Top 4 offensive matchups for Week 12: Offense vs Defense

The Falcons will be playing like their lives depend on it. This is it. This is the big game. They have to win. They know that if they lose this game, they can kiss any hope of making a comeback on the divisional title goodbye. Tomarrow the Panthers face off against the Atlanta Falcons in a game where they hope to put them away for the rest of the year. The Panthers stop them here and they fall to 6-5 and fall out of the divisional title race and give a serious setback to their race for a wild-card.

It's very important that Panthers establish the running game early and often, and Delhomme needs to further revive his passing attack this week. Sure he had a decent game against the Lions, throwing completions for 10 out of 19 passes and 1 TD. But the Panther fans don't care about that, that was a team that sucked. No, the Panther fans will only be satisfied when they see the Falcons get burned by Steve Smith by a long pass thrown down the field for 6 points. Jake Delhomme must get out there and have a solid game, or else the whining Jake haters will rush out and start crying for his head once more.

And now onto the matchups, listed as usual in order of importance.

1. Steve Smith/Muhsin Muhammad Vs Chris Houston/Brent Grimes

If you are a defensive coordinator you're going to have enough problems when Steve Smith is lined up on the other side of the field. When you tack that on to the fact that both of your starting corners are coming off injuries, I think it's about time to press the panic button. In our last game with the Falcons, Muhsin Muhammed actually beat out his younger rival to the tune of 8 catches for 147 yards and a touchdown. That's not an encouraging thought if you're Falcon fan. Steve Smith wasn't no slouch either, making 6 catches for 97 yards. This stat line simply has to improve if the Falcons want any shot at stopping the Panthers offense.

2. Diangelo Williams vs Falcons linebackers

Diangelo Williams is hot right now. He's coming off three straight games where he has rushed for over 100 yards, and in his last two he has broken free for a huge 50+ yard TD run. The Falcons will need to bring the blitz if they're to stop the running game. The Panthers O-Line has proved again and again this year that they can win the battle in the trenches, so it's up to the linebackers to try to plug up the holes, especially the right side behind bruisers Jeff Otah and Keydric Vincent.

3. Ryan Kalil vs Jonathan Babineaux

If Ryan Kalil is in the game, chances are he's going to be bullrushed by this guy. Ryan Kalil is coming off a ankle injury and last week he started the game temporarily but he had to come out because he couldn't push off of his foot. If he comes out of the game at any time, he shall be replaced by Geoff Hangartner. Hangartner has performed very well these last few weeks, and he's one of those backups that seems to be ready for a starting job somewhere else if he doesn't eventually become one in Carolina.

4. Daunte Rosario vs Keith Brooking

Rosario let me down last week when he dropped a first down pass clearly intended for him. I'm sure everyone here knows how big of a fan I am of Rosario, and he has a chance to produce positive yards against an older veteran in linebacker Keith Brooking. This counts the same for Jeff King if he happens to be on that side of the field at the time.

The theme of the game is all about the running game. Whichever team establishes it will probably come out of this one the winner.

That's it for this week guys. Enjoy the game! Go Panthers!