PREVENT THE FALCONS FROM QUICK START
A young team like the Falcons earns momentum from early success. On the
Offensively, rookie quarterback Matt Ryan hit receiver Roddy White on a 37-yard pass on the Falcons first snap and it led to an opening drive touchdown. Ryan completed his first six passes in the game.
On the Falcons\' first defensive snap, veteran nose tackle Grady Jackson sacked Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Falcons captain Keith Brooking said the Falcons started fast after the Jackson sack. The Falcons have outscored their opponents 48-14 in the first quarter. The key then for the Bears, is to take away that quick first step, by starting fast themselves like they did against the Colts in the regular season opener and against the Eagles two weeks ago at Soldier Field.
ORTON’S OFFENSE
Fourth-year quarterback Kyle Orton is a rising player.
He recorded his first 300-yard passing game a week ago.
He’s thrown at least two touchdowns in three straight games. The last Bears quarterback to throw two touchdowns in four straight games was Erik Kramer in 1995. Orton’s 64 pass completions in the last three games hit multiple receivers.
Orton is making everybody better on offense.
He is equipped to follow the same path as Green Bay’s Aaron Rogers, and Carolina’s Jake Delhomme and have a big passing day against the Falcons.
CRANK UP THE RUN GAME
Matt Forte’ averaged 100.3 rushing yards in the first three games, but is averaging just 39.5 yards on the ground in the last two. The Eagles and Lions loaded up to stop the run, and most teams will go to eight and nine man fronts against the Bears.
In Tampa’s win over the Falcons Earnest Graham and Warrick Dunn combined to average 5.9 yards and 164 total rushing yards. Kansas City followed with a 184-yard effort led by Larry Johnson’s 121. Carolina’s two-pronged attack of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart combined for 109 yards, and the Packers led by Ryan Grant hit the Falcons for 104 yards and 4.5 yards per carry.
This looks like a great opportunity on the road to get the running game cranked up once again.
CONTROL JOHN ABRAHAM
Falcon’s defensive end John Abraham is off to a scintillating start with seven sacks in five games. However, five of those sacks came against struggling offenses in Detroit and Kansas City, both in the Georgia Dome.
Last week against the Packers Abraham forced an intentional grounding, a holding penalty, pressured the quarterback five times, had a sack, and a tackle for loss. He is a handful. The former New York Jet is one of the league’s premier pass rushers when healthy. He is the are defensive end that will line up left and right, so both Bear tackles John St. Clair and John Tait will have to be at their best to deal with Abraham.
Expect offensive coordinator Ron Turner to give both players some blocking help in an effort to slow this guy down.
BANG THE BURNER
No player in recent memory has captured the imagination of reporters this week at Halas Hall like Atlanta’s Michael Turner.
Blessed with unique size and speed, Turner is a 244-pound bruiser back who leads the NFL in rushing and is averaging 5.3 yards per carry
It will take a complete team defensive effort to slow him down and limit the damage. His totals are skewed by a 22-carry, 220-yard explosion against Detroit in the season opener, but it is one of three triple-digit games he’s put together.
The two clubs that stopped Turner are Carolina, which held him to 3.1 yards per carry on 18 attempts and Tamp
So stopping Turner may have as much to do with the Bears getting the lead and keeping that lead than anything they might do defensively.
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