The Patriots stop other team's offenses by not letting the other team's best player beat them. This means having a focus on stopping the other team's biggest offensive weapon. With Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons being the only hurdle left between the Patriots and their fifth ring, who should Matt Patricia and the Patriots' defense be designing their defense to stop?
JULIO JONES- The quick popular answer is Julio Jones. Why not, chances are he's either torched your fantasy football dreams or helped you to a nice payday. Although he has been suffering from turf toe for a few months, he's still managed to save his best football for January. Julio's only multi-touchdown game this season was against the Packers in the NFC Championship. After only scoring 6 touchdowns during the regular season, Jones has scored 3 in the playoffs. Although Julio may have a cool name and make some flashy plays, he's not the player Matt Patricia needs to focus against.
DEVONTA FREEMAN- The third year player has been in the endzone 15 times this season. Although his overall statistics are pretty good, they are artificially inflated by some big games against New Orleans (almost 400 yards in 2 games) and San Francisco (3 touchdowns). Although Freeman is a threat to run and catch, he picked a bad time to complain about not getting enough touches. Should Devonta not be in the good graces of the coaches, Tevin Coleman would be a bit easier to stop as he completely favors the right side of the field.
MATT RYAN- It's probably been a while since the Patriots have game-planned against a quarterback. However, I think that is exactly what they should be doing this week. With Ryan having thrown touchdown receptions to 13 different players this season, taking one of them out won't have much of an effect on the outcome.
While Ryan has had an incredible season, he has struggled in two situations:
MATT RYAN- It's probably been a while since the Patriots have game-planned against a quarterback. However, I think that is exactly what they should be doing this week. With Ryan having thrown touchdown receptions to 13 different players this season, taking one of them out won't have much of an effect on the outcome.
While Ryan has had an incredible season, he has struggled in two situations:
- against the blitz
- against the AFC
As a pocket passer with a known weakness of not being able to scramble very well, Matt Ryan needs to feel some Patriot pressure early on. Although he hasn't yet fumbled the ball when under pressure, he also hasn't even attempted to run for daylight when the blitz is on. While he hasn't earned them by running from pressure, he does have 13 first downs this season. While it is from two seasons ago, the charts in this article say a lot.
For the past three seasons Matt Ryan has had his worst games against AFC opponents. Aside from torching the weak Raiders defense, Matty Ice was ice cold against the rest of the AFC this year. With the NFL's best defense having two weeks to prepare and an extra long halftime, Ryan will look pretty pedestrian on Sunday.
For the past three seasons Matt Ryan has had his worst games against AFC opponents. Aside from torching the weak Raiders defense, Matty Ice was ice cold against the rest of the AFC this year. With the NFL's best defense having two weeks to prepare and an extra long halftime, Ryan will look pretty pedestrian on Sunday.
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