Matchup: Falcons’ Dline vs. Saints’ Oline
Nov. 13, 2011 - Atlanta: ---WINNING KICK --- Dejected Atlanta Falcons Jonathan Babineaux, left, and John Abraham, right, walk of the field after the winning field goal kick by New Orleans Saints John Kasay for a 26-23 Saints victory in overtime at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011. Curtis Compton ccompton@ajc.com
FLOWERY BRANCH – With the NFC South title on the line, the Falcons (9-5) face the New Orleans Saints (11-3). on Monday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Here is a look at how the Falcons’ defensive line matches up against the Saints’ offensive line:
Matchup Advantage: New Orleans Saints
What happened last time: The Falcons stopped the run, holding the Saints to 41 yards rushing on 16 carries. The Falcons went sackless and had just two quarterbacks hurries against Brees, who passed for 322 yards and two touchdowns. Kansas City was able to get Aaron Rodgers to stop the Packers. The Falcons have to get sacks to beat the Saints. They seem to settle for moving him off of his spot, but in the last game they didn’t even do that.
Falcons’ starters: Right end John Abraham, right tackle Jonathan Babineaux, left tackle Corey Peters and left end Ray Edwards.
Falcons’ key reserves: Ends Kroy Biermann and Lawrence Sidbury, and tackles Peria Jerry and Vance Walker.
Saints’ starters: Left tackle Jermon Bushrod, left guard Carl Nicks, center Brian de la Puente, right guard Jahri Evans and right tackle Zach Strief.
Saints’ key reserves: Center/guard Matt Tennant and tackles Pat McQuistan and William Robinson.
Matchups to watch: Abraham vs. Bushrod and Peters vs. Evans.
Abraham is coming off a monster 3 1/2-sack game and has played stronger over the past three games. Bushrod is a critical part of a unit that protects quarterback Drew Brees like he’s a Brink’s truck.
The Falcons have 30 sacks which ranks 19th in the league. The Saints’ line has given up only 23 sacks which is the fourth-lowest total in the league.
Evans and Nicks both went to the Pro Bowl last year and are widely considered the best guard tandem in the league. But the development of Bushrod and steady play of Strief have been impressive this season.
“Bushrod was a starter last year,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “Strief was their extra offensive lineman in their ‘big’ package. He’s a guy that has stepped into a starting role this year. Again, they’ve done a very good job with protecting the quarterback and also running the football with their run blocking.”
The Saints have a major weight advantage over the smaller and quicker Falcons. Bushrod (315) is 42 pounds heavier than Abraham, Nicks (343) is 43 pounds heavier than Babineaux, Evans (318) is 13 pounds heavier than Peters and Strief (320) is 42 pounds heavier than Edwards.
“It’s a big offensive line,” Smith said. “The two guards and the two tackles are really big men and they’ve done a very good job. I think you can see by the statistics that they’ve put up, not only scoring but passing and rushing yards.”
The unit has been sturdy over the last six games after giving up six sacks in the Saints’ upset 31-21 loss to St. Louis on Oct. 30.
Behind the line, the Saints are averaging 456.7 yards per game (first in the league), 331.4 yards passing (first) and 125.4 rushing (eighth).
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
Get instant updates on Twitter at AJCFalcons and you can join the Facebook Fan page at AJC Falcons.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
178 comments Add your comment
D man
December 21st, 2011
10:46 am
AlanFalcon, I agree we need to put pressure on Brees but we need to play defense like we have against him the last few times. First stop the run. Then take away the long ball and make him dump it off 5 yards down the field. Then Blitz on third and long.
The Real Falcon
December 21st, 2011
10:49 am
They are the master at the screen pass. Look for it early and often.
Aint's aint the one
December 21st, 2011
11:00 am
49 gang members in Gwinnett county were busted for robberies, home break ins, murder, and drug dealing along with other crimes. The name of this gang is the “Ninth Ward”.
This is what we get for our southern hospitality……..
I’m sure some of you trolls are not linked, but can you please ask your people to give it a rest.
realitycheck
December 21st, 2011
11:07 am
D man………The Falcons will have both a new coach and QB long before Payton and Brees are done in NO. All this regular season success will win the Falcons nothing. And speaking of drafts, the Falcons don’t even have one next year. Falcons season ends in early January as usual.
New Orleans is America's drainfield
December 21st, 2011
11:20 am
Falcons may win, Saints may win, but come Tuesday morning New Orleans will still be a poor broken crap hole of a town.
