Falcons vs. Steelers NFL Week 1 Preview, Predictions, Injury News & Keys To Victory

[Music] the weight is almost over Falcons football is almost here as NFL Week 1 will get here Sunday with the Pittsburgh Steelers coming to town so on today's episode I'm going to run through a complete breakdown of this matchup we'll kind of get everyone ready for it some injury news keys to Victory and a prediction at the end as well but first make sure to subscribe to the channel help us beat Steelers talk in subscribers this month this is over the last s days but I want to take them down first week of the season so go ahead and smash that sub button if you have not already now let's run through a little bit of a primer for both these teams as we look back at 2023 with the Falcons coming in with a brand new offense of course so I don't pay much attention to the points per game or yards per game I do think it's somewhat important to look at the Red Zone and third down because those are areas for impr Improvement for Atlanta they were one of the worst Red Zone offenses last year middle the pack in third down meanwhile the Steelers defense one of the better Red Zone defenses so that's going to be a tough matchup for the Falcons as for Atlanta's defense and the Pittsburgh offense just like the Falcons offense it's a brand new Steelers offense with Russell Wilson at quarterback now but hopefully the Falcons can build off of what they did last year in those really clutch moments red zone defense for Atlanta top five third down defense top three Steelers Red Zone and third down offenses some of the bottom tier of the NFL so those are areas to watch for in terms of can we see an improvement from last year or a continuation of last year now as for these two ball clubs they come in with some new faces of course we know the Falcons making Marquee additions like Raheem Morris and Kirk Cousins recently adding Matthew judon and Justin Simmons but the Steelers they moved out from picket they brought in Wilson and Fields they also brought in wide receiver van Jefferson who was traded to Atlanta midseason from the Rams last year he really didn't make much of an impact but the Steelers have them as their wide receiver 23 so that's a really shaky start for their offense and then Patrick Queen was signed over the off season to a monster contract he'll be in the middle of the defense coming over from the Ravens as for some departures Now Falcons moved on from Matt Collins he went to the bills Kus Campbell and Bud Dupri who were the co-leaders in Sachs last year are elsewhere Jeff okuda went to the Texans the Steelers lost Kenny picket voluntarily they traded him to the Philadelphia Eagles Deontay Johnson was traded to the Carolina Panthers Allan Robinson left in free agency and then Patrick Peterson was released as well so overall these are two nearly entirely different rosters like the most important position of course the quarterback has two new faces there so I don't think we can draw draw too much from last year but there are some things you could look back at in 2023 and apply to 2024 now my first key to victory for the Falcons attack the rookies the Falcons first round draft pick Michael pennick no offense hopefully won't play tomorrow or hope won't play Sunday right Kirk Cousins hopefully will stay healthy and have an a monster game but the Falcon I pardon the Steelers they have some rookies in important positions like second round draft pick out of West Virginia Zack Frasier he in line to be their starting center first round draft pick out of Washington Trey fanu he may or may not start at left tackle we'll have to watch this one throughout the week bradi Jones who's not a rookie but he is in his second year out of Georgia he's in for a much larger role this year he is the team starting right tackle so all eyes are on this Falcons front five to pick on those two rookie offensive linemen David onada and Grady Jarrett give Zack Frasier a hell over the the middle he was a highly talented Center interior offensive lineman coming out of West Virginia but I am looking for the experienced veteran players on this Falcons defense to pick on those rookies and for Raheem Morris and Jimmy Lake to confuse those guys throw different Blitz packages at them different stuns don't make it a simple preseason game where it's man on man no throw different looks throw things he' never seen before at him and completely drown him in paperwork because he does not even know where to begin when it comes to his assignment for his first NFL start now before we look at my next two keys to Victory Today's Show is brought to you by our great sponsor game time game time is a new feature called Game Time picks that makes getting tickets to see your favorite teams play Live even easier game time picks filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time when you download the game time app and use code 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did not line up Shawn Peyton as a play caller and a coach wants the ball on a schedule he wants the ball out quickly Russell Wilson likes to hold on to the football which brings us to this last year he h was in the pocket excuse me for 2.7 seconds from the time the ball was snapped to either when the ball was released or the pocket collapsed due to pressure that was tied for second longest in the NFL so we're looking at someone that likes to hold on to the football and really extend plays so if you've got a quarterback that's not getting the ball out quickly send the kitchen sink at him right because he's not a quarterback that's going to capitalize on a blitz by finding the hot route in the flat with his running back or tight end for a simple little gain right that's why blitzing great quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes Aaron Rogers and those guys doesn't work out so well because they look at your Blitz and they throw into the Blitz and find an easy reception and move the sticks Russell Wilson he likes to hold on to the football he was sacked 45 times last year so there