Pats Pulpit
In a way, the Atlanta Falcons are quite familiar to New England Patriots fans across the globe; the two clubs’ meeting in Super Bowl LI remains one of the defining games in recent NFL history. That said, given that they are playing in two different conferences they are only regularly scheduled to meet every so often.
This is one of those years: for the first time since 2021, the Patriots and Falcons will go at each other again. So, to find out more about the Patriots’ Week 9 opponent, we reached out to Jeanna Kelley of Pats Pulpit’s sister site The Falcoholic, the SB Nation community for all things Falcons.
Here is what he told us about the upcoming game and opponent.
1. What went wrong for the Falcons in last week’s loss? Was it a fluke or a sign of bigger issues?
I hate to say it’s the injuries, and it’s not only the injuries, but the injuries are a big factor. One player shouldn’t be able to make or break an entire game, much less one single linebacker. But Atlanta’s defense is a shell of itself without Divine Deablo on the field. Deablo, who left the previous week’s game against the 49ers and landed on IR with a broken forearm, has been the perfect fit for this defense in terms of his athleticism and versatility. He’s opened things up for Kaden Ellis to be even more effective rushing the passer. The other injuries on defense haven’t helped either: Billy Bowman Jr. was excellent to start the season, but has been sidelined for weeks with a hamstring injury; Jalon Walker with a groin injury, and Zach Harrison, who’s also been a pleasant surprise this season, was out with a knee injury. On Thursday, the Falcons had zero players who weren’t able to practice, so it’s possible we’ll see Bowman, Harrison, Walker, and Leonard Floyd on the field vs. the Patriots, but still, with Deablo out, my expectations are not high. He’s the glue for that defense.
Offensively, I’m concerned about the line. Despite losing RT Kaleb McGary to injury before the season kicked off, they held up well over the first few weeks. But since the loss to SF, they’ve started coming undone. Jake Matthews is still nursing an ankle injury, too, which doesn’t help. Miami completely shut down the run game, which shouldn’t be easy to do with Bijan Robinson in the backfield, and yet. Drake London should be back this week, which will make the offense less one-dimensional and a little tougher to defend, but I’ve been impressed with the Pats defense over the past few weeks, and I am nervous about this one. The Falcons’ receiver depth was really exposed last week against the Dolphins and if the line can’t get the run game moving again this week, I think the Falcons are in trouble.
**2. Is there a more important player to shut down in Atlanta’s offense than Bijan Robinson? How would you attack the...
