Entries Tagged 'Game Recap' ↓

By: T. Love

The game was absolutely terrible from start to finish. With an embarrassing loss to the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, the Atlanta Falcons fell to 1-5 on the season.

I sure do miss the dog fighting days.

Congratulations to the offensive line for not becoming a part of history and give up more than 12 sacks to Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan. Considering the fact that Joey Harrington was sack only four times with two inexperienced tackles, that can be marked as a moral victory and the only one of the game.

Once again, Roddy White makes his living catching curl routes to start the game but once the bump coverage comes he disappears and lets not forget that drop. Great job Roddy, your still a bum.

Harrington can’t throw the ball further than 15 yards and the check downs seem to be the only part of the offense he understands. Quit being so conservative and for goodness sakes throw the ball away when there is pressure. No need to fold up like a punk and take the sack.

Jerious Norwood had a big run of 67-yards in the first quarter for the only touchdown of the game. I am seriously beginnng to question Petrino’s “genious”. How in the hell does this guy only get six touches in the game? Does Warrick Dunn really do that much in the community?

Offense is terrible at best and some of these dudes made their career off of Michael Vick. Yes, that is the truth.

On defense, they were decent considering they played nearly the entire game. Keith Brooking has gotten too old (3 years ago) and is completely out of place at middle linebacker.

Back to the drawing board, not a whole lot to say about this one. Just absolutely terrible. We’ll try again next week versus the 1-5 New Orleans Saints.

By: T. Love

That was pretty terrible. The defense did everything possible to help win the game and so did the Tennessee Titans offense, but it was still not enough as the Falcons fell 20-13 in Nashville on Sunday.

The offensive line for this team is absolutely atrocious and this is the same line as last year with one addition at left guard. However, the new face is a rookie and the group has yet to benefit from his presence. These guys are really small up front and they make up for that by being extremely weak. This has to be a priority in the offseason, as it has been every offseason, but it will probably be ignored.

Now to the “skilled” positions. Joey Harrington, who was 16-of-31 for 87 yards, no touchdowns and an interception, was shown the bench in the fourth quarter in favor of Byron Leftwich who finished his afternoon 2-of-8 for 28 yards and three souvenirs for fans. Not all the blame can be put on Harrington for his lackluster performance. The running game was nonexistent again and there was no pass blocking. However, Joey’s third pick of the season and third for opposing teams proved to be the final margin which led to his benching. Leftwich wasn’t much better and threw a pick to the team in blue as well. There is no QB controversy. Both guys suck.

Warrick Dunn still can’t get the running game going and Jerious Norwood continues to “get more carries” in the AJC.

The playcalling was terrible as well, but there was really no call that could have been made to help these guys. I’ll give you a pass this week Bobby, but that wasn’t too impressive. Why does this team have the most expensive fullback in league history and doesn’t punch the ball in on first and goal from the 1 with the game on the line?

Absolutely dreadful and some serious time needs to be spent in the film room.

On a positive note, the defensive played well and held Tennessee’s offense to 249 total yards. Deangelo Hall recovered a fumble and returned it 56 yards for a touchdown. The loudmouthed Hall also broke up a pass, so his room in Honolulu has been reserved. Don’t expect too much more from him this season.

Strong-side linebacker Michael Boley continues to be the bright spot for this team. 14 total tackles and an incredible interception covering a fly route.

Another disappointing week. Next up is the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.

By: T. Love

It feels good, it really does. Atlanta picked up its first victory of the season with a win over wonderboy Matt Schaub and the Houston Texans 26-16. It was pretty much expected that the Falcons were going to lose quite a few games, but this is one that the team wanted in the W column.

Great games by Joey Harrington, Michael Jenkins and Michael Boley.

Harrington was 23-of-29 for 223 yards and two touchdowns. Since the Falcons signed Byron Leftwich on Sept. 19 and head coach Bobby Petrino called him “conservative”, Harrington has passed for 584 yards and four touchdowns. Joey is still a bit timid throwing the ball downfield and he missed plenty of wide open receivers, but it is obvious that Petrino’s offense will work in the NFL.

