For the second week in a row, the Falcons will play in front of the American people. The Dirty Birds will return to Atlanta for Sunday Night Football to play Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, following their incredible victory over the Eagles on Monday Night Football.
In every way, it will be a totally different task from Philadelphia. The defensive lineman and coordinator in Kansas City are better than those in Philadelphia. In addition, the quarterback and head coach of the Chiefs are superior to the Falcons’ opponents in Week 2.
There’s no arguing that Mahomes is the NFL’s best quarterback. There is practically nothing that the alien signal caller cannot accomplish, as Raheem Morris points out.
Mahomes has the ability to play both inside and outside of an offensive system. He is able to play both inside and outside of the pocket while moving. He is able to play both ahead and behind. Mahomes performs all of his tasks at an exceptional level.
The three-time Super Bowl champion and two-time league MVP, though, isn’t the Chiefs player the Falcons need to be concerned about. Mahomes will receive his. Atlanta’s defense will need to score points; the most they can hope for is to limit the damage.
Chris Jones has the ability to completely ruin the Falcons’ hopes of pulling off an upset. So far, the Chiefs dynasty has had a few mainstays. While Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, and Travis Kelce are well-known, Steve Spagnuolo and Chris Jones are hardly ever mentioned in the same sentence.
Jones is their closer, and Spags is one of the best defensive coordinators in football. Although everyone talks about Mahomes as the “closer,” Jones has consistently performed well for the Chiefs on the defensive end of the ball throughout the years.
Throughout the season, the Falcons offense has largely failed; yet, on Monday Night Football, they showed signs of life in the fourth quarter. In the closing moments of the third quarter, Kirk Cousins found himself in close proximity to Darnell Mooney, who then guided the Falcons offense on an almost flawless touchdown drive that won the game.
The Falcons need to have a game plan for Chris Jones if they want to improve on their performance from Week 2. A game plan can be entirely derailed by certain defenders, as demonstrated by T.J. Watt in the first week of play. Chris Jones deserves a better plan from Zac Robinson than he did for Watt.
