The pass rush that we need

On this Sunday the NY Giants come to town. One of the weapons they bring is a very potent pass rush. Between Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora, if the G-men are able to keep Mattie Ice on his ass all day, it will be a long afternoon for the Good Guys.

We need one of those type guys in the ATL. A big, fast, mean pass rusher. Someone who scares QBs to death! Remember the feeling we had when we first heard that Ray Edwards was coming to town? We thought that we might have one there. Oh well...

Hall of Fame pass rusher Michael Strahan, last week on Fox NFL gave his Top 5 list of NFL pass rushers under 25 years old. Two defensive ends, two linebackers, one defensive tackle. My question is:

How do we go after one of these beasts?

Strahan's #5 pick: 

Geno Atkins - DT Cincinatti Bengals

Height: 6-1  Weight: 300  Age: 24  College: Georgia  Hometown: Pembroke Pines, FL

2012 performance (through week 13): 44 tackles; 11 sacks; 3 forced fumbles

Strahan's #4:  

Jason Pierre-Paul - DE New York Giants

Height: 6-5  Weight: 278  Age: 23  College: South Florida  Hometown: Deerfield Beach, FL
2012 performance: 55 tackles; 7 sacks; 1 forced fumble

Strahan's #3

JJ Watt - DE Houston Texans

Height: 6-5  Weight: 295   Age: 23     College: Wisconsin   Hometown:  Pewaukee, Wisc.
2012 performance: 60 tackles; 17 sacks; 1 forced fumble

Strahan's #2

Aldon Smith - OLB San Francisco 49ers

Height: 6-4  Weight: 258   Age: 23     College: Missouri   Hometown:  Raytown, Missouri

2012 performance: 57 tackles; 20 sacks; 3 forced fumbles

Strahan's #1 

Von Miller - OLB Denver Broncos

Height:  6-3  Weight: 23  Age: 23  College: Texas A&M  Hometown: DeSoto, Texas
2012 performance: 57 tackles; 16 sacks; 6 forced fumbles

Just by way of perspective, some of our 2012 numbers are:

• John Abraham:            27 tackles; 9 sacks; 4 forced fumbles.
• Kroy Bierman:            40 tackles; 3 sacks;  0 forced fumbles
• Lawrence Sidbury:        1 tackle; 0 sacks; 0 forced fumbles
• Sean Weatherspoon:    58 tackles; 3 sacks; 1 forced fumble

I'm just sayin'...

Look, the truth is that the Falcons will not compete at the playoff level without filling this major capability gap. Our linebackers are solid and our secondary is now (finally!) stronger than it's been in years. But there isn't a team in the league today that fears the Falcons pass rush.

In this league, it is all about rushing the passer on defense and throwing the ball on offense. The latter is not problem for us this year. 

But if we cannot stop the league's great QBs (Manning, Manning, Brees, Rogers, Brady) from slinging the ball all over the field, we will not get much further than the regular season.

Come on Thomas Dimitroff. Your move!