One of the beneficiaries of Harrington’s back-to-back offensive explosions is Jenkins, who hauled in six catches for 64-yards and two touchdowns. The fourth-year man out of Ohio State has 15 receptions on the year for 168 yards. Averaging 11.2 yards per catch and working out of the slot, Jenkins is becoming a possession receiver while Roddy White continues to emerge as a deep threat.

Before I get ahead of myself, these two have only played well the last two games. This should have been happening a long time ago and it should happen every week, but it is nice to see them finally show some indications that they can play the game. Amazing what a few coaching changes will do for you.

As a whole, the offensive unit played well and the running game was not completely non-exsistent. Jerious Norwood is not much more than a scatback and Warrick Dunn is at his end. Darren McFadden will be totin’ the mail next season.

On the defensive side, Boley was all over the field with nine tackles and one forced fumble. John Abraham picked up another sack, bringing his total to four and Lewis Sanders had seven stellar tackles because receivers were constantly torching his ass. It’s time for Chris Houston to start.

Good day for the Falcons. The defense gave up way too many through the air, but the run defense was satisfactory. Houston is terrible at running the ball, but any confidence booster is a plus.

The offense continues to progress and show fluidity, it should be real impressive once a big running back and some better linemen step in front of a big-armed QB.

Next Sunday is the Tennessee Titans. Game time is 1 p.m. at LP Field.

By: T. Love

Enough is enough. Deangelo Hall is not that good and his 67 yards worth of penalties on ONE drive was just enough ammunition for the Carolina Panthers to make a comeback and steal a 27-20 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday afternoon.

With Atlanta leading 17-10 in the 3rd quarter, Carolina used one pass interference call and two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties to drive 80 yards in 1:56 to tie the game and swing the momentum into their favor.

One player loss this game for the Falcons and then had the gall to bitch at the head coach and to the media. Get over yourself. It’s really time.

Enough about that clown, because there was a lot of good coming from the Atlanta Falcons. First off, especially for my new UAB buddies, Roddy White does it again. Seven receptions for 127 yards and one touchdown. Although White did drop two balls, this is another good game for him and he currently leads the team in receptions with 15.

White’s success was in large part to the offensive line keeping Joey Harrington protected and Joey getting rid of the ball quickly. No. 13 finished the day with 361 passing yards and two touchdowns, while only being sacked once.

The passing numbers are great, but the problem still remains that the Falcons can not run the football. This team has led the league in rushing the past three seasons and that will not be the case this year. Petrino has to figure out a way to get the running game going and give Jerious Norwood more touches.

On the defensive side of the ball, Atlanta can’t stop the run. DeShaun Foster gashed the Falcons for 122 yards on 20 carries. Second-year man Deangelo Williams chipped in with 47 on 11 touches.

John Abraham continues his comeback to greatness with two sacks and Michael Boley is all over the field making tackles, but it is just not enough. The middle of the defense is soft.

Keith Brooking, its way past time to ride off into the sunset. Besides getting burnt by a running back (which happens to a lot of backers, but Keith just gets embarrassed), three tackles. There needs to be a lot more production from middle linebacker and maybe its time to start taking a look at Tony Taylor.

0-3 doesn’t feel too good. I’m starting to get the feeling that the Falcons are on clock.

Matt Schaub comes to town this Sunday. It would be great to close out the 1st quarter of the season with a victory.

By: T. Love

This one is not on Joey. The Atlanta Falcons fell to 0-2 on the season with a 13-7 shootout loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday afternoon. Once again, the offensive line was terrible at best, giving up seven sacks and opening enough holes to allow 82 yards on the ground. Even with the play of the line, the story of the game was the inability of Matt “Miami Ink” Prater to hit a single field goal. Prater is now 1-for-4 on attempts this season.

Great job once again Mr. McKay (I still got that post coming for you). McKay saw “something” in Prater that prompted him to cut veteran kicker Billy Cundiff following his participated in all of Atlanta’s preaseason contest. Prater left six points on the field after Harrington led the offense to drives of 40 and 59 yards, respectively.

