I caught up with Jamie Kelly again of Blogging Dirty. You might have heard of him from the last time we did this about a month ago. Jamie asked me a few questions which you can CHECK OUT HERE on his blog. Here’s my 10 questions to him below that you should be all too accustomed to by now. Thanks as always to Jamie for taking the time. Despite the fact that I loathe his team beyond words I do feel an odd appreciation for what he brings to the table. He’s a good dude and he knows his football team, gotta respect that. Enjoy!
Saints Nation: Alright man so here we are. Monday Night Football. Saints are 11-3. Falcons are 9-5. Falcons are fighting for dear life to get the wild card. Saints are fighting for the 2 seed. Are you guys holding out hope for a miracle to win the NFC South? How are you feeling about your team at this point in the season?
Blogging Dirty: I wouldn’t say that our main focus is winning the division as that seems a bit unlikely at this point. Our first focus at this point is to beat the Saints and secure our wild card berth, if something shocking were to happen in your game against Carolina in week 17 that would be great and would mean (assuming a win for us over the lowly Bucs) that we would take the division. However, i think the Falcons have been mentally preparing themselves to go on the road in the playoffs.
We are still relatively inconsistent at this point but we are trending upwards and have not played a complete game of our best football yet. It’s coming together slowly but i hope we will be ready to go come playoff time.
SN: I wrote a piece defending Drew Brees’ case as the NFL MVP over Aaron Rodgers. As an Atlanta Falcon blogger, how close do you think this race is? Does Brees have a shot in your mind? Who would you pick as the MVP?
BD: Sorry Saints fans but, its not even close for me. Rodgers’ season has been statistically mind blowing in terms of touchdowns, interceptions and QB Rating, while Brees has had a nice year, Rodgers has been a cut above everybody this season.
SN: How confident are you that the Falcons can come into New Orleans and win this game at this point in the season?
BD: I would say, I am fairly confident, as we saw last year and this year our games come down to one play either way, and i don’t see that changing. I like the way the Falcons are playing and are coming off a long rest after playing Jacksonville on Thursday Night Football so they have a very good shot, but it is still pretty much 50/50 in my eyes, whether the Falcons can come away with a win.
SN: What’s been a bigger surprise to you this year: the complete implosion of the Bucs or the immediate success of Cam Newton?
BD: I would say Cam’s success. I did not like the Bucs coming into the season and although they beat a very poor version of us in week 3, I was still very underwhelmed. I also went to see them play live at Wembley, London where they were again pretty atrociousness. I am not shocked the Bucs are way they are now as I think they are the worst team in the division right now even behind Carolina.
Cam has been great at times, but has kind of been a reverse Tim Tebow most of the year, playing very well for the first 3 quarters and blowing it in the 4th. I think he has blown five or six 4th quarter leads this year including two against us. He does have very very good potential though and should make Carolina a big factor in the NFC South for years to come.
SN: Let’s say the Saints win this game and sweep the season series. There’s a decent chance we could meet again in the playoffs. If that happens, do you buy into the notion that it’s really hard to beat a team 3 times in one season?
BD: I do see that to as being the case. If I’m being honest with myself, then if our two teams were to play three times and you lot would probably win two of them based on this seasons performance. Therefore my thinking is that if it does come down to us playing three times, the Falcons will win at least one of them, whether that game is next week or a few weeks from now I’m not sure. It should be really interesting to watch.
SN: I haven’t had a chance to talk to you since Mike Smith made the call to go for it on 4th and inches from deep in Falcons territory in overtime which sealed your fate in that game. How did you feel about that call then, and how do you feel about it now?
BD: I loved the call at the time and I still love it now, obviously it didn’t work out, but given the situation of the game it was the right thing to do. My concern now, is what it seems to have done to the mindset of Mike Smith in the games played afterwards. He seems slightly reluctant to make that big call again, which is rare for him as he has been notorious for being aggressive in those kind of situations.
SN: Funny, you said last time we talked “If Turner over 100 yards the Falcons will most likely win”. He ended up with 96, and they lost by 3 in overtime. In fact, if he converts that 4th and inches, he probably goes over 100 and the Falcons win. You had that magic number real dialed in. Since then, the Saints have yielded the following rushing totals to team’s top rushers: Brandon Jacobs 46 yards, Kevin Smith 34 yards, Chris Johnson 23 yards, Adrian Peterson 60 yards. The Saints run defense has been exceptional lately. Do you think Turner gets over 100 this week?
BD: Probably not, contrary to what all the media say, it is not as much of a pre-requisite for a Falcon victory any more. Our passing offense is playing the best it has done all year, with Julio, Roddy and Tony G starting to really show off their talents and can carry a substantial load of the offensive work. Having said that Turner will get his carries probably 20 or so for 70 yards, just to build up some time of possession and keep the ball away from Drew Brees.
SN: Anything particularly weak or hurting right now in the Falcons’ lineup? What should the Saints exploit?
BD: I would have said the Falcons corners but it looks as though Brent Grimes and Kelvin Hayden will able to go after missing a few weeks through injury, which turns the weakness into a bit of a strength. To be honest, the Falcons are pretty solid across the board now and don’t have a specific weakness for the opposition to target, however that’s not to say we are great across the board because we are not and the Saints will likely look to target many things instead of just one.
SN: The Falcons are 9th in total defense and 4th against the run. Seems like that’s been the bright spot for the Falcons this year – a defense that’s performed above expectations. Would you agree the offense has been slightly disappointing, though? What’s the main reason they are sitting at 9-5 and fighting for their playoff lives?
BD: The offense has not been quite as good as my sky high expectations, but they are getting there. Integrating two college juniors Jacquizz Rodgers and Julio Jones as key players into our offense hasn’t been silky smooth. However, i like the chances of our offense heading into the postseason. Combined with as you say our good looking defense, this team is definitely across the board better than last years in terms of talent.
The Falcons are sitting at 9-5 on talent alone pretty much, the only difference between last year’s team and this year’s in terms of record is that last year we won close games, this year we have lost quite a few.
SN: You picked Falcons to win 24-20 last time. Saints won 26-23, so the score was reversed but you were very close. What’s your score prediction this time?
BD: I reckon, this encounter will see more scoring than last time. I will go for a 33-30 Falcons win in the Superdome.
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