Bears Blitz

Published by Gary Davenport on November 4, 2016
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Four days ago, Atlanta stopped a two-game skid with a thrilling victory over the Green Bay Packers—a victory spurred by quarterback Matt Ryan, wide receiver Julio Jones and the Falcons offense.

That win established Atlanta as the clear favorite in the NFC South. Thursday’s 43-28 throttling of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers—that wasn’t as close as the score—solidified its stranglehold on the top of the division.

And in piling up 461 total yards, the NFL‘s No. 1 offense sent a message: The Falcons are for real. Not just as contenders in the NFC South, but also as a threat to represent the NFC in Houston at Super Bowl LI.

Entering Week 9, the Falcons were perched atop the National Football League at 425.2 yards per game. Atlanta cruised past that number against a hapless Tampa defense that had no answer all night, and it would take a lot less time to rattle off the players who didn’t have a big game than to list the ones who did.

But what the hey. Let’s do it anyway.

Ryan, who came into Thursday night leading the NFL with 2,636 passing yards, will all but surely leave the weekend in the same spot. Ryan was nearly flawless against the Buccaneers, completing 25 of 34 passes for 344 yards and four touchdowns. His passer rating for the evening was a robust 144.7.

Jones was quiet in the first half, reeling in only three catches. Then on the first drive of the second half, Ryan remembered he had Jones on his team. The receiver hauled in four passes for 59 yards on that drive alone, caught a three-yard score later in the quarter and finished with eight grabs for 111 yards and that score.

The Falcons weren’t confined to the air, though. The team picked up 136 yards on the ground, led by Devonta Freeman’s 77. Freeman topped 100 total yards in the game, the second time in the past three weeks that the third-year pro has hit triple digits in that regard.

Atlanta got big contributions from role players, too. Week 8 hero Mohamed Sanu had five catches for 74 yards. Tight ends Levine Toilolo and Austin Hooper, subbing for the injured Jacob Tamme (shoulder), combined for four receptions, 78 yards and two scores.

While speaking to the NFL Network’s postgame show, Ryan spread around the credit as easily as he spread around the football against the Bucs:

I think we’ve got a deep offense with a lot of different guys who have gotten touches all year long in the passing game. Two really good running backs in Free and Tevin Coleman, who’s been on the sidelines for a couple weeks. I think we’re deep. And when you’re deep, as a quarterback it gives you tons of options. It makes your job easier.

Ryan also made a point of crediting the line that both creates holes for Freeman and Coleman and makes sure blitzers don’t create holes in him:

I can’t say enough about what those guys have done all year. The addition of Alex Mack in the offseason was huge for us. He’s kind of been the rock in the center of that offensive line. And then the combination of the guard and tackle on the left and the guard and tackle on the right being in their second year playing together…I think that continuity is really helping.

Simply put, the Falcons were an offensive buzz saw Thursday. And this is not new.

Only the New Orleans Saints came into Week 9 with a more potent passing attack than the Falcons. Atlanta ranked a respectable 14th in the NFL in running the ball at 111.5 yards per game, a number that will go up after Thursday’s showing. So will its scoring average of 32.8 points per game, which led the league.

Mike Conti of 92.9 FM in Atlanta broke down the postgame gaudiness:

In addition to leading the NFL in passing yards coming into this week, Ryan led the league with 19 scoring passes. Only Tom Brady of the New England Patriots has a higher passer rating and more yards per attempt. Jones now leads the NFL with 970 receiving yards and has five 100-yard games.

And most importantly, the Falcons are winning. They’ve won two in a row after their mini-skid caused some to hearken back to last year’s collapse, when the team started 5-0 and finished 8-8.

Yes, Thursday’s win came against a Tampa team that now sits at 3-5, and the Falcons are the only team in the NFC South with a winning record. But Atlanta has not gotten fat off a weak schedule. Far from it.

Already in 2016, the Falcons have played both of the teams who played in Super Bowl L and two other teams (Green Bay and Seattle) that made the playoffs in 2015. They traveled west to face an Oakland Raiders team that sits at 6-2 halfway through the season.

The Falcons represent one of those two losses. Atlanta also beat the Broncos in Denver and nearly pulled out a win against the Seahawks in Seattle.

Are the Falcons unstoppable? Hardly. They lost at home to the Buccaneers and San Diego Chargers. Ryan lost a fumble deep in Atlanta territory Thursday that was eerily reminiscent of the ill-timed turnovers that doomed the team last year. And the Falcons defense, while considerably better than the 2015 incarnation, remains a work in progress and susceptible to lapses.

But the thing is: There isn’t a juggernaut team in the NFC. The Seahawks are a mess on offense. The Panthers, who went 15-1 last year, have been a mess. The Minnesota Vikings have dropped two straight after winning five in a row to open the season.

Sound familiar, Falcons fans?

The Packers have been all over the place, and the 6-1 Dallas Cowboys, who have the best record in the NFC, have a rookie quarterback in Dak Prescott and just suffered the sorts of injuries on defense that a team with Dallas’ lack of depth on that side of the ball cannot afford.

There isn’t a team in the conference these Falcons, when playing well, can’t beat.

They say defense wins championships. It won one for the Broncos last year. Two years before that, Denver’s record-setting offense fell in Super Bowl XLVIII to Seattle’s Legion of Boom. But that Denver team three years ago was built around offense. Marching up and down the field. And it went 13-3.

This Falcons offense may not be that good. And unless they run the table, their record won’t be, either. But Thursday night, Atlanta provided yet another vivid reminder that in 2016 it has the most balanced, most prolific offense in the NFL.

And don’t think for a second that in a year when every NFC contender has warts, that isn’t enough to punch them a ticket to Houston.

Gary Davenport is an NFL analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter: @IDPSharks.

Read more Chicago Bears news on BleacherReport.com