Friday, September 19, 2008

The Falcons Blog: Second Time's Different






Buccaneers 24, Falcons 9

A fall back to Earth but not unexpected


Well, come on now. It’s not like we didn’t know this was coming. Everybody expected things would be much more difficult on the road against a defense like Tampa’s. People are like “Woooo! Welcome to the NFL, Ryan! I bet you thought it was gonna be easy, din’t ya Falcons fans!” So to all people around the NFL who don’t realize that Falcons fans never get their hopes up let me explain to you that everybody pretty much expected the team to struggle this year.

And to be honest, there was a moment there that I thought it was going to be really, really bad. I was worried it was going to be 45-0. I was thinking to myself that as great as that first game had been, this second game was going to be the exact opposite. But by the end of the game I was actually proud of the Falcons for the way they played. They never gave up and they were able to walk off the field with dignity, unlike the last time they were in Tampa when they disgraced themselves, the franchise, the fans, and the city of Atlanta.

Game Recap

It didn’t end as bad I thought it might for a while. I mean, it started out about as bad as it possibly could have for Atlanta. They won the coin toss and elected to receive; a decision that I couldn’t make any sense of and still can’t. I know you want to be confident but why set yourself up to begin the game on a bad note, get the fans going, and give the momentum to the opposition? If you kickoff you get to start against their weakest unit and the Bucs were going with Brian Griese, who hadn’t played yet in the regular season. And at that point you were still thinking that you had a chance to win the game, but with the high possibility that the early part of the game will be a struggle, it might be a good idea to plan for having the ball first in the second half. But the Falcons took the ball and they started their opening drive at their own 23. The next questionable strategic move by the Falcons was their decision to come out throwing on their first two plays. Now, the decision eventually backfired, but I don’t really have a problem with it, and if it had worked it would have been brilliant. If the Falcons had come out and run the ball the way everyone expected, the Buccaneers would have stuffed it and the momentum would have been given to Tampa anyway. The only thing established would have been that the Falcons wouldn’t be able to just come out and run on the Bucs because they weren’t going to respect the pass, and we already knew that coming in. It would have been a waste of a series. It would have been safe, but it would have given the ball right back. Having Ryan pass gave the Falcons a chance to get a first down and then maybe go to the run. But it also meant that if the Falcons didn’t complete one of the first two passes they would be in an immediate 3rd and long situation. That’s what ended up happening, as Ryan misfired on first and second down. Then on 3rd down there was a false start and on 3rd and 15 from their own 18, the Falcons tried to set up a screen. That was a decent call, but Ryan showed some nerves and badly over threw the receiver he was attempting to throw the screen pass to. The ball was intercepted at the Falcons 19 yard line. It was just about the worst possible start for the Falcons. They took the opening kick, had a short opening possession, and turned it over deep in their own territory. It only took the Bucs 5 plays and 1:52 to score a TD, and just 2 minutes and 23 seconds into the game the Falcons were down 7-0.

You knew that the Falcons were going to have to weather the storm at some point in this game and probably a few storms, but you didn’t know it would come this early. The Falc’s second drive started at the 20 and this time they went to the run and wound up with a 3rd and 4. An offsides penalty on the Bucs gave the Falcons a much needed first down at the 31. After another unsuccessful rushing attempt, Ryan dropped back to throw on 2nd down and ended up taking off and running for 3 yards. On 3rd and 5 Ryan scrambled again but came up 2 yards shy of the first down, but a defensive holding call on TB gave the Falcons another first down at the 44. Then Michael Turner broke off his first nice run of the day, going 17 yards to the left for a first down at the TB 39. Maybe trying to throw the ball had paid off. But Turner was stopped on the next two plays and on 3rd and 7 Ryan missed with a throw to bring up 4th down at the 36. The Falcons punted rather than trying a 53 yard FG and Koenen did a nice job pinning the Bucs at the 10. This wasn’t a bad strategy to try and turn it into a field position game. But the Bucs converted a 3rd and 13 from their own 7 against the Falcons defense with a pass to Ike Hilliard to give themselves some room. The Falcons D held at that point and forced a punt and Atlanta took over on their own 30.

