Coming off their 34-10 drubbing by Cincinnati in their preseason opener at the Georgia Dome, the Falcons travel to Baltimore to play the defending Super Bowl champion Ravens.
Head coach Mike Smith ruled out four players for the game because of injury: running back Jason Snelling, linebackers Robert James and Sean Weatherspoon and fullback Bradie Ewing.
For the other players who will compete, here are five things to look for:
Yes. Last Thursday the first-team defense and first-team offense each played 14 snaps apiece. Those totals represented roughly 20 percent of the plays on defense and 25 percent on offense. Smith said the starters will play more. "We will go above on that, probably take them a couple more series," he said.
After those three series, the Falcons led 3-0. The game got away from them from there. Still, Smith was not especially happy with the first-team offense. It reached the red zone and settled for a field goal. On third-and-two from the Bengals’ 16-yard line, Steven Jackson lost three yards when he tried to run behind the Falcons’ right tackle –- perhaps the team’s biggest question mark on the field.
Not only does that play represent a red-zone failure, but it also hurt the Falcons’ third-down conversion rate, which came in at a subpar 33 percent for the game. Look to see if they can improve on third-and-short and their red-zone offense.
It also sounds as if first-round draft pick Desmond Trufant, who is expected to start at right cornerback, will play longer than his 22 snaps of last week (he played some nickelback with the second-team). Smith said specific players will play significantly longer because he wants them to get used to the "sequencing of the game, some of the substitution patterns that may take place." Fellow rookie cornerback Robert Alford, the team’s second-rounder, also could be in that category.
"They’re used to playing a game that is a little different pace,” Smith said of the rookies. The NCAA has "a 20-minute halftime. We want to make sure that we get some guys understanding what they have to do at halftime, so it’s not the first time they’ve done it in regular season, that they’ve done it probably three times before we play our first game."
Falcons Pro-Bowl wide receiver Julio Jones sat out last week’s game with soreness in both hamstring muscles. Starting on Sunday, he was a full participant in practice. That should get him ready for the game, Smith seemed to indicate earlier in the week.
Of particular interest should be situations when Jones goes against Baltimore cornerback Lardarius Webb, an excellent corner who suffered a season-ending injury last October. Last preseason Jones torched Webb one-on-one for a 36-yard reception.
Jones missed three games in his rookie season with hamstring issues so the Falcons will want to make sure he is at 100 percent to start the season.
The competition continues in earnest for the starting right offensive tackle job and Baltimore’s defense possesses two of the league’s top pass-rushers in Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil.
The Falcons say that Lamar Holmes, who has gotten the bulk of the work in the last week with the first-team offense since Mike Johnson suffered a season-ending injury, has excellent feet and athleticism. If that’s so we’ll have to see how those skills avail him against the likes of Suggs and Dumervil.
In the preseason, teams don’t want to show their more effective blitzes so the Falcons offense most likely will see pass rushes of a mostly vanilla variety, which should benefit Holmes and Ryan Schraeder, his chief competition at present for that job.
At least Holmes, playing as a junior at Southern Miss, would have seen the likes of an NFL-caliber pass-rusher during his collegiate career when the Golden Eagles played South Carolina, which boasted current San Diego Chargers linebacker Melvin Ingram. Schraeder, an undrafted college free agent out of Division II Valdosta State, could be in for a baptism by fire. Schraeder did not play football in high school and has only played the sport for three years, as the Falcons coaches were eager to point out this week.
"They’ve got two very good outside rushers that can create havoc coming off the edge," Smith said. "That is going to be a challenge for us."
Baltimore's issues at receiver have been well documented. Anquan Boldin has gone to San Francisco and tight end Dennis Pitta suffered an injury that is likely to sideline him for the entire season.
This week, the Ravens signed two players to strengthen their receiving corps, slot receiver Brandon Stokley, 37, and tight end Dallas Clark, 34. While it’s unknown whether those two will dress, Smith said it ought not to be a huge adjustment for them, as both have played under Ravens offensive coordinator Jim Caldwell in the past so the offense and verbiage should be familiar to them.
The Falcons have "cross-trained" Trufant at the nickel, which means he could face one of those wily veterans.
Oh by the way, the Ravens also have Torrey Smith, who averaged 17.4 yards per catch last season and totaled eight touchdowns.
"It will be a great test for our young guys," Smith said. "Both of those guys (Trufant and Alford) did a nice job in Game 1. It is going to be fun to watch them compete. They’re going to be playing against another top-flight quarterback in Joe Flacco, MVP in the Super Bowl, so it will be fun to watch. They’ve got a good receiver in Torrey Smith, so they’re going to be out there early, so they’re going to get the opportunity to play against those guys."
One of the break-out performances on the Falcons last week was turned in by undrafted free agent linebacker Paul Worrilow, who posted a game-high 11 tackles.
Can Worrilow repeat what he did last Thursday? Lots of players can have one good game. If Worrilow comes up with a showing similar to last week’s, he will have a very good chance to make the Falcons’ active roster. If not, it might not mean as much and he will still have a lot to prove to win a spot.
Also watch Falcons defensive end Jonathan Massaquoi, in his second season out of Troy. Massaquoi totaled two sacks last week and has looked sharp during camp. A few more sacks in the preseason and the Falcons might have themselves the pass-rushing specialist they need when the regular season begins.