Ben
December 21st, 2011
11:21 am
RealityCheck, Falcons have 5 picks next season. Shut up bytch.
jay
December 21st, 2011
11:27 am
come home cuzz hooper
jay
December 21st, 2011
11:33 am
if new orleans is the drainfield, atl has to be the collection pool
Damage Inc.
December 21st, 2011
11:34 am
blogs chippy today. The way to beat Brees is to keep him on the bench. The saints run D is suspect. Now that Quizz is grasping more of the play book look for a three headed monster in 33, 44, and quizz
WhoDat
December 21st, 2011
11:45 am
I lives in da 9th ward, that be my cuzins up der. Who Dat!!!
Dirtybird 82
December 21st, 2011
11:46 am
I really wonder how many Falcons’ fans spend time on the aints blogs as much as Seenthisb4 does on ours to try to taint us? Seriously you got a problem and need to get it checked out!
Dirtybird 82
December 21st, 2011
11:56 am
Here is what I know about the 1st match up we had with the aints: they beat us off of a bad call by Coach Smith. Fine, I will give them that win. However, if you visit the stats from that game the Falcons won in every catagory. Now, before Seenthisb4 tries to say “it doesn’t matter,” he’s right it doesn’t. But, it shows that if we made better decisions from the coaching standpoint that outcome could have very easily been different. Also, if you can recall on the Falcons drive prior to overtime if we scored a touchdown we would have won then, and you aints’ fans that just love our blogs know you were scared on that drive when Harry Douglas and Matt Ryan were carving y’all up. Now let’s fast forward, thru the month of December Roddy White has 257yds and 5 td’s and Julio, who was injured early in the 1st game, has 227yds and 3 td’s. That tells me our offense is now clicking and we know that the aints struggled to contain HD while Eric Weems filled in for Julio, so what do you think we’re gonna do now that we have all of our weapons back? Oh who dat nation celebrity today but come Tuesday I hope to either see some humble comments from y’all or none at all. Have a merry Christmas!!
david
December 21st, 2011
12:03 pm
the falcons are playing the saints in new orleans?cmon man, the saints will win out this year.sorry folks,the saints have to much fire power.the only team that can stop them is the saints, themselves
Big Ray
December 21st, 2011
12:06 pm
Saints O-line is a beast. The way they use their RBs in the passing game is the trick to keeping teams from blitzing and overwhelming their O-line with too many guys to block. It’s a tough, tough scheme to beat. But it can be beaten.
Falcons have to use quickness and strength to continually create pressure and make the O-line work. Meanwhile, coverage has to keep Brees from getting the ball out of his hands quickly on each play. It won’t be easy. But it can be done.
nostrada... oh whatever
December 21st, 2011
12:19 pm
“Waaal I Set Fire … to the rain…eeeeen.
Ooops! Sorry. Wrong blog ….
Sleepy4
December 21st, 2011
12:20 pm
Did someone say that leaking monstrosity of a Dome was classier than the Georgia Dome. Come on man!?!?
Sleepy4
December 21st, 2011
12:23 pm
Ditto. NO fans have nothing else to cheer about. Get a life and go back home. How’s those levees holding up?
WeDat
December 21st, 2011
12:36 pm
A bigger matchup problem will be Graham. I expect the D-Line will come out ready to whoop the Fleur-de-lis off the Saint’s helmets, but coverage is tough. Just as our offense has gotten better since last game, theSaints have as well. I am interested to see how BVG stops Graham, who is really coming into his own as Brees’ go-to target when he really needs a reception. My guess is I’ll be yelling “SPOOOOOOOOOON” at my TV, but I hope we don’t get burned by the Tony G wannabe. D-BLOCK has to RISE the f*@% UP!!!!!!
Name (required)
December 21st, 2011
12:54 pm
We’re going to smash New Orleans like hurricane Katrina! Except we’ll get the job done RIGHT where Katrina failed! Wipe em out Falcons!!
Sec 127
December 21st, 2011
12:54 pm
Run Da Ball Mike….
Go Falcons
JoJoeBlake
December 21st, 2011
1:01 pm
question:
WHO DAT BLACK
December 21st, 2011
1:06 pm
The matchup that will keep the game close is the Falcons o-line vs. Saints front 7. They can and will run the ball as usual, but they will only score 21-24 points. Drew Brees and Co. will score 28-35 points. It may be over early and I can enjoy some gumbo and ham. If I have said it once on this blog I will say it again, THE FALCONS DON’T SCORE ENOUGH POINTS TO BEAT THE SAINTS!!!!!
