Should the Atlanta Falcons win the NFC Championship, are the New England Patriots or Pittsburgh Steelers the better Super Bowl 51 matchup?
Avoiding a second-straight late-season collapse, the Atlanta Falcons enter Sunday readying themselves to face the Green Bay Packers in the 2017 NFC Championship Game. Matt Ryan has been an MVP candidate all season and the offense has been incredible all season as a result. One more win and they’re playing in Super Bowl 51 against either the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers.
However, this Falcons team has been good enough and impressive enough to be eyeing the Lombardi Trophy, not just a Super Bowl berth. Subsequently, they face an interesting question if they were to win on Sunday. In the event of a victory over Green Bay, would they rather meet up with the Pats or Steelers in Houston for all the marbles?
Frankly, the Falcons shouldn’t be worried about either defense when you consider what their offense is capable of. On one hand, you have the Patriots defense that I believe to be a bit fraudulent. They haven’t faced any offense with the potency of Atlanta’s throughout the season. In fact, the Steelers in the AFC Championship are far and away the best offense they’ve played yet this year.
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While the Steelers might inspire a bit more confidence in that regard with the way guys like Bud Dupree and James Harrison can blitz and make plays, they still have a bend-don’t-break type of defense. That unit gives up plenty of yardage and the balanced attack with the array of weapons that the Falcons offense has wouldn’t have much of an issue scoring against them either.
That then brings us to the biggest weakness of the Falcons, which is of course their defense. Atlanta hasn’t been great on that side of the ball all year and injuries haven’t helped much either. Not having Desmond Trufant on the outside is big, especially when you consider that means he couldn’t shadow Antonio Brown if they were to face the Steelers. Sure, they have Vic Beasley able to generate a pass-rush, but that’s not totally enough to instill a ton of confidence in the unit as a whole.
With that said, the Falcons would much rather face the Steelers offense as opposed to the Patriots simply based on consistency. At New England’s worst, they still have the greatest quarterback of all-time at the helm, Tom Brady. He can beat you in numerous ways no matter what your defense looks like. That can’t be said for Pittsburgh.
Even throughout their winning streak, the Steelers have put forth some offensive duds. Yes, you wouldn’t think that could ever happen with Brown, Le’Veon Bell and Ben Roethlisberger healthy, but it’s how things have turned out. Even in a Divisional Round win, no one for the Steelers found the end zone.
Next: Would Packers Rather Face Patriots or Steelers?
Considering the prowess of their offense and the success they can have against any defense, it’s the inconsistency of the Steelers offense that makes PIttsburgh the better matchup for Atlanta. There’s no guarantee that the Falcons make it past a red-hot Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. If they do, though, my guess is that they’ll be cheering on the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game after the fact.