FalcBlog

Okay, so we have the pleasure and pain of not seeing the Falcons play this weekend. Pleasure, because yours and my sanity couldn't stand another loss. And the pain because of course despite their ineptitude, they are still our beloved Falcons.

Hopefully the team can regroup after the bye. I pray that Petrino will come to his senses and at least try to feature Norwood in this offense against the 49ers. Put him in the backfield, line him up in the slot, play him on returns. Norwood has just as much capability to be our version of Reggie Bush or Brian Westbrook as the next guy. But the only way that can happen is if Petrino tries it. The Era of Warrick Dunn is over, everyone knows this. Everyone except one person: Bobby Petrino.

Under Dan Reeves, the Falcons were terrible following the bye week. The only team Reeves ever won a game following the bye was his first season, in which we beat the Saints to get our first win of the season. But over the next six seasons, we lost every post-bye week game. Until Jim Mora came to town, and we played well the week after the bye in both 2004 and 2005. We lost last year to the Giants, had two good games following that and basically the bottom dropped out.

Traditionally the bye week is seen as an unfair advantage for one team, as they get an extra week to prepare. I don't know if it's true, but I've heard that statistically-speaking, the edge a team gains coming off a bye is relatively insignificant. And that does make some sense. Really, coaches don't really get an extra week to prepare, because they usually let all of the guys off for the bye week. So in the end, it usually only amounts to perhaps one or two days. And as I'm sure old Danny Boy would say, it's less about the gameplans the coaches devise, and more about the execution of said gameplans by the players.

But the bye week comes at a relatively auspicious time for the Falcons. We have two key players injured in Byron Leftwich and Todd Weiner. Weiner may be able to come back vs. the 49ers, which should keep Quinn Ojinnaka out of the lineup. Leftwich won't play against the 49ers, but if we get lucky that might be the only game he misses.

The best thing I can hope for now this year is a quarterback controversy on this team. Because that means that under Joey Harrington, the Falcons may win the next two games, so that if/when Leftwich is ready to come back vs. Tampa Bay, Petrino may actually have to think about benching him. I could care less who actual starts the game at quarterback, I just care about winning.

Posted by Aaron at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Nothing but wasted opportunities and a game where the the o-line reverted back to prior form. Harrington started off okay but the pressure really got to him in the 3rd quarter and you could tell he was rushing throws. Norwood really needs to get more carries and Mughelli needs to be on the field more. The other thing I question is with 1-G on the 1, why not sneak Leftwich 4 straight times? As big as he is, he's bound to break through once.

Here's what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Dunn (10/27), Norwood (6/23), Pinner (1/49), Mughelli (1/1), White (1/-2) and Leftwich (1/1). Effective Runs (4 yards or more)-Dunn, 2; Norwood, 3. Both had 2 catches for minimal yardage.

Breakdown of passes:

Harrington: 16/31, 87 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 4 Defended, 2 Drops, 2 Throw aways and 7 Bad Passes. First half was okay but the pressure really got to him midway through the 3rd quarter and ended up being replaced after rushing several throws in a row.

Leftwich: 2/8, 28 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 4 Bad Passes, 1 Defended, 1 Dropped (iffy in my opinion). Jenkins had to jump and it was noted he should have caught it but because it was high and he technically didn't get hands on it it could have very easily been called a bad pass.

Drops (3): White, 2 and Jenkins, 1.

YTD Drops (11):

Jenkins 4
Horn 2
White 3
Norwood 1
Dunn 1

Run blocking: Horrid. Tennessee was in the backfield all day. The o-line got very little push nor did they open holes.

Pass blocking: Horrid. See the above. The MAX time Harrington/Leftwich had was 3 seconds.

Sack responsibility (2): Blalock on the first sack and Foster on the last play of the game.

YTD Sacks (18):

Scheme 1.0
Norwood 1.5
Gandy 1.0
Forney 1.0
Harrington 4.5
Weiner 1.5
Blalock 3.5
McClure 2.0
Dunn 1.0
Foster 1.0

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.


