Former Georgia OLBs provide the Grits Blitz to lift Falcons in primetime over Vikings

It is not a perfect crossover, but many people who root for the Georgia Bulldogs on fall Saturdays do the same thing on NFL Sundays with the Atlanta Falcons. After seeing Georgia eke out a 44-41 overtime victory over the Tennessee Volunteers, the usually flightless Dirty Birds won their primetime affair in more convincing fashion. The Minnesota Vikings were undone by some tasty Grits Blitz, 22-6.

From a national perspective, Sunday Night Football was more about how utterly incompetent second-year pro J.J. McCarthy looked making his second career NFL start. He may have just become a father earlier in the week, but he looked closer to Zach Wilson 2.0 than he did a first-round pick. Fate would have it, two former first-round picks out of Georgia played a part in his awful night...

On the evening, Atlanta sacked McCarthy six times. Rookie Jalon Walker got the first of his NFL career, as did his draft classmate in James Pearce Jr. out of Tennessee. Longtime NFL standout Leonard Floyd was the vocal and emotional leader for this unit. He too got his first sack of the year, as Jeff Ulbrich's defense could seemingly do no wrong vs. any play that Kevin O'Connell wanted to call.

Here is Floyd's first sack in a Falcons uniform, totally engulfing McCarthy like he never had a chance...

And here is the first sack of Walker's professional career right after Floyd devoured McCarthy's lunch.

Two weeks in and the Falcons have seven sacks. They usually average around one per game annually.

Leonard Floyd and Jalon Walker bring Georgia pass rush to the Falcons

Even though Floyd and Walker are from different generations at Georgia, as Floyd starred for Mark Richt and Walker for Kirby Smart, their abilities to get after the passer perfectly compliment each other. Regardless of the type of year Georgia is having, the Dawgs can usually disrupt the passer more often than not. Atlanta has earned a bad reputation for never doing that, among other things...

For as dominant as Georgia has been over the better part of a decade now, the Falcons have been anything but that. Mired in mediocrity, they do seem to be making a turn this season. Head coach Raheem Morris and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich have their side of the ball humming. Every defensive pick general manager Terry Fontenot made last spring is paying out in dividends already.

While it remains to be seen if Morris will truly rise to the occasion as an NFL head coach, as well as if frustrating offensive coordinator Zac Robinson can do anything besides 11 personnel the opposition to death out of pistol formation, Dirty Bird Nation must appreciate the little things. For years, Dawg Nation has been able to rely on its pass rush. It is still so early, but Dirty Bird Nation might be able to.

As long as guys like Floyd and Walker play within themselves as a collective, Atlanta shall be just fine.

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