MVN - Most Valuable Network

Mission: Atlanta Falcons

The 8-5 Bucs try to wrap up the NFC South this week with a victory over the 3-10 Falcons. The best part about all of this? Jeff Garcia has been confirmed as the starter. Thanks, Luke McCown, but this is Jeff Garcia’s team. And it’s only fitting that they’re going to win the division with him in control.

I thought the Falcons would have a chance against the Saints on Monday night. I was wrong. Their offense did impress me, but the Saints defense was too much. Almost sure to get the start again, is QB Chris Redman, who has a 91.8 rating in the 1 1/4 games he’s played this year. He was good against the Saints, but again, they were too powerful. Aside from Redman’s rise, the Bucs have to be wary of the running combination of Warrick Dunn, and Jerious Norwood, both of which are listed as day-to-day with injuries. Then of course there is the triple threat of receivers in Roddy White, Michael Jenkins, and Alge Crumpler. Despite all the quarterback troubles, the Falcons are still 8th in the league in third down conversions, and 8th in the league in total passing plays. The Falcons have a pretty good defense, led by Michael Boley, Keith Brooking, and the always dangerous DeAngelo Hall, who leads the team with 4 INT’s. 4 players have two interceptions, and two players have one. Surprisingly, their defense is 4th in the league in third down conversions allowed.

The Bucs, coming off of a tough loss, will have Jeff Garcia back at the helm, a huge burst of momentum. But in gaining Garcia, they will lose Jerramy Stevens, who has been suspended for Sunday’s game. Ike Hilliard remains questionable. The Buccaneers defense, still reeling from last week’s loss, is still 2nd in the league in points allowed per game, is 3rd in the league in total yards per game, and is 4th in the league in total passing yards per game allowed. They still rank in the top 10 in several defensive categories. They are also 4th in the league in rushing touchdowns, ala Earnest Graham.

The Bucs are stuck in the funk of a one-game losing streak, while the Falcons are riding a four-game lose streak, started off by the loss to Tampa. The Bucs need one more victory this season to win the NFC South, and hopefully it will come against the reeling Falcons, who, in the same week, witness their “franchise player” go to jail, and have to deal with the fact that their coach quit on them, with only three weeks left to go.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 16th, 2007 at 7:55 pm and is filed under Game Previews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.