The culmination of the Falcons season is upon us. After what looked to be season of ruins, Atlanta reeled off an unprecedented nine game win streak to end their regular and post season. Now only one team remains in the way of the Falcons completing their dream season, the undefeated Jacksonville Jaguars!
With their recent win over a limited Bengals team the Jaguars added yet another win to their season and secured a spot in the Nickel Bowl. The Jaguars Coach was recently quoted as saying his team “shut down” the best offense in the league. We asked Coach MindGame what he thought of those comments. “To tell you the truth, I almost spit my drink out when I heard that. Don’t get me wrong the Jags are a very stingy defense, but they made themselves out to be overachievers. The Bengals, in my opinion weren’t the most prolific offense in the league, they were the most prolific gimmick in the league. They used the PA Pass to their advantage throughout the season, and without that weapon they would’ve probably been lucky to win three games! So, for Jacksonville to say they “shut down” the Bengals, without the Bengals being able to abuse the play action as normal, is like saying you shut down Michael Jordan, when in all actuality he sat the game out, catch my drift?”
Coach seemed to very much at ease considering he is playing in his first Nickel Bowl in his first full season in The 40 Nickel. Practice ran as usual, working on their standard offense, timing routes, zone blocking. We did see a few new wrinkles being worked into the mix, and we even saw a few trick plays being executed. Dunn and Cobb split carries throughout the week. Vick arm looked extremely rested and accurate as well. He and Michael Jenkins stayed an hour after practice everyday running the tree, trying to make sure every route was just perfect. Jenkins was quoted “We’re just dotting all the “I’s” and crossing all our “T’s””
While the offense was business as usual, the defense was preparing for its toughest running test of the season. Fred Taylor was a 1,200 + yard rusher this season, and ran for 24 touchdowns. The defense got a first hand look at Leftwich in practice by simply watching Mike Vick. The two quarterbacks have extremely similar numbers this season to go with their matching play styles as well. Although the defense does respect the Jags offense, by no means are they scared “I see Fred, I see him on the ground crying like a 8itch after I put his **** in the dirt” one player stated after he was asked what he thought about Taylor. “We know Fred is a great back, his cut backs are amazing, he reads his gaps well, and follows his blocks creating his own running lanes. With all that being said we’re still going to play Falcon ball, you see where that got us last week with Jamal Lewis, I think he only had 48 yards on the day.” Keith Brooking was quoted after practice.
From what we see Atlanta is as ready as their going to be. Just a few finishing touches and they’ll board a flight bound for Jacksonville. Let just hope they packed their “A” game with them!