Pittsburgh Steelers Meet the Opponent: Atlanta Falcons

Expert Interview

Every week, I’ll get the chance to grab a few words from somebody with a view from the other side of things. It’s one thing to see things from your perspective, yet it’s another to come full-circle and get the opportunity to view the game from the opposing sideline.

This week, I was lucky enough to interview Jacob Yturri, site expert for FanSided’s Atlanta Falcons site, Blogging Dirty. Follow Jacob on Twitter @JacobYturri for more Falcons insight.

DD: First of all, thank you for your time. The Falcons have played a few tight games this season but just haven’t found a way to win them. What’s the current state of this Atlanta team?

JY: The current state of this Falcons team is mildly depressed. All of the team’s losses have been winnable, Atlanta has just been short-handed defensively, and unless major moves are made this is a team that will stay short-handed. This season really stinks because going into it you had members of the national media praising your team, and then just like a house of cards, it all tumbled down. 

DD:We know what Atlanta is capable of offensively, mainly due to Julio Jones. The Julio/AB debate is often a heavy one through the league, how do Falcons fans view that sort of rivalry between the two?

JY: Regarding the Julio Jones and Antonio Brown debate, most Falcons fans would tell you that there is almost no scenario where they would want to switch receivers. Personally, I think Brown is a legendary talent, but he is as Colin Cowherd puts it “icing.” The rest of your team has to be good (they are the cake) for the icing to standout. From afar it seems that Brown is a huge diva and that simply makes him the lesser receiver in Falcons fans’ eyes.

DD: Both Atlanta and Pittsburgh are off to extremely slow starts. I’m noticing a lot of similarities between the two in terms of being Super Bowl caliber teams that simply have a hard time getting the job done on defense. What would you say is the problem for the Falcons defensively?

JY: The problem for the Falcons is that this squad lacked depth off of the team’s front four and once players started getting knocked out for the season Atlanta simply did not have enough talented bodies. Before the start of the season, I thought Atlanta was a 12 win team. I’d now argue that the Falcons would be lucky to win seven games.

DD: The loser of this game will only dig themselves deeper into a hole that they likely cannot get themselves out of. From a Atlanta perspective, is this a must-win?

JY: This game is absolutely a must-win for Atlanta. That’s why it stinks so much that this is going to be loss for the Falcons

DD: From a match-up perspective, which ones will you be circling and keeping an eye on for Sunday that could determine the outcome of the game?

JY: Match-up wise, I keep coming back to Matt Ryan versus the Steelers’ secondary. Ryan is going to have to throw for close to four hundred passing yards if he wants to win this game. I don’t see that happening, so I predict a bad loss for Atlanta.

DD: If the Falcons are able to (insert answer here), they will win the football game.

JY: If the Falcons are able to control the clock and keep the lead all game, this will be an easy win. However, that’s unlikely to happen. I’m taking the Steelers 27-21.

Jacob isn’t very confident in the Falcons’ abilities coming in week five, yet neither team can really feel solid in their footing considering both abysmal starts to the season. With neither team affording to lose this game in hopes of remaining in the running of divisional/playoff hopes, it will be interesting to see how the game plays out.