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Jamming with Jamal It's about time for Falcons -- time of possession
Posted: Friday January 15, 1999 01:27 AM
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- For the Atlanta Falcons, Sunday's NFC championship game is about time. For one thing, it's the first time in their 33-year history that the Falcons have gone this far in the playoffs. More important, if the Falcons want to reach their first Super Bowl, they'll have to control the clock Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, who set an NFL scoring record with 556 points. "What will help our defense the most," says Falcons coach Dan Reeves, "will be our offensive team keeping our defense off the field." The key to that will be Jamal Anderson, who set an NFL record with 410 carries this season and gained 1,846 yards, the ninth best single-season mark in league history. That helped the Falcons lead the NFL in time of possession with an average of 33 minutes, 10 seconds per game. The Vikings, of course, know that. But Anderson thrives on challenges. "It's an honor when the other team tries to shut me down," he says. But there's a negative, too -- the crowd noise in the Metrodome, augmented by recorded booms and horns, that prevents visiting teams from hearing signals. The result is illegal procedure and delay of game penalties that can negate a good running back -- second-and-11 or third-and-8 are not conducive to handing off. Still, it almost has to work for the Falcons against a team that was 15-1, scored on more than half its possessions and averaged nearly 35 points a game. The Falcons figure that if they can hold Minnesota to seven possessions instead of 10, the averages are in their favor. But Atlanta, which had a 14-2 record and beat San Francisco last week, has a problem even if it can control the ball -- the Vikings actually held the ball four fewer seconds per game than their opponents this season: 29:58 to 30:02. "We don't need 15-play drives," says Randy Moss, the rookie wide receiver who's one of the reasons the Minnesota offense is so potent. "We can get it down the field almost as quickly as we want. If they stop one part of our game, we go to the other." The Falcons also know Minnesota can control the ball if needed. In last week's playoff game with Arizona, the Vikings held the ball for all but 54 seconds of the first period, sandwiching two long drives around a three-and-out by the Cardinals that was caused by -- what else -- a false start penalty. "I think they put an awful lot of pressure on the other team's offense," Reeves says. "You've got the crowd noise against you and everything. Our concentration and everything has to be greater. But if we take care of the football, make them earn what they get, I think it should be a great football game. You're talking about two teams that have earned the right to play in this game." Reeves has complained to the NFL about the noise, but while the league says there may be minor alterations, there's still sure to be a din when Atlanta has the ball. So the Falcons, who have been piping in all sorts of noise at practice this week, are learning to live with it. "Nothing's impossible," Reeves says. "We can't do anything about the Minnesota Vikings. We have to worry about ourselves and only ourselves."
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