The Falcons will be playing in front of America for the second straight week. Coming off an improbable victory over the Eagles on Monday Night Football, the Dirty Birds will travel back to Atlanta to take on Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs on Sunday Night Football.
It’ll be a much different challenge from Philadelphia, in every facet. Kansas City’s defensive personnel and coordinator are superior to Philly. The Chiefs quarterback and head coach are also much better than the Falcons Week 2 opponents.
Mahomes is the best quarterback in football, and it’s not particularly close. As Raheem Morris notes, there’s literally nothing the alien signal caller can’t do …
Raheem Morris says Patrick Mahomes is one of the best he considers him an "Alien." What's an Alien? He says guys like Mahomes, Tom Brady, Barry Sanders, Julio Jones, Lebron James etc. Players that are just elite in their game. Says Travis Kelce is an alien too lol #dirtybirds pic.twitter.com/h85R9S5zYh
— Alison Mastrangelo (@AlisonWSB) September 18, 2024
Mahomes can play within the structure of an offense, or out of it. He can play on the move, outside of the pocket or inside of it. He can play from ahead or behind. Everything Mahomes does, he does at an elite level.
However, the two-time league MVP and three-time Super Bowl champion isn’t the Chiefs player that the Falcons should be worried about. Mahomes is going to get his. The best Atlanta’s defense can hope for is limiting the damage, they’re going to have to score points.
Chris Jones is the player that can absolutely wreck the Falcons’ chances of an upset. There have been a few constants in the Chiefs dynasty thus far. Everyone knows about Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, and Travis Kelce, but rarely do people put Steve Spagnuolo and Chris Jones in that group.
Spags is one of the best defensive coordinators in football, and Jones is their closer. While Mahomes is the “closer” everyone talks about, it’s Jones who has come up big time and time again on the defensive side of the ball for the Chiefs over the years.
The Falcons offense has struggled for the most part this season; however, they showed life in the final quarter on Monday Night Football. Kirk Cousins connected with Darnell Mooney in the final minutes of the third quarter and then led the Falcons offense down the field on a near-perfect game-winning touchdown drive.
If they’re to continue to build on what they did in Week 2, the Falcons must have a plan for Chris Jones. As we saw in Week 1 with T.J. Watt, some defenders have the ability to completely derail a game plan. Zac Robinson better have a better plan for Chris Jones than he did Watt.
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