The third possession did not last long. Tampa pressure was getting to Ryan quickly, as it would all day long. A penalty and a dropped pass by Roddy White gave the Falcons a 3rd and 15 and they conceded and ran Jerious Norwood and then punted. The Bucs got the ball at the 39 thanks to another Atlanta penalty. The third Tampa Bay drive was really the one that decided the game because the Bucs broke the Falcons back a few times and went up 2 touchdowns, and you knew the Falcons weren’t going to come from 2 TD back. It looked like the Falcons would hold them right away, as the Bucs had 3rd and 9 from their own 40, but they converted again with a pass to Hilliard. The first quarter ended with the Bucs up 7 and driving. Then they converted a 3rd and 4 from the Atlanta 45 with a pass to Hilliard. Then on 3rd and 10 from the 20 Griese dumped a pass off to Warrick Dunn and he skirted for 12 yards and a first down at the 8. A holding call saved the Falcons on a TD run by Earnest Graham and a false start and incomplete pass made it 2nd and goal from the Atlanta 23. If the Falcons could hold them to a FG it would still be a game. Dunn ran for 6 on the next play and the Bucs had 3rd and goal from the 17. It looked like the Falcons had forced a FG attempt when the Bucs conceded and gave Dunn a delay handoff but the Falcons defenders could not bring him down and he made it all the way into the end zone for a touchdown. At that point, the game was decided.

And at no point thereafter did I ever consider for a moment that the Falcons could win the game. The only thing left for the Falcons from that point was to keep themselves from being embarrassed. On the ensuing possession, the Falcons had a 3rd and 10 from their own 22 following 2 more incompletions by Ryan. On 3rd down, Ryan attempted to hit an open Michael Jenkins and missed so badly high and to the left that it floated right to safety Scott Piscitelli, who intercepted it at the 39 and returned it 22 yards to the 17. At that point I thought the Falcons were going to get beat 45 or 55 to nothing. Matt Ryan was now 0 for 8 with 2 picks in his own territory. It was 14-0 and the Bucs had the ball at the Atlanta 17 with still 10 and a half minutes to go in the first half. But the Falcons defense held at the 15 and the Bucs were forced to kick a 33 yard field goal that made the score 17-0 which wasn’t good, but it was better than 21-0.

On the ensuing kickoff, it looked like the Falcons would get much needed decent field position at the 40, but a penalty made it so that they actually had horrible field position at their own 11. After 2 unsuccessful rushing attempts, Ryan missed a deep pass attempt on 3rd and long and the Falcons punted. This time the Bucs would begin at the Atlanta 49. But again the Atlanta defense held, forcing 3 straight incompletions to get the ball back. The Falcons had bad field position again at their own 13, but on 2nd and 10 Ryan threw his first completion of the day, a 9 yard strike to White. On 3rd and 1 from the 22, the Falcons showed some creativity that is hopefully a sign of things to come, as Harry Douglas went 33 yards on an end around for a first down at the TB 45. The drive stalled at the 38, as Ryan threw incomplete on 3rd and 3, and the Falcons punted, with Koenen pinning the Bucs at their own 8. The Falcons defense held again, forcing a 3 and out. This time Adam Jennings got off a good return, taking the ball 37 yards from the Atlanta 40 all the way to the TB 23. With the clock winding down in the half, Ryan completed an 8 yard pass on 1st down, then got sacked and fumbled out of bounds on 2nd down, and then threw one of his best passes of the day on 3rd and 13, completing a 19 yarder to White who was tackled at the 7 for a 1st and goal. After an incompletion, Ryan was sacked, and then on 3rd down he anticipated the pressure and threw the ball away before the play even had a chance. Jason Elam kicked a FG to get the Falcons on the board.

The 3rd quarter was a continuation of the latter part of the first half, with the Atlanta defense holding strong, and Matt Ryan being chased, hurried, hit, hammered, and abused. The Falcons did not allow a point in the quarter and they added another field goal to make it 17-6 going to the 4th. You knew the Falcons stood almost no chance of winning the game but they were still alive, down just a TD, a 2 PT, and a FG. But the Bucs looked to put the game away early in the 4th with a 1st and goal from the Atlanta 6. A TD here would basically ice it but if the Falcons held the Bucs to a FG they would still be in it, needing 2 TD to tie. The Atlanta defense did even better than that, forcing the Bucs to a 3rd down from the 9 and then big John Abraham came around right end and brought the hammer chop down on Griese’s right arm, knocking the ball away. The Falcons recovered at the 17.