Why do the Falcons continue to ignore the place-kicker position? Last season, the Mora Circus attempted to use punter Michael Koenen at all three kick positions and that concept failed miserably after week 2. Morten Anderson was brought in once again to save the day, but he was useless outside of 40 yards. Please Rich, get a kicker. This team is not going to score a lot of touchdowns this season.

As for the offense, big game from Roddy White. Four catches for 81 yards with a long of 38. Nice to see Roddy get some YAC as well. That’s one good game, good job, now lets work on consistency.

Joey did well. 12-of-20 for 200 yards. He was efficient, but was not effective. Harrington needs to do a better job of getting rid of the football and the running backs have to do a better job of picking up the blitz.

On the defensive side, Michael Boley with seven tackles, Jonathan Babineaux picked up two sacks and welcome back John Abraham. No. 55 put constant pressure on the Jaguars’ David Garrard and had a sack.

There were some positives for the game. White, Abraham and Harrington not screwing up. But, special teams were nonexistent, the running game is pedestrian and 35 percent third-down efficiency.

Luckily, the rest of the division is terrible and we will have a shot at the playoffs this season.

By: T. Love

The Atlanta Falcons kicked off the 2007 season in dreadful fashion and suffered a 24-3 beatdown at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings.

Where to begin?

Joey Harrington could not have had a worse debut as the new quarterback for Atlanta.
23-of-32 for 199 yards and two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns. It is very obvious that Harrington is limited in Petrino’s offense due to his lack of arm strength. The longest pass play of the day was a 15-yard pickup by running back Jerious Norwood.

So this is what you get with a “pocket passer”? Harrington, Petrino and offensive coordinator need to get into the film room and figure out some more plays that are going to work for this offense.

The Falcons are also going to have to fix the running game because Harrington cannot carry this team the way “Ookie” did. 96 rushing yards is not going to get it Dunn and Warrick needs to be benched in favor of Norwood. The pint-sized philanthropist picked up 55 yards on 22 carries while Norwood gained 33 on five attempts. Not very good by either back, but No. 32 needs to get more touches due to his explosiveness and big-play ability. We really need that.

All things said, the “power spread” offense was lackluster at best. Petrino probably needs to get more of his “people” in for this offense to work and it may get pretty depressing watching this season. It’s only one game so there is time for improvement, but there is a ton of things to fix.

The defense is going to need some work as well. Starters Rod Coleman and Chris Crocker were out and fourth-year man Demorrio Williams was rusty after missing most of the preseason. The new Atlanta D under the tutelage of Mike Zimmer allowed 302 net yard, had zero sacks and picked up one turnover on a giveaway by the Vikings.

Why in the world did the Falcons not load the box and force Tavarious Jackson to beat them? That is an Ed Donatell gameplan and I really thought the team was past that. Zimmer’s D gave up 139 yards on the ground and validated Palestine, Texas’ Adrion Peterson day. It would have been really nice if that guy would have fallen one more spot in the draft. Peterson was hitting the hole hard all day and put the game away with a 60-yard touchdown reception on a bobbled pass.

Not a great day overall by the Falcons. The beauty of the NFL is that there are 16 games and this is only No. 1. Got to get better.

Back to the classroom.

By: T. Love

I didn’t actually stay for the whole thing but seriously, who can? Nonetheless, tonight was the Atlanta Falcons preseason home opener and I can just say the feel was different. On a side note, It is absolutely absurd that the NFL charges you full price for these games. And Michael Vick is a criminal?

Anyways, I’ll take tonight with a grain of salt since it was the preseason, but the atmosphere was a little flat.

No. 7 jerseys were in full force and F Sportscenter or whomever else tries to give off the impression that there was a huge protest outside the Dome. There were maybe 20 people and they were roped off on the corner. Vick jerseys outnumbered them 10-1.

It was also a little different since the rich guy that sits next to me obviously divorced his drunk wife and now has a new Barbie toy. I’m going to miss the middle-aged unappreciated wife hitting on me, but life goes on.

Now to the game. If you haven’t checked out my things to watch here it is.

Dunn back in the starting role
Not impressed. Six carries for eight yards with a long of seven. Dunn made his money the last three seasons in the zone blocking system. Now with Bobby Petrino’s “Power Spread” offense, it is going to be hard to pick up numbers. He and Jerious Norwood are both one cut and go runs and do not possess the power to push the pile.

