Yikes!!!

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.