The “I Could Care Less” Game of the
Week:
New Orleans Saints (5-6)
vs. Atlanta Falcons (3-8)
Location: Georgia Dome, Atlanta, GA
For the
2nd time this season, the Falcons will play a primetime game on the
same day Michael Vick will be in court.
Today, he is being sentenced for his involvement in a dog fighting
operation in a federal court. He still
has another case pending in Virginia in a civil court. Not the P.R. the Falcons needed right before
their game tonight. Now, instead of the
analyst talking about game strategy for tonight’s game, all of the talk will be
about Vick and how his behavior has hurt his team and the league.
Both of
these teams were expected to be playoff contenders this season. We know what happened in Atlanta to void their playoff
chances. For the Saints, injuries and
poor execution has been the factor for their disappointing season. Well now it’s gotten worse. RB Reggie
Bush is diagnosed with a partially torn posterior cruciate
ligament in his left knee
that may end his season. He’s definitely
out of tonight’s game; that means RB Aaron
Stecker will be the starter for tonight’s match-up.
Falcon’s
Head Coach Bobby
Petrino
is back playing the “QB Shuffle” and has decided to startformer Louisville and current 3rd
string QB, Chris
Redman
for tonight’s game. itlooks as though Pertino is looking for another spark for his team’s offensive
woes. Truthfully, if he hasn’t found the
spark by now, he needs to let that go and look towards the offseason.
The Saints need to go to the air tonight. QB Drew
Brees
has to carry the team on his shoulders for the Saints to win. That means he has to play smart and precisefootball tonight. If the WRs aren’t
open, throw the ball away. Although the
run game isn’t the strongest right now, do stray away from it. The Saints have to stick to their original
offensive game play tonight and execute the offense as if Bush was
playing. On defense, the Saints have to
attack the line of scrimmage. With
Redamn at QB, the Falcons will most likely focus on establishing the run
game. The Saints have to shut it down as
soon as the Falcons snap the ball.
The Falcons, like the Saints, also have to shut down the
offense as soon as they snap the ball.
But instead of worrying about the run game, the Falcons have to go after
Brees. Brees is the main cog in the
Saints’ offensive machine for the remainder of the season. All of the game planning and decision making
will be focused around Brees. If the
Falcons attack Brees, the offense will be thrown off. On offense, the Falcons run game has been
sporadic. It comes and goes like Ricky
William’s revolving door of the NFL. The
Falcons have to run the ball tonight and hope they can open up the offense
enough to get a big play from the air.
With both of these teams playing for pride, I believe that
tonight is the night the Falcons will use the day’s actions to fuel the team
and show the NFL nation that they are ready to move on from the humiliations of
the season. This is the game they do so.
My
Pick: Falcons