Dunn and Norwood both need to get better running between the tackles. Look for rookie Jason Snelling and fullback Ovie Mughelli to get more opportunities to run the ball.

The Falcons rushed for a total of 74 yards. The team is setting itself up for failure if we are going to rely on the arm of Joey Harrington.

Demorrio Williams
Great open field tackle on a receiver. A little rusty in his first action but looked to be flying around the field and ready to make a play. Rookie Stephen Nicholas had two tackles. This is going to be a great battle throughout the season.

Joey Harrington
Not bad at all. 13-of-21 for 164 yards and two touchdowns. It should have been three but that bum Roddy White dropped one in the endzone. I agree with my buddy Robert on Roddy. He should serve Michael Vick’s sentence. Harrington did give up a couple of sacks, but he took care of the football.

Joey is not going to win games for the Falcons this season. This team needs tough D and the running game needs to pick it up.

Halftime adjustments
Not many halftime adjustments were made, but what the Falcons were doing worked. Maybe the team should have opened up running the ball to establish some tempo to the game. My only complaint.

Overall not a bad game by the Falcons. The offense was efficient and did not give the football away. Four sacks is way too many, especially if the team is going to rely heavily on the pass.

The defense did a good job in allowing less than 300 total yards. The 201 pass yards is a bit scary and Jimmy Williams still never seems to be in the right position. This is going to hurt the team tremendously as it will not be able to go man coverage with a liability at safety.

One more preseason game to go. Roster is trimming down to 53.

Football is awesome!

By: T. Love

It’s important to remember that this is the preseason and defenses aren’t disguising coverages all that much, but Laurent Robinson is looking like a stud. And I called it! In Atlanta’s 13-10 victory over Buffalo last night, the rookie led all Falcon receivers for the second-straight week catching four passes for 54 yards. Overall the offense looked mediocre at best and failed to build on last week’s success. However, in an attempt to stay more positive, here is the bad, good and the great.

In my Friday post, I had a few points to look out for so here it is along with some other observations.

Jason Snelling totin’ the mail
A nice 22 yard run up the gut and averaging a little under 4.2 yards per carry. Not too bad for Snelling in his first start. There is still a little trouble for him to get outside so that limits playcalling, but his pass protection is solid. Snelling has made the roster at this point and he will be a nice change of pace during games this season.

Joey Harrington
Passes longer than 10 yards are just not Joey’s strength. The wind was strong last night, but you have got to compensate better than that. 4-for-7 for 31 yards and one interception. Not good at all and he should have had two picks. Hope the running game can stay strong this season because we still don’t have a quarterback.

D.J. Shockley
The Falcons are cursed!!! I’ll talk about this later.

Stop the run
Held the Bills to 69 rushing yards. Not a bad performance and the return of Grady Jackson was a big help. Rookie Daren Stone is a beast coming up to make a tackle in run support. This guy is going to get some playing time this season and earn his stripes on special teams this season and will be ready to take over for Lawyer Milloy once his Falcon days are over. Fellow rookie Stephen Nicholas had another strong performance with three tackles and two assists. Keep playing hard, he and Demorrio Williams will make each other better on the weakside.

Former falcons
No grabs for Peerless. There was a missed pass interference call against Allen Rossum, but Peerless would have dropped it anyways. J-Web, one tackle, one assists. Good luck this season fellas.

Jimmy Williams
The run support is there, but he is still late on diagnosing the play. He allowed Chris Houston to get burnt on a deep ball and takes bad angles when trying to make up for being late. The Falcons are going to have to disguise there defense better since defenses will audible to the deep ball on one-on-one coverage. If I notice this, I’m sure the coordinators will as well. Williams is going to have a pretty tough time taking this job from Crocker and he only has two more chances to prove himself.

Not a terrible game overall for the Falcons but we did not get better from last week. Actually, we had more mistakes. Three turnovers could kill any team. The Falcons are not a good team so they don’t need to help the opposition.

