{"id":120265,"date":"2021-08-29T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2021-08-29T13:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=120265"},"modified":"2021-08-29T02:57:20","modified_gmt":"2021-08-29T06:57:20","slug":"rosen-v-franks-starters-debut-highlight-final-preseason-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021\/08\/29\/rosen-v-franks-starters-debut-highlight-final-preseason-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosen v. Franks, Starters Debut Highlight Falcons Final Preseason Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rosen v. Franks, Starters Debut Highlight Final Preseason Game v. Browns<\/span><\/h2>\n

There are many more questions than answers for this Atlanta Falcons<\/a> team headed into the final preseason game. Who will be the backup quarterback? What kind of production can be expected out of the offensive line? What kind of play should we expect from the starters? These are but a few of the questions that Smith and company will need answered. But, addressing these will be key to the development of the team throughout the season.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Case of Rosen v. Franks<\/span><\/h3>\n

All rise! As in, who\u2019s going to rise to the occasion this Sunday and lock down the Falcons backup quarterback position? Let\u2019s look at the facts of the case for a second.<\/span><\/p>\n

Feleipe Franks<\/a> was picked up by this regime as an undrafted free agent back in May of this year. He\u2019s had an entire offseason from OTAs to training camp learning this system and getting timing with the receivers. He\u2019s had a chance to directly work with Arthur Smith and see what Smith wants from a quarterback. And with the unfortunate injury to A.J. McCarron<\/a>, Franks seems to be all but\u00a0<\/span>locked<\/span><\/a>\u00a0into the backup quarterback job.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, amidst the same injury, a new, intriguing challenger presents themselves in the form of Josh Rosen<\/a>. Rosen\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>NFL journey<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is a story within itself as the former first-round pick hasn\u2019t found a home to call his own.<\/span><\/p>\n

This may be the chance that Rosen has needed to land himself firmly on an NFL depth chart. Franks hasn\u2019t looked good throwing the football throwing for an abysmal 33 percent completion percentage for no touchdowns and one interception. He\u2019s dazzled a bit with his running ability, but the offense <\/span>hasn\u2019t run efficiently<\/span><\/a>\u00a0with Franks at the helm. If Rosen shows a better control of the offense, he may have a chance to steal this job right out from under the former Arkansas product.<\/span><\/p>\n

[pickup_prop id=”3816″]<\/p>\n

Final Test in the Trenches<\/span><\/h3>\n

Part of the reason why Franks nor McCarron has had a true chance to shine has been the horrid play of the offensive line throughout the preseason. They were the worst, 32nd ranked offensive line, that lined up the first week of the preseason, according to PFF<\/a>. The offensive line has been a constant question for Falcons fans throughout the off-season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Inconsistent play from additions Jalen Mayfield and Josh Andrews has done nothing but raise more questions about the viability of the offense behind this line.<\/span><\/p>\n

Veteran starters Chris Lindstrom and Jake Matthews have not made their 2021 debuts yet and are expected to this Sunday. However, they may have picked one of the worst possible teams to debut against. The Cleveland Browns sport notable names along the defensive line such as Jadeveon Clowney, Malik Jackson, and Myles Garrett. All of which are looking to make a statement headed into the 2021 season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lights, Camera, Action!<\/span><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s almost the time for what football fans call the \u201cdress rehearsal\u201d ahead of the season opener for the Falcons. There\u2019s been a ton of speculation as to when the starters will finally play, most notably rookie Kyle Pitts. Arthur Smith has assured us that Pitts is \u201con schedule\u201d with his development. And that both he and quarterback Matt Ryan<\/a> are \u201cwhere they need to be\u201d as far as the offense goes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The defense, more specifically the secondary, is full of new faces. They go up against a Cleveland <\/span>receiving corps<\/span><\/a> deemed one of the best in the NFL. It will be interesting to see how Dean Pees\u2019 scheme will look against a Super-Bowl contending offense.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Falcons Final Preseason Game<\/h2>\n

This is the Atlanta Falcons final preseason game. This is the final chance for the team to make a statement before the September 12th opener against the Philadelphia Eagles. Smith, Ragone, and Pees have a chance to make a statement against a team with a lot of hype behind it in the Browns.<\/p>\n

A chance to show the fans of Atlanta that they are not in a rebuild, but a reload. That the Falcons are ready to cause havoc in the 2021 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Atlanta Falcons have many more questions than answers heading into their final Preseason Game<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3893,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,27],"tags":[7462,8026,7901,2598,457],"class_list":["post-120265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorials","category-falcons","tag-atlanta-falcons-roster","tag-falcons-featured","tag-feleipe-franks","tag-josh-rosen","tag-matt-ryan"],"modified_by":"Josh Buckhalter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3893"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}