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NFL Wild Card Match Up: Falcons at Rams

Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

Last season’s best offense takes on this season’s best offense when the defending NFC Champion Atlanta Falcons (10-6) travel to the L.A. Coliseum to face off against the NFC West Champion Los Angeles Rams Saturday in the NFC Wild Card round.

The game will be broadcast for your enjoyment on your local NBC network and its affiliates at 8:15 p.m. EST.

The Game: Atlanta Falcons at Los Angeles Rams (-4.5)

O/U: 49.5

The History

The Rams and Falcons have faced off 78 times since 1966 with Los Angeles holding a 47-29-2 advantage in the all-time series.

ATLANTA FALCONS (10-6)

Of all the teams that got into the playoffs as a Wild Card, none has a better roster than the Falcons. On offense, Matt Ryan is still deadly passing the ball, Devonta Freeman is a big play back and Julio Jones, when healthy, is simply the most physically dominant wide receiver in football.

So why didn’t the offense perform better this season? While you can point at injuries to Freeman and Jones as stumbling blocks for a repeat as the league’s top offense, the majority of your accusatory fingers should be pointed squarely at offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian. Atlanta, with exactly the same personnel, fell from the No. 1 scoring offense in the league to the No. 15. That means that a team with Ryan, Freeman, Jones along with Tevin Coleman, Mohamad Sanu and Austin Hooper, was just in the middle of the pack on offense. That’s unforgivable shitty coaching, yet Sarkisian kept this job all season. Blame Dan Quinn for that.

The good news for Atlanta is that Freeman and Jones have both practiced this week, even though each has a nagging injury. For Freeman, it’s a knee and for Jones it’s his ankle and ribs.

https://twitter.com/AtlantaFalcons/status/948969790063849472

Sunday’s 22-10 victory over the playoff-bound Carolina Panthers was a huge boost for this team. The Panthers were playing for an NFC South title and a home playoff game. If they’d won, they’d have it and not be traveling to New Orleans this coming Sunday. Matt Ryan was 28-for-45 for 317 yards and a touchdown against the Panthers. Freeman rushed 11 times for 23 yards, but caught nine passes for 85 yards and touchdown. Jones had five catches for 80 yards.

But it was five field goals and 16 points from Matt Bryant that kept the game out of reach. With Greg Zeurlein out for the Rams, the Falcons have a huge advantage in the kicking game.

LOS ANGELES RAMS (11-5)

It cannot be understated how much the loss of Zeurlein to a season-ending injury hurt the Rams offense. Once the team hit the 40, they knew they had a field goal in their pocket. All L.A. had to do was not turn the ball over and points were going up on the board. Now, with Sam Ficken doing the kicking, that’s not the case.

Ficken is 2-for-3 on field goals over the last two games. He missed his only attempt in a 27-23 win over the Tennessee Titans two weeks ago and also missed an extra point. Last week, in a 34-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, he was 2-for-2 with a long of 23 yards and 1-for-1 on extra points.

On the bright side, Ficken did have three kickoffs against the 49ers with no returns. Zeurlein always put it through the end zone with his cannon. They didn’t call the guy Legatron for nothing.

The Rams injury report is mostly clear, with only back up receiver Mike Thomas doubtful.

Los Angeles dropped its season finale against the 49ers, but rested pretty much every key player. Having already secured the NFC West and a home playoff game, the Rams treated it like a bye week and that has a lot to do with that clear injury report. Thomas actually got hurt in that game.

Is it possible for a second-year player to win comeback player of the year? If so, Rams quarterback Jared Goff is a shoe-in. He’s turned his career trajectory around thanks to new head coach Sean McVay. He completed 62.1 percent of his passes this season for 3,804 yards, 28 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

The real catalyst of L.A.’s offensive resurgence, going from the worst scoring team in the league to the best, is McVay’s creative implementation of Todd Gurley II. Gurley is a legitimate NFL MVP candidate with 1,305 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground to go with 788 yards and six touchdowns through the air. Gurley’s 64 catches lead the team.

For all the pre-draft wide receiver rankings, mine included, before last April’s annual selection show, no rookie wideout has been better than the Rams’ Cooper Kupp. He’s caught 62 passes for 869 yards and five touchdowns. No other rookie is close.

While the Rams always had a ton of talent (and high draft picks) on defense, new defensive coordinator Wade Philips actually knows how to use them. Aaron Donald is probably the best defensive player in football. He’s definitely the best defensive lineman and that’s saying a lot. Now that the Rams are winning, he’s finally getting the recognition he deserves. The fact that he’s put up the numbers he has (41 tackles, 11 sacks, seven tackles for a loss) after sitting out the first two games, shows how valuable he is.

As the season has wore on, the rest of the Rams have fit better into the scheme. Outside linebacker Robert Quinn may not have made it to the Pro Bowl, but over the last month he’s been in Pro Bowl form. The weakness in this defensive unit is at cornerback. Kayvon Webster’s season ending injury hurt a group that didn’t have much depth to begin with.

Fun Facts

The two teams have met just one time in the playoffs. On Jan. 15, 2005, the Falcons, led by Michael Vick, obliterated the then St. Louis Rams, led by Marc Bulger, 47-17.

The Pick

The entire pick-o-sphere seems to think the Rams are going to run away with this one. I’m not so sure. That could just be four years of Jeff Fisher mixing with my own brain chemistry, but the more I see people laud Los Angeles as Super Bowl contenders, the more nervous I get. Nevertheless, there should be a considerable coaching mismatch here between McVay/Phillps vs Quinn/Sarkisian and hopefully that will make all the difference. Atlanta has been one of the worst coached teams in the NFL this season. It would be a shame for that to change in the playoffs and mess up my weekend. Rams 34, Falcons 27

Last week

Straight up: 8-8

Against the spread: 2-14

Season

Straight up: 157-99

Against the spread: 126-130

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Written by Adam Greene

Adam Greene is a writer and photographer based out of East Tennessee. His work has appeared on Cracked.com, in USA Today, the Associated Press, the Chicago Cubs Vineline Magazine, AskMen.com and many other publications.

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