Steelers vs. Falcons Preview

We've gotta stop Mike Vick, right? I mean, he's the whole key to the offense, right? Well, sort of. Everybody pays so damn much attention to Michael Vick that they forget about the Jerious Norwoods and Warrick Dunns of the world. Warrick Dunn can flat out kill you. He was Fast Willie before Fast Willie was Fast Willie. Elusive, fast back that could catch passes. Book on him was that he was too small. Couldn't last a whole season. Ten years later? Well, football people are stupid.

I really think we can do a damn good job of containing Vick. Until we decided to stop playing defense in the 2002 game against Vick (that freakin' tie!) we owned Vick. The Falcons have a crappy pass defense, a small defensive line (three guys from that line are on the injury report, btw), and three crybaby receivers that suck more than a crack whore that's two weeks between fixes.

Our outside linebackers are faster and more athletic than your average defensive lineman. The fact that we have two of those guys and one fewer defensive lineman really works to our advantage. The key to beating Vick is by containing him from the outside and forcing him up the middle. Or, ya know, forcing the quarterback to throw the ball, but that's a different story. In that same 2002 game, Porter chased down Vick, caused a fumble, and recovered it. I really hope he plays. Porter and Haggans can at least chase the man down.

The Falcons have the best rushing offense in the NFL. They're averaging 234 rushing yards per game. Averaging 234 rushing yards a game. They've done most of that out of either a straight formation, running the ball between the tackles ocassionally, but mostly running the ball outside and running out of a shotgun-run-option with Vick. The Saints were able to contain this by staying disciplined and stretching the play out. The big issue with running to the outside is that you've got to deal with defenders trying to kill you and you've got to deal with the sideline. We need to force Vick and Dunn to go East-to-West. If they do a lot of North-to-South running, we're in deep, deep shit.

But, I think we can do it. Think of all the stretch, sweep, and off-tackle stuff everyone has run against us this year. They must have about 13 yards on 18 carries. Because our linemen play have such great gap discipline and our linebackers are very quick, it's extremely difficult to stretch us out and run wide on us. Madden and all those other jokers talk about Casey Hampton, Larry Foote, and James Farrior. The whole reason those guys get so many tackles is because teams know they can't run outside the tackles against us at all, so they settle for what they can get between the tackles.

When we have the ball, it's easy. Well, provided that the three guys that are hurt (their three best pass rushers) either are scratched from the line-up or play hurt. They're small anyway. As long as we stick to running the ball, we'll mow their skinny asses down. Football is a game of attrition. Fast guys get tired, big guys don't shrink.

All we have to do is not go pass crazy at the beginning of the game. Run the ball, be patient, run some screen passes and draw plays to Davenport and Fast Willie to slow down the pass rush, then try to victimize their old, slow safeties with deep passes off of playaction.

One issue: All 956 pounds of Grady Jackson. This dude is a load. The only guy on our offensive line that's even close to as big as Jackson is Chris Keameatu (or however the hell you spell that). Chis is fat, angry, and once got suspended for kicking a BYU player in the head. We need to tell him that Jackson played for BYU. That he reads the Book of Mormon every night. And, most importantly since Chris has weight issues, we need to tell him that Jackson has a ham sandwich stashed somewhere on his person.

Overall, we just need to pound on these guys. Vick's small. Dunn's small. Their offensive and defensive lines are small. We need to beat on them until they don't want to get up anymore. You'd think a team that rushes for 230+ yards a game would be physical, but they're not. They're a bunch of doilie-sewing sissies and we need to punish them for that. Beat on them early, win late.

All in all, though, I'm not really worried about this game. I really think we're going to beat them and beat them soundly. Not Kansas City soundly, but soundly. The only thing that worries me is that I'm not at all worried. That and the fact that Michael Vick could pull some craziness out of his ass and win the game all by himself. But not by throwing the ball.

Prediction:
Steelers 24, Falcons 10