{"id":199714,"date":"2025-07-11T21:00:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T21:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/199714\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T21:00:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T21:00:25","slug":"what-to-watch-when-the-atlanta-falcons-host-the-los-angeles-chargers-in-week-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/199714\/","title":{"rendered":"What to watch when the Atlanta Falcons host the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 13"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Penalties, they&#8217;ll get ya<\/p>\n<p>Something else that Nerdy Birds expertly pointed out this week is the effect of penalties committed by this offense on this offense.<\/p>\n<p>According to Tru Media, Atlanta has lost 21.4 expected points added because of offensive penalties. What&#8217;s more, the Falcons have scored a touchdown on 26.6% of drives without a penalty but just 11.8% of drives when a penalty is committed. Atlanta&#8217;s red zone efficiency drops significantly, too, going from 65.2% on drives without a penalty to just 22.2% on drives with a penalty.<\/p>\n<p>So, the stats back it up: Penalties have been a problem for the Falcons.<\/p>\n<p>Personally, I truly believe if the Falcons are not being penalized as an offense, we thinking differently about what we are seeing out of the unit. I don&#8217;t think there is anything consistently wrong with play calling, scheme or even the execution within the plays themselves. It&#8217;s the penalties. When you look back at the most recent losses, there is a direct correlation between penalties mounting in the red zone and a stalling offense. Those penalties have a direct impact on how we feel about this offense right now. It&#8217;s up to the unit to make a change.<\/p>\n<p>\n  Player of the Game prediction: Matthew Judon<\/p>\n<p>This may be my hottest take so far in 2024, but hear me out before you make any snap decisions.<\/p>\n<p>In my opinion \u2014 and with offensive efficiency put aside for a moment \u2014 the only way the Falcons win this game Sunday is if they are affecting Herbert. If they don&#8217;t, if he feels comfort, ease and time in the pocket, he&#8217;ll tear up this defense. The Falcons are just coming off a game in which Bo Nix put up historical numbers for a rookie quarterback in Denver. I&#8217;d argue Herbert is better, which should be cause for concern considering how this defense looked last time out.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s why I am picking Judon. I don&#8217;t think Atlanta wins this game without the defense standing tall, and that includes Judon.<\/p>\n<p>Judon has not been the pressure player the Falcons \u2014 or the man himself \u2014 wanted in 2024. In fact, I look at this prediction as more of a challenge than anything: Be the guy the Falcons sent a third-round pick to the Patriots in order to acquire. Be that double-digit sack machine who&#8217;s red sleeves dominated up front. If the Falcons get that Judon this Sunday, I think this game will be electrifyingly interesting.<\/p>\n<p>If the Falcons&#8217; pass rush remains stagnant and allows Herbert to throw the ball around the yard without qualms or quarrels&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The outcome will not be what the Falcons need it to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penalties, they&#8217;ll get ya Something else that Nerdy Birds expertly pointed out this week is the effect of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[241,7,601,1159,1014,262,34257,2444,2443,12090,11425,8802,88,6,40035,11417],"class_list":{"0":"post-199714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-chargers","8":"tag-chargers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-j-k-dobbins","11":"tag-justin-herbert","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","14":"tag-los-angeles-chargers-at-atlanta-falcons-2024-reg-13","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangeleschargers","17":"tag-matt-judon","18":"tag-mike-hughes","19":"tag-nate-landman","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-saturday-six-pack","23":"tag-troy-andersen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114836617737828271","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}