Sep 14, 2007, 18:12 GMT
- The Jacksonville Jaguars had trouble stopping the run and running the football in last week's loss to the Tennessee Titans. Now it's the Atlanta Falcons' turn to try and do the same thing to the Jaguars in a Week 2 interconference matchup among winless teams that takes place this Sunday at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium.
The Falcons opened their season with a 24-3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings last Sunday at the Metrodome. They gave up the big play twice and didn't get much from quarterback Joey Harrington, who threw a pair of interceptions and ended with 199 yards passing in head coach Bobby Petrino's regular-season debut.
Petrino failed in his first attempt to bring his high-powered offense from the University of Louisville to fruition with the Falcons, who finished with just 265 total yards in the opener. The offensive line was the main problem, allowing six sacks and paving the way for just 96 yards on the ground.
After the Jags were run over by Tennessee for 282 yards on the ground, including a career-high 175 yards rushing by running back Chris Brown, Falcons backs Warrick Dunn and Jerious Norwood are most likely primed for Sunday's game. But don't forget that Jacksonville sported one of the best run defenses in the league last year, and the majority of that stop unit is back.
Dunn had 55 yards on 22 carries and Norwood added 33 yards on five rushes against the Vikings. Those numbers are not threatening, but who knew Brown would have run roughshod over Jacksonville in front of its home crowd?
Jacksonville suffered a 13-10 loss to Tennessee in Week 1 and paid too much attention to Titans elusive quarterback Vince Young. Young didn't have to work that hard, since Tennessee's offensive line and Brown did all the work in wearing down head coach Jack Del Rio's vaunted defense.
Lucky for Jacksonville this week, Michael Vick is nowhere near an NFL football field, as the talented quarterback is in the midst of defending himself in an alleged dog fighting case. Vick would have caused problems for the Jags, something Harrington rarely does to opposing defenses.
Jaguars new starting quarterback David Garrard had a strong performance under his new title, passing for 204 yards and a touchdown against the Titans. Garrard and running backs Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew are expected to break out this weekend against a weak Atlanta defense. Taylor and Jones-Drew combined for just 48 yards rushing last week, so expect a big change in the offensive scheme this time around.
SERIES HISTORY
Jacksonville has a 2-1 edge in its all-time series with Atlanta, but was a 21-14 road loser when the teams last met back in 2003. The Jaguars were 19-17 home winners when the clubs met in 1996 and prevailed at the Georgia Dome by a 30-7 count in 1999.
Del Rio is 0-1 against Atlanta in his career as a head coach. The Falcons' Petrino, an assistant with the Jaguars from 1999 through 2001, will be meeting both Del Rio and Jacksonville for the first time as a head coach.
WHEN THE FALCONS HAVE THE BALL
Harrington is very limited in what he can do for an offense, so that is why Atlanta must utilize the ground game with Dunn and Norwood. Jacksonville did give up a lot of rushing yards last week, but that's unlikely to happen in consecutive weeks.
Dunn had an average Week 1 but is capable of doing more than 55 yards on the ground and 26 yards receiving. The veteran is still a threat coming out of the backfield and will test Jacksonville's linebacking corps led by Mike Peterson this Sunday. Peterson topped the Jags with eight total tackles last week, making up for an inept first line of defense. Enormous Pro Bowl tackles John Henderson and Marcus Stroud had 10 tackles and a sack between them last week, but seemed to be more focused on Young scrambling out of the pocket.Stroud and Henderson won't have that dilemma this week, since Harrington is about as mobile as they are. But the duo will have to deal with Dunn and Norwood, especially after what happened in Week 1.
The Jacksonville secondary will be busy in keeping up with Dunn, Falcons tight end Alge Crumpler and wideouts Joe Horn and Roddy White. Horn was signed in the offseason and had one catch for 14 yards versus Minnesota, while Crumpler led the bunch with 40 yards on four catches. Tennessee only had 68 yards through the air last week in Jacksonville, mainly because it did all the work on the ground.
Jack Del Rio's defensive backfield consisting of stud cornerback Rashean Mathis, Brian Williams, strong safety Gerald Sensabaugh and rookie free safety Reggie Nelson will be put to the test, since the Falcons enjoy throwing the football. They better be ready after the poor tackling display the unit went through last week.
WHEN THE JAGUARS HAVE THE BALL
Jacksonville failed to block and get the ground game going last Sunday, areas which catapulted them to the brink of the playoffs last year. Taylor and Jones-Drew were completely shut down by Tennessee, but the Falcons did no better stopping the run in Minnesota than the Jags did against the Titans. Atlanta allowed Vikings rookie Adrian Peterson to run wild for 103 yards on 19 rushes. If a rookie can rip up the Falcons like that, imagine what Taylor and Jones-Drew can do. In two career meetings with the Falcons, Taylor has posted a pair of 100-yard rushing games for a total of 245 yards on 49 touches. He needs 471 more rushing yards to become the 21st player in NFL history to reach the 10,000-yard mark.
Atlanta star middle linebacker Keith Brooking had three solo tackles and assisted on five others in the Minnesota loss. Brooking will be busy again against a much better rushing attack, as will outside linebackers Demorrio Williams and Michael Boley.
Falcons veteran safety Lawyer Milloy led the way with five solo tackles last week, while All-Pro cornerback DeAngelo Hall recorded his 13th career interception in the loss. Free safety Jimmy Williams and Lewis Sanders make up the rest of the Atlanta secondary and will be in charge of covering Jacksonville receivers Matt Jones, Dennis Northcutt (4 receptions, 57 yards in Week 1), Ernest Wilford (2 receptions, 20 yards) and possibly Reggie Williams, the former first-round pick who was inactive for the opener.
The mobile Garrard is coming off an impressive first game in which he passed for 204 yards and a touchdown. He also scrambled five times for an additional 24 yards. Petrino must have his defenders ready for Garrard's dual threat, because the Atlanta defense will get burnt if not.
On a special teams note, the Jaguars were hamstrung by kicker Josh Scobee last week, as he injured his quadriceps in warmups and could only contribute on PAT's and chip-shot field-goal attempts. Del Rio is not messing around with that scenario this week, as veteran kicker John Carney was brought in on Tuesday.
FANTASY FOCUS
Fantasy owners were not happy with what running backs Taylor and Jones-Drew failed to accomplish last week. But don't fret, because both will have a much better showing this week against a porous Atlanta defense. Garrard performed well against Tennessee and will enjoy another solid week of tossing the football around. The Jacksonville receivers are not much of a threat to put up big numbers and neither are Atlanta's. The only Falcons worthy of fantasy starting status are running backs Dunn and Norwood and tight end Crumpler. Neither defense has fantasy potential.
OVERALL ANALYSIS
If the Jaguars can block and tackle on Sunday, they will win. And if Taylor and Jones-Drew get hot, Del Rio will reach the win column for the first time in 2007. Those are big ifs, but close enough to the truth. Garrard will have no problem picking apart the Atlanta defense unless he fails to get the protection he got last week, when he went down just twice because of his ability to move around between the tackles. The Jags just need to contain both Dunn and Norwood, but then again an average Chris Brown looked like Tony Dorsett last week at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. The 2007 season will be a tough one for Atlanta, which is headed for its first 0-2 start since the 2002 campaign.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Jaguars 27, Falcons 20
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