Giants - Falcons Preview

This is an important opportunity for the Giants to string together back to back wins for the first time this season. It won’t be easy. For all the talk about stopping Vick, Atlanta is a low scoring team that relies, first and foremost, upon its defense. A defense that, once again, is very solid and has allowed exactly one - that's right - one - touchdown so far this season (a trick play by New Orleans no less).

They have been especially stout against the run, holding Carolina to 65 yards rushing, Tampa to 40 yards, and limiting Arizona to a paltry 31. Only New Orleans, with 146 yards, has had any success running the ball against Atlanta.

They’ve given up a bit more yardage through the air but that is because teams are forced to throw against them. Tampa threw for 311 yards but that was on 53 attempts, completing only 28 for a 5.8 yard avg per attempt. Carolina was held to 150 yards (21-39, 3.5 yards per attempt) and Arizona had 156 yards (16-28, 4.9 yards per attempt). Once again it was New Orleans that had the most success, completing 20-28 for 180 yards (6.2 yards per attempt).

Although obviously very strong defensively, the Giants appear to have all the offensive weapons to present Atlanta's biggest challenge so far this year. The key for the Giants will be a repeat of last week’s zero turnover performance. They again need to establish the running game but Atlanta's defense is geared to stop the run and will be looking to shut it down early. Therefore, early on, I look for the Giants to use a short passing game to set up both the run and the long ball – and keep Atlanta’s quick defense off balance. Look for a lot of 4-6 yard gains on short dump (and screen) passes to Tiki and Jacobs, as well as the quick tosses we saw last week to Plaxico. If healthy, I’d also look for Shockey to get involved early. That should open up the run and also allow the Giants to take some shots downfield.

If the Giants play it safe – and have zero turnovers - they should win the battle against Atlanta’s defense. They just have too many weapons for Atlanta to handle.

On defense, things for the Giants are more straight forward. Atlanta’s offense is no secret. They depend almost exclusively upon the run. And although Michael Vick is exciting to watch when he runs for 12-15 yards at a clip, the bulk of the yardage comes from the running backs. Atlanta leads the league in rushing - by a wide margin - and although Vick already has two 100 yard games, the legs that make this team go belong to Warrick Dunn and rookie Jerious Norwood. Atlanta depends upon large chunks of yards from their running backs and they have to be the Giants primary focus on 1st and 2nd down this week.

At the same time the Giants have to contain Vick. It is foolhardy to try to do that solely with your four down linemen. As crazy as it sounds, the Giants need to use a lot of run blitzes on obvious passing downs in order to clog the running lanes and keep Vick in the pocket. On 3rd down look for Tuck and Kiwi to come on the field – either in the tackle spots or – I hope - as linebackers. I suspect this is one game Tim Lewis has game planned since early July because it is a perfect opportunity to use all his toys. I especially like Kiwi’s speed and would love to see Kiwi in a spy role against Vick in some obvious passing situations. If so, I think Kiwi will have a huge game.

The Giants have played well in domes over the years and they are due for back to back wins. The Giants have too much talent on offense for Atlanta to handle and I don’t see Atlanta running wild against the Giants. My prediction: Giants 24 Atlanta 17.