The offense also needs to stay on the field longer by converting third downs. 3-for-13 overall on third downs isn’t going to cut it, but we at least have to get the short ones. We have yet to prove we can pound the ball in short yardage situations. “Power spread”, not seeing the power so much.

On the defensive side, the linebackers are the strongest position… on the outsides. Nicholas and third-year man Michael Boley are solid tacklers and get to the football. Keith Brookng’s better days are behind him, but he is serviceable.

The secondary had a couple of miscues, but QB pressure made it difficult to get passes off. Three sacks, a couple of hurries allowed the Falcons to hold Buffalo to 158 passing yards. Good job all around by the defense, but the Bills offense is pretty weak.

On special teams, better coverage and Allen Rossum’s pink slip is coming soon. Adam Jennings seems like the real deal.

By: T. Love

In an effort to get back to talking about football, since every media outlet wants to talk about Michael Vick and speculations, here is a breakdown of the offense for the first game versus the Jets.

Friday night was the official end of the Jim Mora Three Ring Circus Era as Bobby Petrino made his NFL coaching debut with his power spread offense in the spotlight.

Two things were apparent to me in watching the offense take the field. First, the Falcons will not lead the league in rushing for the fourth-straight season and the ball will be flying all over the field.

While Mora was at the helm, the team incorporated the cut-blocking system brought over from the Denver Broncos by offensive “genius” Alex Gibbs. The lineman used the cheap and dangerous cut-blocking technique (not to be confused with chop-blocking) to create backside running lanes and gobble up yardage in chunks. The line was loaded with sub-300 pound bodies, which equated into struggles in goal line and short-yardage situations and pass protection. Petrino is adamant about putting big bodies on the line and bring smash mouth football to Atlanta

Below is a small breakdown of the first game from each position.

Quarterbacks
Joey Harrington’s stats looked good versus the Jets, but he did not impress in his Falcon debut. The former No. 3 pick finished the night 6-9 passing for 88 yards. For his career, Harrington averages 5.7 yards per attempt and that number is a strong indicator of what he does well as he failed to come within “sniping range” of receivers on deep balls. Hopefully he can get that down since the deep throws will be a large part of the offense. Not so bad on the short throws and he likes to get the ball out quick. The receivers did a great job of making tough catches and adjusting routes to help him as well. Not something seen in Atlanta for a long time.

QB Chris Redman didn’t have a terrible night going 8-13 for 61 yards. Redman is currently battling with second-year man D.J. Shockley for the No. 2 QB position and clearly had the better game. Shockley needs to step it up and I’ll devote an entire post to him since he basically made me eat crow with his performance.

Running Backs
Eighty-six rushing yards as a team. That is not impressive at all and it does call for a little concern. Jerious Norwood picked up 29 yards on eight carries and made two grabs out of the backfield for 10 yards. He is currently holding the No. 1 position over veteran Warrick Dunn. Norwood was not strong running between the tackles and looked to get outside as quickly as possible.

Rookie Jason Snelling was strong in his debut picking up 48 yards on 10 carries. Maybe he could be the short-yard back that we so desperately need. He has got some wheels too, a lot faster than I thought.

Despite my concerns, throw Dunn into the mix with these running backs and I think the Falcons will be in good shape. The versatility of each to catch the football will also help out Harrington and take pressure off if we are not picking up yards on the ground. Just watch the Philadelphia Eagles.

Wide Receivers
Laurent Robinson, my guy which I have been saying all along, is going to be a stud. In his NFL debut, Robinson pulled down five balls for 49 yards. Third-year player Roddy White caught three for 38 yards. It would have been four, but he still seems to be suffering from the dropsies. Joe Horn is still solid but might of hurt himself on his on catch and Michael Jenkins was a no show. These guys will be our four man receivers, but in two wide sets I would like to see Horn and Robinson lined up.

Tight Ends and Fullbacks
Alge Crumpler continues to nurse a sore knee and Dewayne Blakely stepped up big in the pass catching department with a 37-yard pickup down the seem for his only catch of the game. Blakely is currently listed at No. 2 on the depth chart and could hold on to that spot if he keeps getting better with his blocking. Martrez Milner and Daniel Fells saw significant time as they battle for the No. 3 spot, but neither recorded a stat.

