Scouting Report: Falcons at Jaguars

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Two teams fighting for respect.

Two teams looking to avoid an 0-2 start.

Only one winner.

It's rarely so simple to sum up the story lines of an NFL game, yet the Falcons (0-1) and Jaguars (0-1) don't have much to say. Each team had mistakes they want to correct from Week 1 and each has unique ways of talking up the importance of Sunday's game at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. 

"They're a good team," Falcons fullback Ovie Mughelli said. "They're going to be even better since they lost. Just like us they want to win that much more. Especially losing at home, they're not going to allow themselves to do that twice -- but they're not going to have a choice."

With that, we break down the match ups...

ON THE GROUND: The Jaguars, like many teams in the NFL, employee a two-back system featuring second-year running back Maurice Jones-Drew and veteran Fred Taylor. The duo didn't have much success last week, however, as the Titans dominated the running game on both sides (rushing for 282 and holding the Jaguars to 72 yards on the ground).

Last season they formed quite the pair, combining for 2,087 yards and 18 touchdowns (13 for Jones-Drew).

In that respect, the teams facing off this weekend are similar.

"Obviously running the football has been a strength for us much like it has been with Atlanta," Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio said earlier this week. "We were very successful running it last year. We did not get off to a very successful start last weekend and we know that's important to us."

Atlanta rushed for 96 yards last week on just a 3.4-yard per carry average. Some of that was field position, as the Falcons were forced to pound the ball out of their own end for much of the game. Pro Bowl running back Warrick Dunn rushed 22 times for 55 yards while second-year back Jerious Norwood had five rushes for 33 yards.

Getting the running game on track will be a focus of the Falcons this week, especially with the success Tennessee had running against the Jaguars in Week 1.

“We want to get the ball in Jerious’ hands," Falcons Head Coach Bobby Petrino said. "He is a guy that has the speed and the ability to make big plays for us. We have to make sure that he gets more touches.”

Norwood rushed for 633 yards on 99 carries last season. This will be his first game against the Jaguars. Dunn has one 100-yard rushing game against the Jaguars (16 carries for 107 yards). It came back in 1998.

But the Jaguars don't figure to be offering an easy path for opposing running backs, especially with a roster of athletic linebackers and defensive tackles Marcus Stroud and John Henderson.

"We have to be able to get penetration," Stroud said Wednesday. "They're a zone-running team and they don't necessarily attack you. But they do a good job getting guys running side to side. Then Warrick Dunn or Norwood pick where they want to go and they hit it."

"They're good," said Jackson of the Jaguars defense. "They're big inside. They're good run stoppers. Last week, by looking at the film, it looked like they didn't play too good. I think they're going to come out and try to redeem themselves because they had a bad game. You've got to expect the best out of them this week like they're going to expect our best because of (what happened) last week."

When it comes to stopping the Jaguars run, the Falcons are focusing their attention on the opening minutes of the game and on first and second down. The Vikings established the run early and rookie Adrian Peterson finished with 103 of the team's 139 rushing yards.

"We want to get off the field and give our offense time to make plays and do things," defensive end John Abraham said. "Letting Fred Taylor run for 5 or 6 yards on first down is not going to do it. I think we gave up a lot of yards on first down. That's a big thing we have to stop. We want to get them in to a passing down to give our pass rushers a chance to get to the quarterback."

THROUGH THE AIR: The Jaguars made one of the biggest quarterback moves of the offseason when they parted ways with Byron Leftwich. Leftwich, a first-round pick in 2003, led Jacksonville's offense for the past four seasons but struggled with injuries.

David Garrard officially took over last week and threw for 204 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed five times for 24 yards, making him similar to Minnesota's Tarvaris Jackson in size and dual-threat capability.

"He's a big body," Abraham said of the 245-pound Garrard. "He's a hard guy to bring down. We have to do the small things, especially with a guy like him that can move a lot."

"He's played a lot for them in the past," added cornerback DeAngelo Hall of the former East Carolina quarterback. " We actually played him a couple times when I was down at Virginia Tech. We know him very well. We know he's a quarterback that can not only beat you with his arm, but beat you with his feet."

When it comes to targets, Garrard doesn't necessarily have household names to throw to. Eight-year veteran Dennis Northcutt led the team with 57 receiving yards last week. The team lists Ernest Wilford starting opposite Northcutt on the depth chart. Gone are the days when Petrino was quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator in Jacksonville and surrounded with Pro Bowlers.

