In form Atlanta Falcons more than a match for struggling Oakland Raiders - NFL Preview
The Atlanta Falcons are on a roll and they will be looking to continue their brilliant start to the season when they face Oakland Raiders at home on Sunday October 14, 2012.
Currently one of only two unbeaten teams in the National Football League (NFL) it seems the Atlanta Falcons can do no wrong with the team putting in one brilliant performance after another.
They will be highly confident of getting another big win this week to go 6-0 heading into their bye week.
Quarterback Matt Ryan, wide receiver Roddy White, tight end Tony Gonzales and running back Michael Turner have been the star performers in offence for the Falcons.
Ryan has passed for a massive 1,507 yards this season and thrown 13 touchdown passes playing a major role in the franchise’s brilliant start to the season.
His receiver corps have also delivered with White and Gonzales particularly standing out. Gonzales is currently the league leader with 39 catches for 388 yards and has scored four touchdowns while White has made 31 receptions for 481 yards and three touchdowns.
Running back Michael Turner too has provided another big option for the offence as he rushed for 324 yards from 73 carries scoring three touchdowns.
This all action offence has been helped massively by a solid defence.
Speaking about his team’s brilliant start to the season Ryan said:
"It is a great start for us, it really is. At this point, you can't really worry about what is going on in the history of our organization, but we have put ourselves right where we need to be five games into it."
Roddy White also said:
"This team's got a whole different attitude about going out there and expecting to win."
The Raiders on paper don’t look like they will provide much resistance to this brilliant Falcons side.
Oakland is 1-3 this year and has not won a single away game this season.
The defence has struggled massively to keep the opposition out and their cause has not been helped by injuries which have resulted in players playing out of position on defence.
Offensively the Raiders are struggling too as quarterback Carson Palmer continues to struggle. The quarterback has passed for 1,081 yards this season with five touchdowns.
Coach Dennis Allen said speaking about the Raiders struggles said:
"We're not going to stick our head in the sand. We're going to evaluate everything and see what things we need to improve on and where we can get better."
The Falcons will be favourites to win this matchup and that too by a big score as the Raiders are currently not playing anywhere close to level being displayed by Atlanta.
This is likely to be an easy win for Atlanta if they perform at their best and it won’t be surprising to see them go 6-0 into the bye week.
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