Game 14 Preview: Falcons

Well, let's see. The Falcons just played on Monday night, got their asses kicked and 24 hours later their coach was doing pig calls in Arkansas. Now they are being led by their secondary coach who, by all accounts, is a good guy, but has never been the head coach of anything before this week. They are in the bottom half of every meaningful statistic on both offense and defense, are now fielding Chris Redman, who's name should be offensive to American Indians, as the starting quarterback. Buccaneer fans will remember Redman from the 2002 season when he was left for dead after a 25-0 shutout of the Ravens. Derrick Brooks has particularly fond memories of him after his 97 yard interception return to end the game. Since then, Redman has been a backup from time to time, but mostly has been selling insurance.

That's the glib version. I'm pretty sure the Bucs will win this one walking away, but I thought that of the Texans, too. In fact, the best thing the Bucs have going for them is that they lost last week, so they're less likely to take the Falcons lightly. Otherwise, it would be easy to overlook the football version of Candide. The Falcons have more to play for this week than at any other time this season. They want to show Bobby Petrino that not only can they win without him, but he was the one holding them back. The whole Falcons locker room is rallying behind Emmitt Thomas and they're inspired to give him their best game. And to be honest, Redman isn't playing all that badly. He's got a passer rating of 91.8 so far this year and has taken much better care of the ball than Joey Harrington or Byron Leftwich did. Redman isn't going to outjuke anyone, so the Bucs should just dial up the pressure and keep it on him all day. He'll give the ball up if you get to him enough. But even if the front four to get some pressure, they Bucs shouldn't play that soft zone that got them killed last week. Redman has the potential to throw for six yard gains all day long. The Bucs need to attack.

Jeff Garcia will be starting again and says he's back to 100%. That by itself should be enough to push the team to win. DeAngelo Hall is their biggest threat against the pass and he'll be on Joey Galloway all day. They'll still take their shots at him when they get some nice mismatches, so I'd look for him to have at least one play over 40 yards. The Falcons are 27th against the run, but I have a feeling they'll play it pretty well on Sunday, so maybe Earnest Graham doesn't have a great day. But he'll get the ball enough to keep the heat off the receivers. I'm also crossing my fingers for Michael Bennett to get a couple chances to run down the sidelines for some big gains. Please, guys, take this one seriously. Bucs by 14.