is clearly a weakness with Russell Wilson's style of play not holding up as he gets older because hold on to the ball with the mobility going down that incurs a lot of sacks Russell Wilson at this point of his career has become a boom or bus Style quarterback I call it the Alabama basketball offense right Nate o was U you know I wouldn't say a a a Trailblazer in this but he highly emphasized dunks and three-pointers right we don't want mid-range the NFL is not like basketball we want mid-range intermediate throws are great throw it to the sticks get 10 yards it doesn't have to be a short pass behind the L line of scrimmage or a 45 yard pass down the field Russell Wilson however only looks the field in those two ways like he was 11th in 20 plus yard pass attempts last year but he was also fourth in behind the line of scrimmage however he was ranking bottom 15 in intermediate passes the guy is a boom or bus quarterback right he either wants the Deep three or he's going for the layup those are great in basketball does not translate to the NFL because it becomes too predictable for the defense right they know we don't have to protect the middle of the field he's either going deep which has a low probability of success or he's going to dunk it off to his running back so we'll just Shadow His running back and stick a linebacker safety on him almost like a quarterback spy pressure Russell Wilson Blitz him on first down Blitz him on second down Blitz him on third down Blitz him every down if I were Jimmy Lake and Raheem Morris I'd be sending every guy I got at him every single play cuz he's going to hold on to the football he's he's going to take a lot of sacks and he is not taking the good options in the middle of the field make him pay for this so how would you grade the Falcons defense as we talk about it as a whole A B C D or F with the additions of Justin Simmons and Matthew judon I'm going to give the Falcons defense a b a solid B let me know what your letter gray though is down in the comment section I always love seeing what you guys have to say third and final key to Victory this one kind of goes goes to the guy on the other sideline Arthur Smith but hopefully he's not watching this video feed the Stars the Falcons have a bunch of star power on their offense bejan Robinson Drake London Darnell Mooney like Kyle Pitts like first round draft picks in Robinson London and pits feed your playmakers that was ultimately I feel like not the Achilles heel for Arthur Smith as the Falcons head coach because the true Achilles heel was not getting the quarterback position right but the second one was for whatever reason he felt like at the goal line I'd rather give it to jonu Smith on a Jet Sweep than bejan Robinson that just never made sense to me so when you look at the 2023 numbers those three top 10 draft picks look at the amount of touches they had and then we that ranked amongst their position bejan Robinson 272 touches that was 12th for all running backs guys chuba hubard got more touches than him that's a crime that's guantan Mo Bay Drake London 30th in receptions amongst all wide receivers Kyle pittz 16th jao quono from the Tennessee Titans who you probably have never heard of until I just said his name right now got more receptions than Kyle pittz last year those should all be Federal offenses Raheem I know you're watching do not over complicate this that was a huge issue for Arthur Smith he F he got too cutesy with it he didn't want to go to his super Superstars and be a little bit too predictable but at some point it's 11 on 11 if you've got a wide receiver who is more talented than the cornerback in front of him go with the football to Drake London to Kyle pittz to bjn Robinson don't try and overcook this and think well they're expecting London so let's let's get cadiro hodj involved no scoot CAD hod get Drake London the football get Kyle Pitts the football get bejan the ball sorry to their backups but their time is done feed the Stars they were top 10 picks for a reason they are very talented players get them the football now some injury news to put a bow on today's video Nate Lam is probably the only Falcons player to report on the injury front rahee Morris said yesterday when speaking to the media that he's really the only guy of note and they expect him to practice on Wednesday so fingers crossed that land will be available but still we're talking about a backup linebacker so even if he's not available I'm not losing too much sleep over this the Steelers on the other hand they've got some more injury news piling up so Jaylen Warren who is the best running back on this team by the way he's better than Naji Harris he went down early in the preseason with a hamstring injury however they think that him Roman Wilson their rookie wide out and then their firstr draft pick Troy fanu will all be available for week one as they all come back from injuries they picked up in the preseason however their starting left guard Isaac suam Malu he is not available for week one so they're already down one of their five starting offensive lineman and their first round pick Troy fanu if he does play he's kind of dealing with a knee injury which is not ideal for your NFL debut so the Steelers definitely come come into this game bit more banged up than the Falcons do so predict the score for me before we let you guys get on out of here Falcons vers Steelers let me know in the comment section below what your score prediction is my prediction Falcons 24 to7 every single day that passes the gap between these two teams widens I think the Falcons are going to boat race the Steelers I think the Pittsburgh Steelers are in for a little bit of a rude awakening that just treading water with a good defense and spotty quarterback play rotating every other year is not sustainable and as for the Falcons Kirk Cousins has looked awesome so far in training camp they've got super superstars on offense they've got superstars on defense this is going to be a good Falcons team I'm taking Atlanta by a boatload of points [Music]