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Friday, September 26, 2008
Pearls of wisdom from BIG GRADY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Pearls of wisdom from BIG GRADY
Defensive tackle Grady Jackson gets an up-close and personal look at the opposition’s offense and usually has an interesting view from the trenches.
He wants to take away what he calls Carolina’s “double-edged sword.”
“We can’t go in there with them having a double-edged sword, the running game and their passing game,” Jackson said. “We have to take one of their weapons away from them and make them one dimensional.”
One good thing for Big Grady and the Falcons is that DeShaun Foster is gone. He signed with San Francisco in the offseason. Of his seven career 100-yard games, four of them came against the Falcons. In 2005, he rushed for 131 and 165 yards against the Falcons.
However, rookie Jonathan Stewart is off to a good start and is a better change of pace to DeAngelo Williams. Stewart is a power runner with enough speed to be the kickoff returner.
To take away the other sword, Carolina’s passing attack, the Falcons will have to control wide receiver Steve Smith. This might be the first game that the Falcons miss DeAngelo Hall. He always got fired up for this matchup, even though his blowup last season took the team out of game at the Georgia Dome. Lost in Hall’s madness was that he was in the processing of shutting Smith down. He had a superb going before he lost his cool.
One interesting fact is that the visiting team has won the last five matchups. The Falcons won in Carolina last season when Joey Harrington found Alge Crumpler on a seam route for a 30-yard touchdown in the final minute for a 20-13 final.
Which sword can the Falcons take away from the Panthers? Will Big Grady work out Wharton like John Abraham used to when Wharton played tackle? Is Stewart the real deal? Can Abraham take away the passing sword by sacking Delhomme about four times?
