There’s a reason that Falcons head coach Arthur Smith was hoping Saints’ defensive end Cam Jordan retired in the offseason to join the media, but he didn’t get his wish. The 33-year-old pass-rusher has been terrorizing Falcons’ offenses since he arrived in New Orleans, so will Sunday’s season opener prove to be more of the same?
Jordan will likely line up across from Kaleb McGary, who held onto his starting spot following a training camp battle with Germain Ifedi. Keeping Jordan in check is a tough task for any offensive lineman, but voice of the Falcons Wes Durham wondered aloud on 92.9 The Game’s ‘The Steakhouse’ if the offense we saw in the preseason could provide some relief to the line by putting Marcus Mariota on the move.
“Remember, we saw a lot of east-west stuff in the preseason—a lot of waggle, bootleg game. I’m going to be interested to see if that takes a little bit of the steam out of Cam Jordan’s pass rush…Cam Jordan is going in the Saints' ring of honor because of his work against Atlanta in particular. He may go to Canton for some it down the road,” Durham said.
Against the Falcons, Jordan has racked up 23 sacks—nearly a 1/4 of his 107 career sacks. Durham also noted that he’s joined by other talented pieces on the Saints' defensive front in David Onyemata and Marcus Davenport.
Durham stressed the importance of establishing the running game, something that has eluded the Falcons in years past failing to average more than 100 yards per game in each of the last four seasons. Cordarrelle Patterson, Damien Williams and Tyler Allgeier will likely share carries Sunday, but as is the case in week one, we won’t know until kickoff.
“The unknown is still the unknown…we’ve seen three preseason games. We have some ideas, but realistically, now that we’re in the regular season, I still think there’s a terrific unknown about what this team can be,” Durham said while reiterating that he likes what he’s seen so far.
The Falcons are hoping to get off to a strong start at Mercedes Benz Stadium in 2022 after going just 1-6 in their building in 2021. You can hear this Sunday’s opener and all Falcons games on 92.9 The Game!