Defense:

Run defense: Wasn't all that great in the 1st half but did lock it down in the 2nd half. Overall a very good effort considering Tennessee's running offense.

Pass Defense: TE's, RB's and whoever Sanders is covering continue to be a problem. Other than that, very good. I didn't have to change this at all this week.

Sacks: None

Special Teams:

Norwood had 3 kickoff returns: 1. from the 0, 23 yards; 2. from the -1, 76 yards; 3. from the 10, 45 yards and there was also 1 touchback.

Jennings had 1 punt return for 0 and 2 fair catches.

Koenen had 6 punts: 1-51 yards to the TEN 26, 7 yard return. 2-38 yards to the TEN 45, no return. 3-45 yards to TEN 18, no return. 4-32 yards to the TEN 17, 28 yards. 5-39 yards to the TEN 45, fumbled return recovered by the Falcons. 6-23 yards to the TEN 12, no return.

Kickoffs: Koenen had 4 kickoffs: 1. to the 8, 34 yard return; 2. to the 5, 18 yard return; 3. to the end zone, touchback; 4. to the -2, 23 yard return.

Field Goals: Andersen went 2/3. Lone miss was from 48 and just short. Koenen went 0/2 from 53 and from 50.

Special Teams coverage: A few good returns but otherwise a very good day.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Lewis Sanders.
2. Get touchdowns and not field goals, make the most out of red zone opportunities.
3. Coverage of TE's and RB's. Seems they are wide open far too often.

Offensive MVP: Jerious Norwood, (6, 23 yards)
Defensive MVP: Michael Boley (10 tackles, 1 INT)

Special Teams MVP: Jerious Norwood.

Goat of the Week: Offensive Line.

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: VS New York Giants, October 15th!

Posted by Cappy at 7:55 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Finally, a win! Great showing by the team this week. The offense is continuing to develop. On defense, Lewis Sanders is the weak link and simply not cut out to be a starter. Hopefully, Chris Houston will be ready soon and even if not, I'd almost rather him take his lumps than have Sanders start.

Here's what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Dunn (18/62), Norwood (9/29), and Harrington (1/-1). Effective Runs (4 yards or more)-Dunn, 7; Norwood, 5. Dunn also had 4 catches for 9 yards and Norwood 2 for 16.

Breakdown of passes:

Harrington: 23/29, 223 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 3 bad passes and 3 passes defended. Harrington really had a great day. Only 1 noticeably bad decision when he tried to force it to Crump and had Mughelli in the flats for a first down at minimum.

Drops (0): None.

YTD Drops (8):

Jenkins 3
Horn 2
White 1
Norwood 1
Dunn 1

Run blocking: Still very inconsistent. There were big gains and plenty of negative yardage plays that need to be eliminated.

Pass blocking: Excellent. Harrington had plenty of time to find his targets.

Sack responsibility (2): First sack goes on Blalock. He came off a block to try to pick up a guy that was beyond the point of picking up which left Okoye free with his back to Gandy leaving Gandy unable to do anything about it legally. Second sack is on Dunn who didn't pick up Ryans.

YTD Sacks (16):

Scheme 1.0
Norwood 1.5
Gandy 1.0
Forney 1.0
Harrington 4.5
Weiner 1.5
Blalock 2.5
McClure 2.0
Dunn 1.0

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.


Defense:

Run defense: Much better. On Dayne's 25 yard run the referees missed a blatant hold on Demorrio Williams that opened the hole. Brooking had a very good day in the middle.

Pass Defense: TE's, RB's and whoever Sanders is covering continue to be a problem. Other than that, very good.

Sacks: Abraham had the lone sack with a fumble forced.

Special Teams:

Norwood had 3 kickoff returns: 1. from the -2, 24 yards; 2. from the -3, 35 yards; 3. from the 25, 9 yards and there were also 2 touchbacks .

Jennings had 1 punt returns for 18 and 1 fair catch.