Fullback Ovie Mughelli is absolutely huge, but I did not see him blowing up any holes in the run game. Six years, $18 million for this guy, which makes him the highest paid at the position in NFL history. I would like to see some people bleeding after going head up with him.

Offensive Line
No push running the football and decent pass protection. Of course, there were really no blitzes, but the one time the pocket collapsed around Harrington he was able to step up and make the throw to Blakely. We need to get stronger up front and blow people off the ball. Failing to convert a third and one is unacceptable in a power based offense.

Analysis
The Falcons offense looks completely different from last season from pre-snap alignment to routes run. I like it. Gone are the days of cut-blocking, 1st down runs up the gut for no yards and less than 20 pass attempts per game. It is going to take this offense some time to get up and running and unfortunately that will come at the expense of the fans. I like what Petrino is trying to do and hope to see more installation next week in Buffalo.

Offensive Player of the Game
Laurent Robinson – 38 yards on five catches in his NFL debut.

By: T. Love

Head coach Bobby Petrino and the Falcons made their 2007 debut, sans Michael Vick, on Friday night with a 31-16 loss to the New York Jets. So this is what the Falcons are going to be like without Vick.

On Friday I posted my game preview and I was able to observe everything that I wanted and more.

Pass Rush
Well, there wasn’t much pressure generated by the first unit and that was because Jets QB Chad Pennington never threw the ball. So no pass rush, but for the game, the Falcons defense gave up 146 rushing yards. Not good. Last season, Atlanta finished 9th in rushing defense (103.6 yards per game).

John Abraham was ineffective, but the rookie Jammal Anderson picked up a solo tackle and an assist. He really didn’t show any flashes of things to come this season. Just played and made plays that came to him. I want to see a little more out of him next week. He was the eighth pick in the draft.

Jerious Between the Tackles
Not so much. He did bust up the middle for a 10-yard score, but that was his only effective run between the tackles. On a third and one play, the offensive line failed to get a push, fullback Ovie Mughelli did not clear the lane and Norwood was stuffed. We are going to need to get better at third and ones if we want to be a “power” football team.

Rookie Jason Snelling ran hard to finish with 48 yards on 10 carries. Snelling was a little quicker than I thought he was and can catch too. Maybe just maybe he and Norwood could make a nice 1-2 punch for this season. See there are some positives.

The run calls were creative so I expect to see big plays out of Norwood this season… especially since I bought his jersey last week.

Tight End Play
Besides the 37-yard grab that bailed Joey Harrington and made his numbers respectable. Not much to see here. Maybe they did well on blocking, but I don’t have TiVo right now so I can’t breakdown it down.

Free Safety Battle
Jimmy Williams was on the field a long time and he was never around the ball. He had three tackles which is great, but he was not good getting over to help the corners. Guy has a lot of work to do. I liked the nickel packages defensive coordinator Don Zimmer is incorporating with DeAngelo and Lewis Sanders on the corners, with Crocker playing the slot receivers and Williams at safety. However, when any of the routes went deep, Jimmy wasn’t helping. The rookie out of Maine, Darren Stone (pictured right), looked good on special teams and stuck his head into the action a few times for four tackles. Not bad.

Receivers
Laurent Robinson had a nice night with 49 yards on five grabs. This has been my guy since we drafted him and he didn’t disappoint in his first showing. Roddy White had two grabs early on hitch routes. QB Joey Harrington threw it nice and soft for him. Roddy dropped a slant pass that hit him right in the hands later on. Three catches for 38, not terrible but you are going to have to do a lot more. Jenkins is a possession receiver. He might be someone to pickup for all you fantasy geeks out there.

Bobby Petrino
I like the way the offense looks and I like the playcalling. It is a totally different look from last year. The use of multiple packages will keep defensive coordinators guessing quite a bit this season. I just don’t think we have the personnel right now to do what Petrino has in mind. I sure would love to see how awesome a certain quarterback would look in this offense.

All and all, not a terrible showing by the Falcons. The defense needs to get tough, the offense needs to be more aggressive and special teams might get us killed this season. I’ll break down each unit in separate post.

Comments, Criticism, Applause?