While I was concerned only with the Falcons making it close and not getting embarrassed, Mike Smith obviously was still going for the win, as he had Ryan dropping back and throwing. On 3rd and 8 from the 19, Ryan threw another of his better passes of the day, connecting with White on a 20 yard strike down the middle. It was here that the absolute strangest moment of the game occurred. White caught the ball and took a few steps before being stripped from behind and fumbling into the arms of Piscitelli, who had made the interception earlier in the game. Piscitelli recovered at the 41, returned the ball about 3 yards, began to go down, and as he fell, senselessly attempted to lateral the ball to Cato June who was standing about a yard in front of him. Not only was it a forward lateral, June didn’t get the ball, and the Falcons came up with it. Over the next 5 minutes or so there was a replay and a lengthy discussion between the officials. When it looked for a moment like the Falcons would get the ball but would be penalized for something, Coach Smith yelled and screamed at the refs until his face turned a color of red that I heretofore did not know existed. Eventually he made his point, the refs realized their error, and gave the Falcons the ball at the TB 48 after enforcing a 15 yard penalty for roughing the passer on the Bucs. Some punk defensive back ran up to Ryan and jacked him in the head during the INT return. It was bush. I was hoping that Smith would just let the argument go, because the way I saw the play, the Bucs had recovered a fumble and then made an illegal lateral, which I had thought automatically made the ball dead, and then you penalized the team 5 yards from the spot of the lateral. Apparently I was wrong.

Anyway, the Falcons converted a 3rd and 6 when Laurent Robinson made a spectacular catch for a 23 yard reception down to the TB 21. The Falcons eventually got a 1st and goal inside the 5 but Ryan had been so harried by the rush that at this point he was basically rushing his throws or just throwing the ball away even when he didn’t have to. The Falcons settled for a field goal to make it 17-9 and get within a TD and a 2 PT conversion of tying it up with 5:12 remaining.



Well whatever happened now the Falcons would not have to hang their heads when the game ended. On the ensuing drive, the Falcons stuffed the run a few more times and called a timeout but then the defense finally yielded. On 2nd and 10 from the TB 32, Earnest Graham broke a run off to the right side and went all the way for a 68 yard TD that officially put the game away.



When the Falcons fumbled on the ensuing kick return I thought the score might end up being worse than it should have been but luckily Atlanta recovered. Again, I was just hoping they would keep it close but Smith was still trying to win. I think that bodes well for the future. Ryan had been getting crushed, but Smith had him throw 4 straight times, including on 4th and 14 from the Atlanta 25. TB took over at the 12 and ran the ball a few times but the Falcons defense held the score where it was. When the final gun sounded, the Falcons had lost 24-9. That wasn’t the score they had hoped for, but all things considered, it wasn’t all that bad.

The Numbers

The numbers for Matt Ryan weren’t pretty: 13 of 33 for 158 yards, no TD, and 2 INT. He was sacked 4 times and fumbled once, although it was not recovered. Michael Turner was held to 42 yards on 14 carries, averaging 3 yards a rush. Jerious Norwood had 6 carries for 18 yards. Roddy White caught 4 for 59 and Laurent Robinson emerged to make 4 catches for 45 yards. The Atlanta defense had a pair of sacks and a fumble recovery. The Falcons converted just 7 of 19 third downs and went 0 for 1 on 4th down. The Falcons offense wasn’t great, as they had 14 first downs and 234 total yards. But the defense did pretty darn well, holding TB to 311 yards and just 15 first downs. If you take out Graham’s 68 yard run, the Falcons defense held the Bucs to 243 yards. The defense held the Bucs to 24 points despite having to defend against great field position for Tampa. The Falcons lost the first half 17-3, but they were outscored just 7-6 in the second half.




Running Back with a Face for Radio

At this point I have to comment on the appearance of Tampa Bay running back Earnest Graham. Yeesh. Hey, he may not be a one year wonder and might end up being a productive back for years in this league, but I don’t see him appearing in too many more commercials. The guy looks like Mr. Potato Head. He looks like an elephant seal with a football helmet on, only uglier. I can see why he grew the facial hair to try and make himself reasonable to look at but it’s not doing the job. My advice to Earnest would be to keep on the helmet. Maybe get one of those tinted visors that LT has. Actually, E-Dog may even wanna sport the helmet and visor look during postgame interviews the way that Ricky Williams used to.

Positive Signs


As I said before, I came away from this game feeling okay about things. I didn’t expect the Falcons to win. Yes, it could have gone better. If the Falcons had won or taken it down to the wire that would have been better. But realistically, it didn’t go that badly. The Falcons didn’t get embarrassed and they didn’t at all quit or act intimidated.