Koenen had 3 punts: 1-51 yards to the HOU 20, 27 yard return (negated by penalty). 2-49 yards to the HOU 25, -3 yard return. 3-32 yards to HOU 44, out of bounds. Very good day punting despite the last punt being short

Kickoffs: Koenen had 7 kickoffs: 1. to the end zone, 27 yard return; 2. touchback; 3. to the 26, 14 yard return; 4. to the 2, 22 yard return; 5. touchback; 6. to the end zone, 39 yard return; 7. to the end zone, 29 yard return. Great job.

Field Goals: Andersen went 4/5. One attempt got blocked due to Milner being late picking up the corner rush.

Special Teams coverage: Too many return yards on kickoff coverage but not a bad day.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Lewis Sanders.
2. Get touchdowns and not field goals, make the most out of red zone opportunities.
3. Coverage of TE's and RB's. Seems they are wide open far too often.

Offensive MVP: Michael Jenkins (6 catches, 64 yards, 2 TD)

Defensive MVP: John Abraham (3 tackles, 1 sacks, 1 fumble forced) and Michael Boley (9 tackles, 1 fumble forced)

Special Teams MVP: Morten Andersen.

Goat of the Week: Lewis Sanders.

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: AT Tennessee Titans, October 7th!

Posted by Cappy at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

First, I want to apologize for the tardiness of this blog but it was necessary. As for the game, this one was tough to stomach because it was yet another game that you come away with saying we should have won that one. First, the refs blew the second foul on D-Hall plain and simple and it probably caused the third foul. Regardless, D-Hall should have just walked off instead of drawing #3 which would have held Carolina to a long field goal instead of a TD. As for the rest,

Here's what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Dunn (11/55), Norwood (6/32), and Harrington (1/4). Effective Runs (4 yards or more)-Dunn, 7; Norwood, 1. Dunn also had 4 catches for 13 yards and Norwood 3 for 34. Dunn had a crucial early fumble that ended a drive that would have at least resulted in a field goal attempt.

Breakdown of passes:

Harrington: 31/44, 361 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 6 bad passes, 4 drops, 2 passes defended and 1 thrown away. Harrington did all he could to win this game from what I could see. Horn's drop in the end zone in the 4th quarter didn't help matters.

Drops (4): White 1, Jenkins 1, Horn 2.

YTD Drops (8):

Jenkins 3
Horn 2
White 1
Norwood 1
Dunn 1

Run blocking: Had one of the better days but still not as good as it needs to be.

Pass blocking: Excellent. Harrington had plenty of time to find his targets.

Sack responsibility (1): Blalock got beat by Jenkins for the only sack.

YTD Sacks (14):

Scheme 1.0
Norwood 1.5
Gandy 1.0
Forney 1.0
Harrington 4.5
Weiner 1.5
Blalock 1.5
McClure 2.0

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.


Defense:

Run defense: Not very good at all. Brooking and Milloy both had very noticeable bad days.

Pass Defense: Except for TE's and Brooking getting burned by Foster it was fine until the D-Hall blowup. Houston was in on Carolina's last FG drive and got torched.

Sacks: Abraham had 2 sacks and Crocker had 1.

Special Teams:

Norwood had 5 kickoff returns: 1. from the 4, 44 yards (negated by Wilkins' penalty); 2. from the GL, 26 yards; 3. from the -2, 19 yards (negated by Taylor's penalty); 4. from the -2, 46 yards; 5. -2, 26 yards .
Jennings had 1 kickoff return from the 4, 28 yards.

Jennings had 2 punt returns for -1 and 6 along with 2 fair catches. Not a lot of opportunity to do much.

Koenen had 4 punts: 1-55 yards to the CAR 18, 9 yard return. 2-40 yards to the CAR 25, no return. 3-49 yards to endzone, touchback (should have been inside the 5 but Harris botched it). 4-31 yards to the CAR 12, no return. Very good day punting.

