Falcons in good position headed into bye week

After seven grueling weeks of the regular season the Falcons will get a much needed break. They are limping into the bye week with already injured players like Julio Jones and Christopher Owens. The latest injuries suffered on Sunday were not good when Matt Ryan and Ovie Mughelli went down. Matt Ryan got an MRI on Monday and it revealed no structural damage and that everything was fine. The Falcons are still waiting to hear on Mughelli who suffered a knee injury. Mike Smith has said on his weekly radio news conference that he has given the team the whole week off which is a good idea.

Giving the team the whole week off will give them time to just relax and not have to think about football. They have been practicing hard ever since the lockout ended in late July. You count the practices plus the preseason and regular season football games, and that is a lot of football played. This bye week for the Falcons is perfect timing considering that they have finished the hardest part of the schedule, and coming off of their bye their schedule does get easier. They play Indianapolis, Tennessee, Minnesota, Houston, Jacksonville, New Orleans twice and both Carolina and Tampa Bay one more time. These are all very winnable games for the Falcons and believe it or not with the way that they started they could very well finish the season with a 13-3 record. It will be hard however as I feel the toughest games for them will be against Houston and New Orleans. Houston has a very explosive offense that will put pressure on the Falcons defense and Drew Brees has always given the Falcons problems.

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With this said there are a bunch of positives the Falcons can look forward to coming out of their bye. The Falcons only allowed the Lions to convert 1-12 on third down and for a team that was last in third down defense that was definitely a welcoming sight facing a tough offense like Detroit. Ray Edwards is getting to the quarterback after having his usual slow start to the season, Edwards is starting to feel comfortable with the Falcons and that is resulting in him getting consistent pressure on the quarterback. Falcons have got their identity back also with the running game. They understand that with them it starts with the run game and ends with the run game. The offensive lines after their struggles in the beginning of the season are starting to gel and play like a Paul Boudreau dominant offensive line unit. The Falcons are getting back to what they do best and most importantly they are doing it by playing Falcons football.

By: Steven Virden
ProFootball-fans.com Atlanta Falcons Correspondent