except through the air. But their usually laughably bad defense has actual looked solid this time around. And Desmond Ridder has had games where he has tricked fans that he can be a franchise QB.
It starts with stopping the run. The Falcons are similar to me to the Lions in terms of how they want their offense to run (they definitely are not as talented as them that’s for sure). It all flows through the run game. If the Bucs run defense shows up, then the Falcons will suffer. Bijan Robinson has looked good this season, but the Lions proved that he can be shut down against good defenses. Now, the Bucs had stopped the Lions run game and lost, but Jared Goff is a really good QB. Desmond Ridder… is a QB on the field. That might actually be debatable, but he technically plays the position.
That is because Ridder has not proven to be a good QB. Last week, he threw 3 ints to the Commanders. He can not carry a team. It will certainly be difficult to get pressure against the Falcons’ o-line, but Bowles has proved he can do it. Plus, with a healthy Calijah Kancey and hopefully a healthy Vita Vea, that will help a lot. Pressure Ridder and he will almost certainly turn the ball over.
On offense, I cannot stress this enough. Ahem, ahem, DON’T RUN THE BALL EVERY FIRST DOWN!!! This is not the team to start the run game against. If Canales does want to force the ball to Rachaad White (or Sneak Vaughn for some godforsaken reason), then he has to be smart about it. Outside runs or handoffs to Deven Thompkins have proven to work for this team.
Baker Mayfield also needs to make sure his eyes are constantly on Jessie Bates. Bates is a great safety and easily the best player on their defense. And more than that, he is a ballhawk. Mayfield needs to play it safe with the ball and that starts with watching Bates like a hawk.
This is a game that the Bucs should be able to win. While the Falcons have played pretty decent in some games, I don’t think they are quite there yet. In another offseason, we will probably be talking about this team as really good, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous now. If the Buccaneers handle the run of the Falcons and the offense is efficient, they can get the dub.
Make sure you check out Devin’s blog at cannoncrunch.wordpress.com.
Cannon Crunch with Devin Sanguinett
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