The ESPN experts are...

picking the Panthers. I'm not real sure what to think about that. This game scares me. With Morgan out, I think that we're going to have trouble containing Vick. It ain't going to be pretty!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/features/story?page=picks/2003_week14

 

The best way to contain Vick is to keep him on the sidelines. If we can do that AND capitalize on our drives in the red zone, we should win. But that's an awfully big "AND".

 

Interesting. They are all also picking the Saints over the Bucs, too. That game is likely to be a dog fight.

 

Oh, for the love of Johnny Unitas, give it a break! Do you stop kicking the ball to Dante Hall because he has scored four TDs? Do you stop running at Ray Lewis because he makes 20 tackles a game? Hell, no, you kick it right at Hall and count on your special teams to play the way they can. You run it right at Lewis and force him to make 30 tackles a game! Who's the better team here, and why wouldn't you want to play the best? Panthers are 8-4, Falcons are 2-10. After Sunday night it will be 9-4 and 2-11, respectively. Case closed!!!!

 

The Falcons would NOT be 2-10 if Vick was healthy all year. The Vick-led Falcons did what no other team in history has been able to do -- beat the Packers at Lambeau in the post-season. This year's team with Vick is not that different than last year's.

 

I think one reason the Falcons won last year is Reeves will do anything to win. Trick plays have won a few for him and he's not afraid to face up that his team may not be the strongest in the league but he really knows that sometimes the better of the teams wins. I wish Fox would relax his thinking a little ever know and then.

 

The Falcons didn't have the worst Defense in the league last year either, it wasn't all because of Vick. And everyone is beating the Pack in Lambeau now, that's not so much to brag about. The only reason the Pack even hosted a playoff game is because they had a weak ass schedule.

 

Point taken, but still -- remember we're talking about a dome team going into Green Bay in January. And Favre, Green, and Driver were healthy. I talked smack about Vick all year long, but that game shut me up. Vick is for real.

 

Vick may be for real, but he's not going to do much to improve the 32nd ranked defense.

 

I remember after the first Falcons-Panthers game reading that several of the Panthers players (maybe some of the D-line guys?) talking about wishing they could have played the Falcons with Vick, because they felt everyone was going to credit the win to the Falcons not having Vick. That being the case, I suspect many of the Defensive players are excited about the challenge of playing Vick.

On the other hand, you gotta give Vick credit, the way he played not only the Panthers last year, but other teams (like that amazing touchdown he ran against the Vikings last year). The dude can scamble. I mean, he moves faster than a dog with turpentine on his ass (trust me, that's fast )! But if the D-line can work on containing him while the linebackers move horizontally behind him, he can be contained, at least a good portion of the time, IMO. Of course, his speed presents quick scoring capability. The Panthers have to keep this in mind, and not let their guard down if they do get a sizable lead on the Falcons.

Also, alot of the off season was spent with Vick working intensively on his passing skills, trying to make him more versatile. I'm not sure how much his passing skills have progressed, and how his passing game is right now. I read that last week in practice, his passes were off and he looked pretty rusty in the passing game. However, the journalists here assert that he has looked much better in the passing game this week.

Vick does make a difference, both with the talent of the team, and the team's own belief in their capability to win. However, the Falcons are still very beatable. The Panthers have handled both Peyton Manning and Aaron Brooks this season. The loss to Dallas' Quincy Carter, IMO, was more because of coaching/game plan, and still, it was a close game.

Like I've said earlier this week, I think turnovers are going to be the difference-maker in this game, because they not only give good field possition in most situations, but they also turn momentum. This Falcon team seems very susceptible to momentum swings, both good and bad.

This is going to be a good game....Man, I'm getting psyched!!