Atlanta, GA- The Atlanta Falcons return home to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for week 4 of the NFL season as they take on the Tennessee Titans, where they will try to right the ship after falling 1-2 on the season last Sunday.
It’s been a disappointing start to the 2019 season for the Falcons, who fell 27-24 to the Indianapolis Colts, coming up just short of the comeback attempt after trailing 20-3 at halftime. A major point of frustration for Atlanta and its fans has been the mounting self-inflictive penalties that have plagued the team in every game so far.
Heading into this Sunday’s matchup with the Titans, Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn delivered a message to his team about the penalties saying, “‘Fight only one team.’ I put the schedule up and basically said, ‘Who is not up there?’ and it was obviously us. I said, Let’s make sure we’re only fighting one team. No more self-inflicted wounds that derail us. Get our football right, exactly like we want, so on Sunday, we’re fighting the opponent. In this case, Tennessee, and only Tennessee.”
Atlanta has made the penalties an emphasis throughout the week in practice, bringing in a crew of referees to continue simulating game situations to try and correct the issues. The Falcons have a favorable matchup with Tennessee, who is also 1-2 on the year, and desperately need to clean up the mistakes if they are going to get back in the win column.
Leading the offense for the Falcons will be veteran quarterback Matt Ryan, who has to clean up his own mistakes on Sunday. Alongside the team penalties, Atlanta has had an issue of turnovers, which is not exactly a recipe for success. Ryan has six interceptions through the first three games of the season and needs to do a better job of protecting the football going forward. Despite the turnovers, the Boston College product found a rhythm in the second half last week, throwing three touchdowns, and will look to build on that against the Titans.
Ryan will need to trust in his talented receiving corps, led by star receiver Julio Jones, who will try to get in the end zone for the eighth consecutive game, the longest active streak in the NFL. Jones has gotten off to a great start to his 2019 campaign but will have a tough test against a Tennessee defense that has held opposing offenses in check in every game so far despite their record.
The focus of the week for Atlanta’s defense will be how they react to losing star safety Keanu Neal for the year following his unfortunate torn Achilles last week. Neal had just returned from a torn ACL injury from 2018, and now the defense must once again overcome losing a key piece of their roster.
This test for Atlanta’s defense will come against a Titans offense that has struggled in back to back weeks, scoring just seven points last week in their loss to the Jaguars. The key reason for Tennessee’s struggles has been the offensive line, who have allowed 17 sacks in just three games so far. Atlanta’s defensive line must continue to force pressure on quarterback Marcus Mariotta if they are going to keep them in check, so look for defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, and defensive ends Takk McKinley and Vic Beasley throughout the game.
Sunday will mark the first matchup between the Falcons and Titans since 2015, where Atlanta snuck away with a win in Nashville 10-7. I believe we could be in for another ugly game this Sunday with both teams struggling early on this season, but Atlanta has more firepower on offense to get back to .500 on the season and will come away with the win if they can correct their self-inflicting mistakes.
Prediction: Atlanta 17 – Tennessee 13
Atlanta and Tennessee will kick off from Mercedes-Benz Stadium this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. est.
