By james art The Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers meet on Sunday in a battle for the lead in the NFC South. Although both teams posted double-digit losses in Week 7, there is a very different feeling surrounding each team.
The Falcons are kicking themselves for a plethora of mistakes, including three turnovers in their loss to the Seahawks, and the Buccaneers are licking their wounds after a string of costly injuries decimated their team.
Despite losing starting receiver Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, who combined for 10 catches, 126 yards and two touchdowns in the first meeting between the Falcons and Buccaneers, Atlanta head coach Raheem Morris understands Tampa Bay is still a dangerous team.
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“These are two really good players that we know or think are going to go down, but they’ve got some really good players behind them,” Morris said this week. “Obviously Shep’s [Sterling Shepard] has been a great player since he came from Oklahoma and played with Baker [Mayfield]. He’s been around this league for a long time, he knows him from the Giants.
“I have a really fast receiver [Trey] Palmer, who has done some really good things for him in the past. Then apparently this three-headed monster running back looked pretty good.”
Asked to expand on his commentary on the three-headed monster, Morris went into detail about Bucky Irving, Rachad White and Sean Tucker.
“The fact that they started the season with their No. 1 starter [Rachaad White]. He did a really good job, he ended up getting injured,” Morris said. “They really had their young guy, No. 7 [Bucky Irving]going out there really productive. Started out as a rusher, then moved to running back, then moved to explosive guy. He had some really good games against us. And then they really opened up a few weeks ago and they had some injuries and No. 44 [Sean Tucker] went out there, really opened up this game as a kickoff against us.
“So when you look at those guys, you have a chance to go out there in that run game and really open it up with a bunch of guys that we know. They’ve been really productive running the football the last couple of weeks, which I know wasn’t seen as a strength for these guys at first, but it just became that.
Injuries aren’t limited to wide receivers. Bucky Irving, part of that three-headed monster, did not participate in Wednesday’s practice. He is the Buccaneers’ leading rusher and had nine carries for 44 yards and two catches for 12 yards in the last meeting.
The Buccaneers were held to 70 and 91 yards on the ground in Weeks 2 and 3 against the Detroit Lions and Denver Broncos, respectively. Since then, they’ve been over 100 yards in four straight games, including 160 against the Falcons and a whopping 277 against the Saints. They employ the No. 8 rushing attack in the league.
Meanwhile, the Falcons, playing their passive two-man front, nickel defense as a staple, have given up their opponents’ run in hopes of limiting explosive plays. As a result, they are the NFL’s 24th-ranked rushing defense at 137 yards per game.
With the Buccaneers’ top two receivers out and a strong running offense, if there was ever a time for the Atlanta Falcons to commit more bodies up front instead of playing a soft zone, this is the game.
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