Kickoffs: Koenen had 5 kickoffs: 1. to the 1, 20 yard return; 2. touchback; 3. touchback; 4. touchback; 5. to the 5, 17 yard return. Great job.

Field Goals: Andersen went 2/2. There was one botched attempt due to a bad snap. Good to have ya back Mort!

Special Teams coverage: Except for the 2 penalties on Norwood's returns it was very good.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Defensive line needs to eat up o-linemen and LB's have to avoid getting eaten up by guards. Run defense tends to get "outphysicalled" so we need to utilize speed to get around it.
2. Get touchdowns and not field goals, make the most out of red zone opportunities.
3. Coverage of TE's and RB's. Seems they are wide open far too often.

Offensive MVP: Joey Harrington (361 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT)

Defensive MVP: John Abraham (2 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 hurries) Honorable Mention to Boley with 8 tackles and 1 pass defensed.

Special Teams MVP: Michael Koenen.

Goat of the Week: Keith Brooking, Lawyer Milloy, Deangelo Hall, Joe Horn.

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: VS Houston Texans, September 30th!

Posted by Cappy at 8:54 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

We've made it through a quarter of the season, and this is where I think the Falcons stand...

OFFENSE

Quarterback - I went into this season hoping Joey could be decent. Manage the game, not turn the ball over, and barring Week 1, he's done exactly that. Harrington struggled a bit during the first two weeks holding onto the ball a bit too long, and not making the best adjustments at the line of scrimmage. But Petrino seemingly lit a fire under him by publicly criticizing his play after the Jaguars loss and signing Byron Leftwich. Joey has played lights out these past two weeks, and there is beginning to be a buzz that perhaps he's resurrected his failing career somewhat. GRADE: A-

Running Back - This position has been an issue. Warrick Dunn is looking old and Jerious Norwood raw. Neither player has been able to provide much of a spark on the ground, which is causing the Falcons offense to be very pass happy (run-pass ratio is about 42:58). Artose Pinner has done nothing in his few carries. Both players have had a few good runs, but nothing to the point where our ground game has been particularly dangerous. Only perhaps in the Carolina game did our ground game looking impressive. GRADE: B-

Receivers - This unit has shown immense improvement from a year ago. By this point last year, I think I needed three hands to count the number of drops this unit had. But now, I think I can count them all on one and have a few fingers to spare. Roddy White has shown the most improvement from a year ago, as some thought he might not make it through training camp. Michael Jenkins has had a few drops, but played very well vs. the Texans. Joe Horn hasn't done much to make his presence known, but he's been reliable when the ball does go his way. Laurent Robinson hasn't been great, but has played fairly well for a rookie that many thought was a reach in the third round. Alge Crumpler despite the summer injury, is playing very well. And the team has even got small contributions from Dwayne Blakley and Martrez Milner. GRADE: B+

Offensive Line - This unit just basically performed poorly during the first two games. They couldn't handle the blitz, and the left side of the line (Gandy and Blalock) looked a bit lost at times. But they've rebounded well the past two weeks. The blitz is still giving them some troubles as the Texans showed, but it's rather clear: they allowed 13 sacks in the first two games, and only 3 in the last two. Now, I'm not going to elevate them to the upper echelon in the league any time soon, but getting that sort of protecting for Harrington for the remainder of the rest of the season will mean very good things. GRADE: B-

Offensive MVP: Joey Harrington.
Runners Up: Roddy White, Michael Jenkins, Alge Crumpler, Todd Weiner

Overview: The offense looked sluggish and confused during the first two games, still getting used to Bobby Petrino's changes. But they've improved immensely the past two weeks. The only scored 1 touchdown during the first two weeks, while they've scored 4 the past two. GRADE: B+

