Falcons: Amateur Opinion: our coordinators

[ggp]

I am a rank amatuer in football. Before I begin, I should define "amateur". The word is obviously from French and it means "lover." Someone who loves a particular past time but is not a professional is, by definition, an amateur.

Because I love the game of football and, in particular Falcon football, I am going to give you my opinion about the state of our Coordinators:


This franchise has seen a long list of pathetic coaches and coordinators. We seen everything from clowns (Glanville) to a child (Mora). And, we have seen some pretty stupid coordinators. Fortunately, things changed in 2008. This coaching staff (from top to bottom) is the best coaching staff this franchise has known. They have managed to build a cohesive unit from a fragmented pile of dung that was left behind by Petrino and Mora. They are the most organized and resourceful group of coaches that I have seen in red and black.

When I see posts that call for the firing of MM and BVG, I can't believe what I am reading. No one gives a single salient point to justify their calls for termination. All I see is an emotional plea for more "creative" play calling. As if creativity is all that is needed to trick opposing teams. Here is a reality check: to become "creative" you first have to take care of the fundamentals. Coordinators do not teach players the fundamentals of the game. They strategize and develop a plan of attack. If you look carefully at our roster, you will see glaring deficiencies at key positions. These deficiencies limit our coordinators' options.

On defense, we have had a patchwork group of DT's that sporadically provides a pass rush. Babs is terrific, but he has succumbed to inevitable injury. We also see a MLB that is stout against the run, but continues to be a liability in pass defense. You can not run a great Tampa-2 without pass-covering LB's. And, of course, we have a group of DB's that can not be trusted (the only exception might be Grimes).

BVG knows our deficiencies and does his best to limit big offensive plays. Hence, we watch teams dominate us between the twenties only to stall in the red zone. It is not an aggressive, scoring defense, but it is one that can limit the opposition's scoring. Heck, if our offense and special teams weren't so bad, our defense would have some of the best stats in the league.

On offense, we have a fine group of "skill players" but a suspect group of OL's. The two best OL's on the roster are Blalock and Clabo. Unfortunately, Clabo is playing out of his best position (OG). Yeah, I know he made the pro bowl last year. In my opinion, he would be a perennial pro bowler at OG. Imagine our rush offense if Blalock and Clabo bracketed McClure/Hawley. Yeah, you guessed it, we would be gutting teams with Turner and Snelling.

UNfortunately, Clabo has to play RT. We have another RT on the roster, but he has to play LT. Baker could be a very good RT. Draftniks talked about it in 2008 and performance has shown that he is made for the right side. So, what is MM supposed to do? Should he call a bunch of "EXPLOSIVE" deep routes? If he does, he knows that his QB will not last to Halloween. Can he call a power game? Really, with our present OC and RG, we can't count on a one-yard push.

Our coordinators are getting the best they can from our flawed personnel. Disasters and injuries are being limited. Our problems are still personnel. Our defense is getting better. We can all see the gradual improvement. The real problem is along the OL. The only thing we can do this year is go back to the max protect packages of previous seasons. We have to park Svitek next to Baker. Two TE sets are also another possibility. MM can't run three and four WR sets......that would be a recipe for disaster. It has been up to now.

LOOKING FORWARD: I believe that we will see a major turn around for this team. I truly think that Mike Smith will make the OL his first priority. Our coaches will find the right mix and our OL's will concentrate on giving Turner running lanes. Once that happens, our scoring will dramatically improve and our defense will be kept off the field.