Quote:
Originally Posted by Simanium
The Pats defense is legit. Say what you will about the teams they played this year, but the Pats defense has been a top 10 defense for 5 years running. This is not a one year blip based on schedule. They haven't allowed an opposing RB over 90 yards in 25 straight games, including games against Bell, David Johnson, McCoy, Ajayi, etc. Devin McCourty and Malcolm Butler are Pro-Bowl players in the secondary and Belichick is one of the greatest defensive minds of all time. This isn't going to be the Packers defense that Matt Ryan is seeing this week. I would be a lot more worried about how the Falcons stop the Pats, with their 25th ranked defense.
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Aaron Rodgers numbers last week before garbage time: 12-of-20 for 119 yards, INT. The Falcons defense has gotten better over the year, that's not to say they are great, but they can get to the quarterback and Dan Quinn produced arguably the all-time defensive masterpiece in Super Bowl 48 for the Seahawks. I'm not saying the Pats D is awful, they've just played a lot of crappy QBs and offenses. Atlanta is historically great, not just some good offense we see every year. Belichick is great, but that's the thing about Atlanta's offense: He can focus on Julio, and let everyone else go off. Or he can focus on everyone else, and let Julio go off. Not exactly an easy choice, especially since even if you stop the passing game, they can run the ball really well too.