“I had a good time when I was down there," Petrino said. "It was a good place where I learned a lot about the game of football and where I was around a lot of professionals. I think back about the good players at the time... Mark Brunell, Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell were all guys who knew how to prepare and get ready for a game."

Fast forward to today and the Falcons are learning from their outing in Week 1 that included six sacks and 199 passing yards from quarterback Joey Harrington.

It was a wake-up call for rookie guard Justin Blalock, but he and the rest of the line are staying positive heading into Week 2 against a Jaguars defense sporting a secondary of rookie sensation Reggie Nelson and veterans Sammy Knight and Rashean Mathis.

"Obviously it could have been a lot better," Blalock said. "You like to go out and win every time you go out on the field. All things withstanding, we survived the first one.... A lot of things went well. A lot of things didn't go well."

Petrino was known at Jacksonville and the University of Louisville for putting balanced offenses on the field. Harrington threw 32 passes paired with 28 team rushing attempts.

The Jaguars are expecting a little bit of everything this week, especially in the passing game.

"Our secondary really wasn't the group that was tested a whole lot last week; it was primarily our front," Del Rio said. "We see a group that has good skill people, an active offensive line and an experienced quarterback."

The Falcons look in their locker room and see a team that doesn't want to lean too heavily on the run or pass.

"I'm not a believer in running to set up the pass or passing to set up the run," Harrington said. "You've got to do both. You've got to do both to win football games. But, in order to do both, you have to do your job."

The Falcons also see a team that left some plays on the field last week.

"We will respond," Harrington said. "Absolutely. There are too many veteran players on this team not to. There are guys who have been in these situations before and know how to react. I'm very confident of the guys that we have."

SPECIALTIES: Falcons punter Michael Koenen had a solid day against the Vikings, but suffered from bad field position. The Falcons average drive start in the first half last week was their own 11, counteracting Koenen's 46.8-yard net average and two punts inside the 20.

Jaguars kicker Josh Scobee is sidelined with a leg injury, so the team brought in veteran John Carney earlier in the week. The 18-year pro has made 81.8 percent of the field goal attempts in his career.

A concern for the Falcons, however, comes in the return game.

"There were often times in the game they had good field position and we could not hold them back," Petrino said when asked about the Minnesota game. "They would move the ball and then punt it, which turned out to give us bad field position."

Vikings punter Chris Kluwe put all five of his punts inside the 20 last week. Jacksonville punter Adam Podlesh put up a 42.2-yard average on punts last week.

"On punt returns, Adam Jennings needs to stand on the 10-yard line and not back up," Petrino said. " He has to do that or let the ball go in the end zone. The Vikings did a nice job of punting the ball most of the night. There was one punt where it should’ve went in the end zone and instead we ended up catching it. That was a crucial error we can’t have happen again. On the kickoff return we did a nice job on our blocks. We were just about there on a lot of them, but we were unable to break one. We need to get some field position in the Jacksonville game.”

SHUFFLING THE CARDS: The Falcons made it through Week 1 relatively free from injury, but a few nagging problems from the preseason remain. Safety Chris Crocker missed practice again this week with a bone bruise and defensive tackle Rod Coleman is out after some extra knee surgery to repair a ruptured quadricep.

Jimmy Williams is expected to get his second straight start at free safety in Crocker's absence and defensive back Antoine Harris will continue to get work as the team's fifth -- or nickel -- cornerback.

More injury news in the updated injury report.

NUMBERS, NOTES AND COLORS:

Some more facts and bits of wisdom to get you ready for Sunday's game...

• The Jaguars lead the overall, regular-season series between the two teams 2-1.
• The average margin of victory in the Jaguars-Falcons series is 10.7 points.
• Linebacker Stephen Nicholas was born in Jacksonville.
• Harrington needs 3 touchdown passes to hit 75 for his career.
• Harrington is 7-3 in games where he completes at least 65 percent of his passes.
• Jaguars defensive tackles Stroud and Henderson weigh a combined 645 pounds.
• The Falcons will wear red jerseys Sunday at Jacksonville.
• NFL teams will travel a total of 553,130 miles for away trips this season.
• Jacksonville is 7-3 in the month of September since 2004.
• Forecast for Sunday? A 40 percent chance of thunderstorms and a high of 85 degrees.