WHO DAT BLACK
December 21st, 2011
1:11 pm
Final Score 28-24. WHO DAT!!!
Mister.Earl
December 21st, 2011
1:24 pm
Sleepy4 – The newly renovated ($185M in upgrades) Mercedes Benz Superdome is a much better facility than the Georgia Dome. Why are the Falcons so eager to build another stadium?
Back to football :
Last week was the first time in NFL history a quarterback has completed 80 percent of his passes while throwing for 400 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. In other words, no passer has ever been so efficient AND so prolific in the same game.
Can you say Drew Brees?
Mister.Earl
December 21st, 2011
1:26 pm
and another thing, (name required) the stupid references to Katrina are for immature and juvenile minds.
Unless you wish for human suffering to befall your own family.
Grow up and get an education
Old White Haired Man
December 21st, 2011
1:37 pm
i think it will be a good close game, with either team capable of winning it. i will reserve any other comments until tuesday morning…
St. Landry
December 21st, 2011
1:39 pm
Saints fans come to blog daily for one reason…….because they CAN!!!! Its funny how you guys can be bullied on your own blog. Stop with all your crying!!! Do something about it!!! The next time a Saints fan invades your stupid blog, comeback with this: 1.The falcons beat the Saints (wait, the Saints won the last 2 and 9 of the last 11), 2.The falcons have more Superbowls than the Saints (wait, the falcons have not won a superbowl), 3.Matt Ryan is better than Drew Brees (wait, we all know better than that), 4.The falcon fanbase is more commited than the Saints (wait, the falcons had a blackout on a Monday night game lol….even the Bucs can sellout a Monday night game). And if none of those work try to make a hurricane Katrina joke or a New Orleans is filthy joke. We keep it football and you can’t. Saints win everytime!!!! That’s why we continue to comeback to OUR AJC SAINTS blog………….because we can. Do something about it on MONDAY NIGHT!!!! Don’t abandon your team at halftime like you did against the panthers (we saw how pathetic you were until “your” team made that great comeback)………Fairweather Fans
Bird Dawg Country
December 21st, 2011
1:47 pm
D-Led, how do Falcons stand with tiebreakers for division if they win next two and Saints lose next two? That would give equal records against each other and also within division.
Mister.Earl
December 21st, 2011
1:50 pm
St. Landry is correct. The way Falcons fans abandoned the Georgia Dome last year against the Packers in the playoffs, IN THE THIRD QUARTER, was more than embarrassing. It was downright cowardly.
In three decades of watching the NFL, I have NEVER seen a home crowd vacate a stadium in that manner during an NFL playoff game. Never. If anyone can cite a similar event – please correct me.
Cheeseheads dominated Georgia Dome and drowned out the few remaining Atlanta suporters. No matter what the score is THAT should never happen.
Fair weather sums it up.
Time for all the N.O. refugees to go home
December 21st, 2011
1:54 pm
New Orleans has been upgraded to it’s previous Sewage City status before the hurricane.
Time for you lowlifes to move back. Come on, it was such a great place, right? Go on, get outta here. Your inbred families miss ya’ll…ghetto meets swamp people….yeah, who dat
SeenThisB4
December 21st, 2011
1:55 pm
All my Saints fans, check this link out! Preview of what’s gonna happen Monday night!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBHk9rc4hHc
Mister.Earl
December 21st, 2011
2:05 pm
“Time for all the N.O. refugees to go home” – is hate all you got?
I could have made a comment about your obvious ignorance, your bigotry or the car sitting on cinder blocks in front of your house, but I didn’t.
Talk football or take a nap.
Falcons win
December 21st, 2011
2:14 pm
Aints will go back in their closets after Monday night.
Sleepy4
December 21st, 2011
2:15 pm
M Earl – I don’t keep up with New Orleans news (have better things to do), but $185M was spent on a sporting facility but didn’t rebuild the community? Stating actual facts does not bring suffering to my family. Not that its any of your concern, but I am college educated And why does it concern everybody what kind of fans we are? Get a life outside of the Aints. They won’t be good for long.
Falcons win
December 21st, 2011
2:21 pm
@Sleepy4, they like to dish it, but they can’t take it back.
joe white
December 21st, 2011
2:23 pm
We are in playoff mode, the saints will go down monday night for sure, falcons 34-17. Turner,tony,white and jones are going to go off.
