HOUSTON — Tevin Coleman can’t stop laughing. The topic honestly isn’t that funny, but the Falcons’ second-year running back is laughing as he pictures vivid facial impressions imprinted in his mind.
Coleman lines up in the backfield before motioning out as a wide receiver. An unlucky linebacker has the inevitable task of following him onto the lonely island. Coleman knows he has his man beat before the ball is even snapped.
“There’s a lot of communication, yelling back-and-forth,” Coleman said. “The ‘backer is looking back to see if he has help from the safety. Itap funny to see because guys get so confused when we’re out there.”
The Falcons are defined by their offensive weapons. There’s no shortage of them. Quarterback Matt Ryan runs the show and wide receiver Julio Jones is his favorite target, but Atlanta has many other threats. The Falcons averaged 33.8 points per game during the regular season, 4 1/2 points more than the second highest-scoring team.
So the Patriots are doomed, right? Nah, not quite. Patriots coach Bill Belichick has made a career out of undressing great offenses on the game’s biggest stages. He’ll have to form one of his best game plans to slow this juggernaut offense, but few would be surprised if his defense, which allowed an NFL-low 15.6 points per game, does the job.
Some are saying the Falcons are the best offense since “The Greatest Show on Turf,” a nicknamed coined for the 1999-2001 St. Louis Rams led by Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt. That comparison makes sense given the 2016 Falcons tied the 2000 Rams for the seventh-best scoring offense in NFL history.
Yet former Colts receiver Reggie Wayne believes Atlanta looks a lot more like the 2003-2010 Indianapolis teams led by the original ball distributor Peyton Manning.
“The various weapons — three receivers, two running backs, we probably had a tight end that was a little more involved. Itap almost like a clone,” Wayne said. “But a lot of the defenses that stopped us were coached by the man Matt is about to face, Bill Belichick.”
Broncos all-pro cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Chris Harris got a first-hand look at why the Falcons are so hard to defend. They saw it in October when the Falcons won in Denver, 23-16, their second-lowest scoring game of the season.
“They game plan to beat your defense. They don’t just run their stuff every week,” Talib said. “They’ll have a good game plan against New England. They got their backs out wide against us. They found mismatches with those running backs on our linebackers. They also ran the ball good on us.”
Harris added: “The mismatches they have on the linebackers are huge. If they can get those guys going, it’ll be hard for the Patriots.”
Neither cornerback mentioned Jones, arguably the best receiver in the NFL. He’s a problem, make no mistake, but he’s just one of many problems the Falcons present to defenses. He forces defenses to double-team him because if you don’t he might just put up 300 receiving yards like he did against Carolina earlier this season.
“Teams have tried to take me away this whole year,” Jones said. “If they do, we have Taylor Gabriel, we’ve got Mohamed Sanu. … I mean, who do you want? Then we have the two-headed monster in the backfield. Itap really just pick your poison.”
Ryan set an NFL record by throwing a touchdown pass to 13 different receivers. Taylor “Turbo” Gabriel is a diminutive speed threat. Mohamed Sanu is a reliable possession receiver opposite Jones. Both Coleman and Freeman are basically receivers and running backs.
So how do you defeat the Falcons? Maybe, as weird as it sounds, the focus should be on slowing down the running game and the backs in the receiving game. And take your chances against the wideouts.
Freeman had more than 1,500 all-purpose yards and 13 touchdowns. Coleman had just shy of 1,000 yards and 11 touchdowns. Those two appear to have the biggest matchup advantage in the passing game over the Patriots’ linebackers.
If forced to throw the ball, the Ryan-to-Jones connection was the best in the NFL. Ryan’s deep ball was nearly unstoppable. His 9.26 yards per attempt is the highest in NFL history for a 16-game season.
But that’s likely to be the weapon Belichick seeks to take away. The Patriots had two players wear Jones’ number 11 jersey in practice last week to replicate his importance.
“He’s going to have to fight boredom,” Wayne said. “The Patriots are going to keep everything in front of them defensively and force the Falcons to take long drives. Can you be patient enough to do that? Thatap what we’re going to find out. A lot of teams get bored, they want the home run hits.”
It’ll be a true test if Ryan can live up to his “Matty Ice” nickname.
