FLOWERY BRANCH Stitched Matt Bosher Jersey , Ga. (AP) — ian is preparing for what could be his toughest challenge this season.If he thought it was tough scoring on goal-to-go in the season-opening loss at Philadelphia, Sarkisian knows this week might be more difficult as Atlanta tries to avoid becoming a one-dimensional passing attack at Washington.Quarterback Matt Ryan needs a play-action threat to keep the Redskins (5-2) from locking down all afternoon on his receivers, so the Falcons (3-4) must find a way to establish the ground game against a tough defensive front.The outlook does not look promising. The Falcons rank 30th in yards rushing. The Redskins rank second in defending the run.Devonta Freeman, Atlanta’s top running back, was lost to groin surgery earlier this month. Starting guards Andy Levitre and Brandon Fusco are out for the season with injuries.“Each game takes on its own personality in essence,” Sarkisian said Thursday. “So it is beneficial when you can hang with it and stick with it, but there are times when we’ve got to do what is best for us right now. You just try to figure it out as it goes, and it’s all part of making those decisions at those moments when they come and try to do what’s best for the team.”Sarkisian insists he won’t press if Atlanta struggles to run the ball early in the game. He plans to keep trying to mix it in on later drives.The Falcons have one of the NFL’s premier passing games with Ryan throwing to Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley, Mohamed Sanu and Austin Hooper, so the team will stick with what it does best.“Sometimes to run the football you have to establish it at times and then finally something does pop, but there’s other times that this drive is so important right now, let’s do what is best for us at this moment right now Youth Matt Bosher Jersey ,” Sarkisian said. “And that may be to run it more and that may be throw it more.”The Redskins are loaded up front. Ends Matt Ioannidis and Jonathan Allen and linebacker Ryan Kerrigan have combined for 14 sacks and 22 quarterback hits. Nose tackle Da’Ron Payne figures to make it a long day for guards Wes Schweitzer and Ben Garland.“There are a lot of twists and stunts and games that they do up front that make it challenging on your guys up front,” Sarkisian said. “It’s not always just the one-on-one rush. They start pairing two guys, three guys together, sometimes even all four of them together, so they really do it cohesively. The challenge for us is to make sure we’re protecting cohesively.”Sarkisian likes how third-year veteran Tevin Coleman and Ito Smith have combined to fill Freeman’s spot. He thinks that Schweitzer has done a respectable job in five games for Levitre, and Garland, who started the final five games last season, has plenty of experience as he prepares to take over for Fusco.Sarkisian was pleased with how Coleman responded on a third-and-1 run early in the fourth quarter of Atlanta’s previous game, a narrow win over the New York Giants. Running off right tackle, Coleman sprinted for a 30-yard touchdown that’s one of the few rushing highlights for Atlanta this season.“That type of explosiveness we know is there in our run game,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve just to keep hunting and pecking until it comes.”Jones sees no reason to worry. He believes Atlanta will find ways to score regardless.“The Redskins haven’t played the 2018 Atlanta Falcons, so we’re going in there and we’re going to try to run the ball,” Jones said. “We’re going to run. We’re going to pass. They’ve got to stop us on Sunday.”Notes: Sanu (hip) was held out of practice a day after being a limited participant. … CB Robert Alford (ankle) missed practice for the second straight day. Coach Dan Quinn said he was injured against the Giants but didn’t want to come out. Isaiah Oliver will start if Alford can’t play. … PK Matt Bryant did not participate Stitched Ricardo Allen Jersey , and it appears likely that Giorgio Tavecchio will replace him for the second straight game. ATLANTA (AP) — Coming off two straight trips to the playoffs, the Atlanta Falcons had high hopes of becoming the first true home team in Super Bowl history.Well, those plans were dashed before the leaves changed colors.Now, the city is left with a nightmare of a potential matchup as it prepares to host the NFL title game for the third time. New Orleans vs. New England."Lord please don't let there be a Saints Patriots Super Bowl in Atlanta," an apparent Falcons fan wrote on , expressing the sentiment of the entire A-T-L in less than 280 characters.It