DEFENSE

Defensive Line - Injuries have really hurt this unit, but despite them, it's played fairly well. John Abraham has made huge contributions the past two weeks after a somewhat sluggish start. On the other side, Jamaal Anderson has been up and down. He has not shined, but hasn't looked inept either. But he's a rookie, so it's not like he needed to have 6 sacks by this point. In the middle, Grady Jackson has played mostly well. Jonathan Babineaux also played well. Trey Lewis filled in nicely last week vs. Houston, and Montavious Stanley has picked up some slack off the bench. Chauncey Davis is showing a bit why he should be the starter instead of Anderson. Once Coleman comes back healthy, and Babineaux is healthy once more, this unit should see much improvement. GRADE: B

Linebackers - Boley has been outstanding and could be a Pro Bowl possibility. Brooking and Williams not so much, but both players have had their moments. Brooking played very well against Houston, and showing people he still has a bit left in the tank. His run-stopping abilities have declined over the years, but he still has some value. Williams has been losing playing time to rookie Stephen Nicholas. Nicholas has been fairly impressive considering my initial expectations were that he wouldn't play much beyond special teams this year. By year's end, I wouldn't be surprised to see him starting. They haven't gotten much out of Wilkins or Taylor besides some special teams tackles. GRADE: B-

Secondary - This unit has had it's share of problems. From DeAngelo Hall's meltdown against Carolina, to Lewis Sanders being extremely flammable. Chris Houston has had some moments, but doesn't look like he's quite ready to be a starter just yet. So the team is stuck with the volatile and unhappy Hall and Sanders who has shown that it is possible to be worse than Jason Webster. At safety, Lawyer Milloy has been solid. Not perfect, as he's missed some tackles, but mostly his mistakes have stemmed from attempts to cover up the mistakes of those around him. Crocker also hasn't been great, but has made far less mistakes this year than he did at this point last year. Jimmy Williams offered little during his two initial starts, and now has basically been relegated to special teams duties. Antoine Harris showed some things early, but hasn't done much the past two weeks. This position clearly is the team's biggest weakness. GRADE: C

Defensive MVP: John Abraham
Runners Up: Michael Boley, Lawyer Milloy

Overview: The run defense has been up and down, as they didn't have great outings versus Minnesota or Carolina, but played well against Jacksonville and Houston. Hopefully they can be more consistent as the season wears on. Minnesota has no passing game, so the Falcons stopping them is relatively meaningless. Our secondary managed to make Jacksonville's receivers look good. And despite Hall shutting down Steve Smith, the rest of the unit was weak. And last week, they proved to be no match for journeymen Kevin Walter and Andre Davis. The defense has generally been okay, but they haven't been able to provide proper support for the offense at key times (particularly vs. Carolina). GRADE: B-

Special Teams - Matt Prater bombed his first two games, and the team brought in Morten Andersen to replace him. It hasn't been exactly smooth sailing, with a blocked kick vs. Houston, and a bad hold by Koenen vs. Carolina. But hopefully the kinks will be worked out soon. Koenen continues to punt well and is dynamite on kickoffs. The return game has been less than impressive. Norwood replaced Jennings there and has been okay, but not anything special. Jennings has had 1 good return on punts all year long, and if he doesn't pick it up, should be benched. It looks like the team made a mistake by trading Allen Rossum. At the least Rossum would have given this team some insurance. Coverage units have been okay, but they haven't been lights out. GRADE: B-

Coaching - Petrino's play-calling hasn't been perfect, but it's generally been good. Execution of his play calls has been pretty high as well. And there really hasn't been any cases so far this year where the Falcons just didn't seem to get on the plane, like there were too many cases of in past years. The players are working hard and staying competitive, and many of the players are being put in situations that best help them succeed, and that's all you can really ask from a coaching staff. GRADE: B+

Second Quarter Outlook - Well we have our bye coming up. And among our next four opponents, only the Titans look relatively unbeatable. The Giants, Saints, and 49ers are certainly teams that this team can beat assuming the improvement it's shown in recent weeks is not superficial. The hope is that they continue to improve on both sides of the ball as the weeks progress. Ideally, we might be at .500 by Week 9, but I'll be content with 3-5.

Posted by Aaron at 8:19 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post