Mister.Earl
December 21st, 2011
2:28 pm
Sleepy4 – the numbers were incorrect. $84M was spent to renovate the Superdome after Katrina. A huge chunk of that expense is offset by the $60M naming rights deal paid for by Mercedes Benz.
Mercedes Benz is a company known for superior quality. Nice fit huh?
One would think The Georgia Dome could at least get a deal from Taco Mac.
Go home losers – did you say something about losers? I was busy polishing my Super Bowl trophy.
Falcons win – you funny. Quick question. Did you leave the Green Bay playoff game early or did you sit through the entire game?
D man
December 21st, 2011
2:50 pm
I’m not going to get in the name calling game nor talk about someone’s homeland. But I will continue to talk about how great my Falcons are and that we are getting better every year. Matt is getting better and will be continuing his improvement to greatness in the years to come while the Saints will be falling from the good teams to looking forward to next years draft. Tick tock, Brees is getting older…
Mister.Earl
December 21st, 2011
3:02 pm
D man – Matt Ryan is a quality QB. Do you think he changes the play too much at the line of scrimmage? Calling audibles may be fine at home, but on the road when sophisticated crowds go for the cue – and get louder when the visiting QB backs off – is calling the play at the line of scrimage hurting he rhythm of the Falcons offense?
Just curious about your take on this.
realitycheck
December 21st, 2011
3:10 pm
Ben……Those are mostly late round picks that aren’t likely to help an already veteran team(12 or 13 over 30 compared to 6 or 7 for Saints), and the salary cap is already stressed too. It’s very possible the Falcons are hitting or have already hit their ceiling, and don’t see any way they can improve during the offseason. Didn’t mean to pop your balloon, but this team is going nowhere in the playoffs. A couple of wins against(as usual) non playoff teams has for some reason gotten the bloggers excited, but that excitement will likely end Mon. night and reality will once again sink back in rather quickly.
hiramsaint
December 21st, 2011
3:43 pm
saints are 9 of 11 soon to be 10 of 12 and the failclowns are still 0-2 in the postseason with matty meltdown-smitty the peroxide bandit-van goiter and you got be full of mularkey. now really..who do thinks gonna win ? GEAUX SAINTS
Michael M.
December 21st, 2011
3:46 pm
School’s out ! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Michael M.
December 21st, 2011
3:51 pm
Why is it that the Saints just didn’t win all those ballgames on your ” resent list” if they are the greatest thing since flat screen television ?
coloradofalconsfan
December 21st, 2011
3:55 pm
SeenThisB4 wrote @ 6:48 am
“In Edward’s career, he is still to lay a hand on Brees, except for the after game hand shake that is!”
Hey Doofus, Edwards had a sack on Brees in 2009 Playoffs.
Hey Who Dats...
December 21st, 2011
4:04 pm
Why don’t you all go take a running jump into the middle of the mighty Mississippi and float out to the big sea
Hey Who Dats...
December 21st, 2011
4:12 pm
Falcons gonna rise up gather round and rock that town to the ground, burn it up, go for broke, watch the aints go up in smoke
atlslim
December 21st, 2011
4:15 pm
Do all of you realize how awesome this is. Both of our cities have struggled to have a quality team and now we have it. All of the rivalry games in the 80s 90s{ Sfran vs dallas etc} and now we can have a great one for the next several yrs. I predict we see each other again in the nfc championship and thats when we will see who gets bragging rights for the next yr. Falcons will win monday night and the third game will be awesome!!!
Mister.Earl
December 21st, 2011
4:15 pm
The Mercedes Benz Superdome
22 of 31 NFL stadiums have naming rights deals in place, normally paid by corporations who want to be associated with a premiere, successful franchise or NFL brand.
Why hasn’t Delta or Coca-Cola picked up naming rights for the Georgia Dome and the Atlanta Falcons?
Why have the entire burden of stadium funding on the shoulders of local taxpayers?
Inquiring minds want to know.
bfred
December 21st, 2011
4:15 pm
Bird Dawg, I’m pretty sure the Falcons win the division if both teams are 11-5, based on conference records. Falcons would be 8-4 and Saints 7-5. You’re right the first tiebreak is head to head, which they would obviously split.
But if the Falcons win Monday I expect the Saints would absolutely take the Panthers apart the following week playing at home with the division crown on the line, putting it out of reach.
Sleepy4
December 21st, 2011
4:18 pm
I personally leave most blow out games early no matter which end the Falcons are on. I left the Jaguar game early. That’s not fairweather. I have a job and am a season ticket holder.