very well could happen.On Sunday, the Saints will host the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship game. As soon as that's over, the Patriots will take the field in Kansas City to face the Chiefs for the AFC title.The winners will head to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the Feb. 3 Super Bowl.All of Atlanta is holding its breath, hoping it can exhale rather than hold its nose for the big game."I don't even have to watch the games this weekend to know that this year's super bowl is gonna be saints-patriots because the sports gods hate atlanta that much," said another post on , filled with dread.Indeed, a city that has endured so much sporting heartbreak can sense what's coming.The Saints are the Falcons' most bitter rival, a twice-a-year NFC South opponent that already has some pretty big bragging rights over Atlanta: New Orleans won the Super Bowl nearly a decade ago.The Falcons are still without a championship Youth Ricardo Allen Jersey , though they have only themselves to blame for that gaping hole in their 53-year-old trophy case. Two seasons ago, at the Super Bowl in Houston, Atlanta stormed to a 28-3 lead over the Patriots to set off a premature celebration.Of course, we all know how the Falcons-Patriots story ended.Tom Brady directed a comeback for the ages, leading New England to a 34-28 victory in overtime. The memories from that game still cause grimaced looks in Atlanta, where 3-28 has become a lingering punchline.A couple of months after the game, Boston celebrated "Falcons Day" on March 28. You know, because that's 3-28 on the calendar. Others dubbed it "Choking Awareness Day." After Texas A&M squandered a 34-point lead in a loss to UCLA, a parody account said the Aggies were unveiling a new logo — the Falcons' logo, naturally.Even down in the Big Easy, they couldn't resist the chance to pile on. A shop on Magazine Street offered up T-shirts with a scoreboard-like design "28-3, 3rd, 2:12" — that point in the game when Atlanta was still up by 25. A plane flew over the Superdome pulling a "3-28" banner.The Falcons returned to the playoffs last season Stitched Ryan Schraeder Jersey , only to lose a heartbreaking divisional round game at Philadelphia to the eventual champion Eagles. Still, it looked as though coach Dan Quinn was building something special in Atlanta: a team featuring a dynamic offense led by quarterback Matt Ryan and receiver Julio Jones, along with a young, aggressive defense that was making rapid improvement.Perhaps that Super Bowl disappointment was merely a warm-up to the city's greatest sporting triumph, a title that could be celebrated right at home. Atlanta fans looked hopefully at that final game on this year's schedule, to be played at the Falcons' new $1.5 billion home. They dreamed of their team finally finishing the job it started two years ago in Houston.Then came a rash of season-ending injuries and a five-game losing streak that sent the Falcons tumbling to a 7-9 record, their worst since 2014. They lost both meetings to the Saints, including an overtime setback in Week 3 that essentially set the tone for the disappointing campaign. When the time the Falcons played their final home game, there were tens of thousands of empty seats in their 72,000-seat stadium.New Orleans romped to the best record (13-3) in the NFC, though Falcons fans were feeling a bit hopeful when Philadelphia raced out to a 14-0 lead in the divisional round game last weekend.Much like Atlanta's lead in Super Bowl LI, it didn't last. New Orleans rallied for a 20-14 victory.Now, with one more win Youth Ryan Schraeder Jersey , the Saints will head to Atlanta seeking their second championship.Talk about rubbing it in: The NFC champion will use the Falcons' training facility in suburban Flowery Branch for its practices. As in, New Orleans would claim Atlanta's field.It's all a bit too much to bear.Speaking for most in her city, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she was looking forward to a game that featured "anybody other than the Saints.""I know there's going to be a bounty on my head for saying that," she said in an interview with These Urban Times. "But, if it can't be the Falcons, then hey, as long as it's not the Saints then I am happy."The mayor walked back those comments at the start of a news conference to discuss Super Bowl preparations.Well, sort of."Before we get to the real stuff, let me explain: it was a joke," Bottoms said. "But I don't know of a Falcons fan who wants to see New Orleans and the Patriots in the Super Bowl."A nightmare scenario, indeed, for the A-T-L.