Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Atlanta Falcons: Young QBs Meet in Battle for First

Fresh and rested after their bye week, the Atlanta Falcons will look to secure first place when they host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday.

Atlanta is technically in first due to their 1-0 mark inside the NFC South, where Tampa is 1-1, but the teams have identical records. The winner of this game will be the outright leader in the South and will have a legitimate shot at the NFC's No. 1 seed.

It will be the third time promising quarterbacks Matt Ryan and Josh Freeman meet, although Ryan had all of three pass attempts in their Week 12 game a year ago before going down with a toe injury.

The Falcons won both games, with Ryan fully participating in their Week 17 match up.

Looking at how the teams have fared this season against like opponents, the advantage would seem to go to the Falcons.

Atlanta barely lost to Pittsburgh on the road, beat New Orleans on the road and blew out Arizona at home.

Tampa got killed by the Steelers at home, mauled by the Saints at home and won by three against the Cardinals on the road.

Both teams have beaten Cleveland and Cincinnati.

Atlanta has lost just once at home with Ryan as their starting quarterback, making the game seem more and more like one the Falcons should win.

All that being said, it is football, anything can happen and these things are never decided on paper.

In terms of how the teams match up statistically, Atlanta again has the advantage.

The Falcons are the fifth best rushing team in the league, averaging 137.4 yards-per-game (YPG), and are sixth best against the run, giving up 95.9 YPG.

The Bucs rank 18th in the league with 104.9 rushing YPG on offense and 30th on defense, giving up nearly 150 YPG on the ground.

It should be noted, however, that Tampa's offensive rushing numbers came mostly before LeGarrette Blount took over as the starter. 

Last week in Arizona, Blount rushed 22 times for 120 yards and two touchdowns, a week after netting 72 yards on 11 carries against St. Louis.  The Bucs' ground game will improve with him there, although he should have a tougher go of it against one of the league's top rushing defenses.

Atlanta is also in the top-10 in the NFL in both points scored and points allowed, while Tampa is in the bottom half in both categories.

The only place the Bucs seem to have an advantage is in opponent passing YPG, where they rank 13th and the Falcons are 27th.

Again, there's a reason they play the games and don't just automatically give statistically superior teams the win, but Falcon fans will undoubtedly be disappointed with a loss in this one.

Everything is lining up for Atlanta to win the division and set themselves up for an extended playoff run.

A win against the self-proclaimed best team in the NFC will drastically increase their chances at attaining these goals while a loss would be equally troubling with the schedule that is ahead for Atlanta.

No one knows what will happen when the game is played, but the Falcons appear to be the superior team.

It's time for them to prove they deserve elite status in the NFC.