I saw some good things, namely the defense, which did pretty well overall and at times was awesome. I didn’t think the Falcons did a bad job running the ball considering who they were playing and considering that the Bucs had no respect for the Atlanta passing game. Elam went 3 for 3 on FG tries and Koenen did a good job on punts. Robinson came out of nowhere and looked like a capable receiver for a few moments on Sunday. He’ll likely disappear back into obscurity, but if he could emerge as a consistent contributor on offense that would be a great thing.



What About Ryan?

While I don’t think Ryan was all that bad when you consider the situation, if I were to judge him purely on what I saw physically, I saw him do some negative things that I hadn’t noticed him doing before. I did see him get rattled a bit. Not that he started cowering or was mentally taken out of the game. But he did start moving out of the pocket and throwing the ball away before he needed to, even on plays when the coverage was fine. He also was missing on some throws that seemed to be affected by nerves. Even when he wasn’t rushed, he missed with some passes badly, including the 2 picks. Again, I know this was his second start, his first on the road, against a tough defense, but I’m a little concerned. I was worried about things like interceptions and accuracy because his numbers last year at BC weren’t that impressive. But there was another thing that bothered me on Sunday. There were a few times—on deep balls and also another time when he was simply trying to throw hard across his body—when he under threw the ball in a way that was very strange. It was almost like he threw it left handed. It was very weird. On the deep balls you could say that he just put too much touch on the ball or too much air under it. But the time that really concerned me was when he stopped, stepped into the throw, and tried to throw a bullet back across the field and didn’t have anything on it.



My other concerns about Ryan have to do with his development as a player and the way that the Falcons are going about bringing him along. If you didn’t see this game, let me tell you, this was a rough game. Ryan got abused. The Bucs went out of their way to go after him and hit him hard. That would have been bad enough, but they also took 10 or 12 shots that could be considered over the line. Some of them were borderline, others were straight cheap shots. Some penalties were called during the game, and other punishments have come from the NFL since. Ryan took it all like a man and kept fighting. When the game was over he stayed on the field and shook hands and talked with some of the Buccaneer players. He looked okay, but this was just the first time. I hope it isn't this bad all that often. For one thing, he could get a little jumpy the way we’ve seen some other young quarterbacks get. Also, he could start to do certain things to try and deal with the constant pressure and might develop bad habits as a result. I hope this doesn’t happen. Hopefully, most of the time the line will hold up better than they did on Sunday. He’s definitely tough enough to play QB in this league, that’s for sure.



This Sunday’s Game

I know it’s week 3 of a season that had no expectations, but the Falcons have a pretty big game coming up on Sunday. For one thing, they have a chance to win this one, and that may not be a common thing this season. They are playing what looks like the worst team in the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Chiefs have a very inexperienced QB starting for them. The Falcons are playing at home and they are reasonably healthy. They don’t want to blow this chance. More importantly, the Falcons are supposed to win this game. This is a game that they “should” win. Those were the games that so many Falcons teams in the past have struggled to win consistently. During the Vick-Mora era, the Falcons lost this type of game more often than not. And if the Falcons lose this game I believe it would erase around 80% of the good feelings created by the opening week win against the Lions.




The Falcons are favored by 5.5 over the Chiefs. The Chiefs hung tough against New England on the road in week 1 when the Pats were shell shocked by the Tom Brady injury. Last week the Chiefs got beat down by the Raiders, 23-8 at home. The Chiefs are 23-42 on the road this decade and they have lost 7 of their last 9 away from home. They’ve lost their last 11 games overall going back to last September. Starting for the Chiefs at quarterback will be 24 year old second year player Tyler Thigpen, a former 7th rounder out of Coastal Carolina. The Vikings drafted him in 07 and the Chiefs picked him up off waivers. He threw 6 passes for the Chiefs last year and he was 14 for 33 last week. The Chiefs have essentially admitted that they would have a better chance of winning with Damon Huard playing, but they want to see what Thigpen can do. The Chiefs have rushed for an average of 78.5 yards a game in their 2 losses. KC QB’s have been picked 3 times and sacked 9 times. The Chiefs have scored 10 points or less in each of their first two games. The Falcons should win this game and they really need to in order to keep from losing all of the momentum gained in the season opener.

Better Get a Lawyer

I am of course aware that veteran safety and team leader Lawyer Milloy got a DUI earlier this week. I’ve got nothing to say on the matter other than that I’m disappointed. And I hope he doesn’t get suspended.

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