Paxton Lynch

Why Falcons-Broncos is Week 5's most important game

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:01 p.m. ET

Dieter Kurtenbach

Here’s a prediction: Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones will not have 300 receiving yards Sunday.

Here’s another one: Matt Ryan won’t throw for 500 yards.

The Falcons might win their Week 5 game, but it won’t be because of historic offensive numbers. That’s not going to happen this week, not against the Denver Broncos defense.

At the beginning of the season is would have been a bit ridiculous to think that a Falcons-Broncos matchup would be the clear-cut game of the week, but here we are. Denver is 4-0 and in first place in the AFC West, Atlanta is 3-1 and in first place in the NFC South.

But how those two teams reached the top of their divisions is a testament to the disparity of the NFL in 2016.

We know what the Broncos are about — defense. They started the season with serviceable play at quarterback from seventh-round nobody Trevor Siemian behind a revamped and dominant offensive line and with some impressive weapons around him. That’s been more than enough offense for the Broncos, whose defense — the backbone of its Super Bowl champion team — is allowing 16 points per game this season.

The Falcons are coming at it from the opposite angle. The Falcons’ offense is flying so far this year, and while much of that has to do with the teams they’ve played, there’s still an excellent base of success from which to work.

Ryan is the clubhouse leader in the MVP race a quarter of the way through the season, as Atlanta is averaging a league-leading 38 points and 478 yards per game. No one else in the NFL is even remotely close to those clips.

The Falcons’ defense, on the other hand, is allowing 31 points per game. But who cares? Atlanta is winning.

A great offense against a great defense, a bad defense against an offense that will likely start rookie quarterback Paxton Lynch. This is more than a regular-season game, this is a battle of ideologies.

Offense vs. defense has been the core struggle in football since the game's advent, but these days, with super-spread offenses and hybrid defensive players challenging the status-quo on both sides of the ball, the war has increased in intensity. Adding a variety of offense-favoring rules hasn't helped relations either.

Every game features a showdown of offense vs. defense, but this game accentuates that conflict with two extremes. Something has to give.

We’re about to find out if defense is still king or if the offensive revolution is the way to win. In a disjointed year, we’re going to find out, in a way, what it takes to be the best in the NFL in 2016.