I think stopping Atlanta's run offense will be critical to beating the team. They can get a lead and run the ball, keep their quarterback comfortable and they have speed. Any quarterback appreciates a good running game. It keeps defenses honest, you can't blitz quite as much. It slows the game down a little bit as far as how aggressive you can play.
I think Falcons running back Michael Turner is a fast guy. He's strong and keeps his feet moving, so he's a tough guy to bring down. Quarterback Matt Ryan is accurate, makes good decisions, he's pretty mobile in the pocket and he gets the ball out quick.
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| LB Stewart Bradley |
In the fourth quarter in San Francisco, I think things kind of started clicking finally. The came at us the first half and in the third quarter with some different looks - running a lot of screens and hand backs, different plays that you wouldn't necessarily see with a more conventional offense. Once we got the hang of that, we pinned our ears back and got aggressive.
It's good having a bye. Obviously, all teams have a bye but I think you want to have it closer to Week 8 than in Week 2 or 3. It gives you a chance to get away, get rested and get people healthy and that was big for us. No one's dragging; everyone's fresh. We were ready to get back into it. It was a good practice Wednesday. Everybody was flying around.
