Falcons: Football Gameplan's 2012 NFL Team Preview - Falcons

[EmDiggy]

Good evening Falcons fans! Here's my Season Preview for you guys!

Enjoy!

Em

[phocis850]

Great video.

I was agreeing to everything you were saying and his it was dead on. Until...

3rd in the division?

I'm not trying to be a homer, but not a chance in hell we get in 3rd or 4th.

[EmDiggy]

(06-27-2012 10:08 PM)phocis850 Wrote:  Great video.

I was agreeing to everything you were saying and his it was dead on. Until...

3rd in the division?

I'm not trying to be a homer, but not a chance in hell we get in 3rd or 4th.

Thanks Phocis850!! LOL! Just because you finish 3rd doesn't necessarily mean you have a losing record..

[Drathdon]

Do people just not watch our team, and have not watched them the past 4 years, or do they just not know much about football? I mean, no insult intended, but how do people think our team that has performed like it has for 4 years under this regime and has only gotten better personnel each year will suddenly nosedive into 3rd place?

I cannot wait to shut everyone up again... but I fear just like our last 13-3 season, people will still ignore it and write it off as it happens until we show playoff success.

Seems we now know what Lebron felt like.... from now on, nothing we do will matter to the media and other fans (even undefeated, I fear) until we get playoff wins.

[EmDiggy]

(06-27-2012 11:26 PM)Drathdon Wrote:  Do people just not watch our team, and have not watched them the past 4 years, or do they just not know much about football? I mean, no insult intended, but how do people think our team that has performed like it has for 4 years under this regime and has only gotten better personnel each year will suddenly nosedive into 3rd place?

I cannot wait to shut everyone up again... but I fear just like our last 13-3 season, people will still ignore it and write it off as it happens until we show playoff success.

Seems we now know what Lebron felt like.... from now on, nothing we do will matter to the media and other fans (even undefeated, I fear) until we get playoff wins.

There's a reason why you get bounced out of the 1st round of the playoffs.. Its not that people "hate the Falcons", its because there's some serious underlying issues there. Here's a couple that stand out to me:

1. Lack of Depth - It shows at certain positions (DE, OL, DB) now this year they have addressed the DB issue imho..but the other two are still question marks

2. No complexity to the offense - In all honesty, its easy to defend the Falcons. Beat Turner to the LOS, get the Falcons in 3rd and 7+, Blitz Matt Ryan. Until they start to attack downfield, it'll be more of the same.

Like I said in the video, the Falcons are fundamentally sound and don't beat themselves.. Which is why the games are always close (Time of Possession and lack of self-inflicted wounds). Just off Football talent alone, they can win 9-11 games..but when they face a team that puts them in pressure situations, you'll see more of the same.

Maybe this will change with Dirk Koetter & Mike Nolan..but we shall see

Hope that answers your question... I tend to ramble

[phocis850]

I think that's the thing. Even with OL and DL still being an issue our guys are excited about this year and the new coordinators.

Most of us believe that with just a change in play calling can mean the difference between another playoff loss, and a Super Bowl contender.

[Polar Bear Jones]

(06-27-2012 11:35 PM)EmDiggy Wrote:  There's a reason why you get bounced out of the 1st round of the playoffs.. Its not that people "hate the Falcons", its because there's some serious underlying issues there. Here's a couple that stand out to me:

1. Lack of Depth - It shows at certain positions (DE, OL, DB) now this year they have addressed the DB issue imho..but the other two are still question marks

2. No complexity to the offense - In all honesty, its easy to defend the Falcons. Beat Turner to the LOS, get the Falcons in 3rd and 7+, Blitz Matt Ryan. Until they start to attack downfield, it'll be more of the same.

Like I said in the video, the Falcons are fundamentally sound and don't beat themselves.. Which is why the games are always close (Time of Possession and lack of self-inflicted wounds). Just off Football talent alone, they can win 9-11 games..but when they face a team that puts them in pressure situations, you'll see more of the same.

Maybe this will change with Dirk Koetter & Mike Nolan..but we shall see

Hope that answers your question... I tend to ramble

I see your point but you have to understand that we as fans and by all accounts the organization also believe that the issues that you say have plagued us in the playoffs will be fixed by Nolan and Koetter.

You also say that we are so talented and consistent yet we will fall back in the division.

The panthers also have issues. Beason is coming off a serious injury Davis as well. Everyone saw Cam fall back to the pack in the second half of the season.

The Saints improved their run defense but have lost Porter and will lose smith early in the season not too mention there coach. There pass defense will be the issue this season. There secondary was built to play in Greg Williams pressure system I know you have seen Roman Harper and Jenkins in coverage they do not fit Spags defense.

I just question why the falcons fall back the Saints have a slightly tougher shedule with the Packers and the 49ers. I think the Panthers 1st 8 games will tell there story division games sprinkled with the Bears and NFC East opponents. The division is winnable.

[Beef]

(06-27-2012 11:35 PM)EmDiggy Wrote:  There's a reason why you get bounced out of the 1st round of the playoffs.. Its not that people "hate the Falcons", its because there's some serious underlying issues there. Here's a couple that stand out to me:

1. Lack of Depth - It shows at certain positions (DE, OL, DB) now this year they have addressed the DB issue imho..but the other two are still question marks

2. No complexity to the offense - In all honesty, its easy to defend the Falcons. Beat Turner to the LOS, get the Falcons in 3rd and 7+, Blitz Matt Ryan. Until they start to attack downfield, it'll be more of the same.

Like I said in the video, the Falcons are fundamentally sound and don't beat themselves.. Which is why the games are always close (Time of Possession and lack of self-inflicted wounds). Just off Football talent alone, they can win 9-11 games..but when they face a team that puts them in pressure situations, you'll see more of the same.

Maybe this will change with Dirk Koetter & Mike Nolan..but we shall see

Hope that answers your question... I tend to ramble

So you've based your decision on prior styles of play alone and totally disregarded what everyone knows about Nolan's style and the fact that Koetter and Smith have already openly stated we will finally have a screen game and use Quizz and other RBs more and Turner less.

If you go to the Falcons site and watch the interview videos from offensive players, they ALL keep saying that the defense looks completely different, that they are constantly being fooled by amazing blitz packages they've never seen them do before and the pressure is ramped up almost 10-fold.

You mentioned depth as an issue, but it's not. It's not like after Abraham and Edwards we have nobody but junk. Biermann and Sidbury should thrive in Nolan's style. Matthews and Massaquoi are unknown commodities and can't just be prematurely labeled. And after Babs and Peters it's not like Jerry and Walker suck, they are both very good rotational players. And the new kid, Robertson is beastly strong and raw.

LB is actually a strong suit. Spoon is going to be a top 3 LB and a sure probowler this year. Dent lead the special teams in tackles as a rookie, and he's a LB. He's not even a gunner and he wracked up crazy tackle numbers. Tatupu has a ton to prove and he's in incredible shape right now. And Nicholas is a starter on 25 teams in this league at OLB because he's that solid. That's 4 LBs and we're going to be in the big nickel only playing 2 of them the majority of the time.

As for our secondary, with Robinson on the inside embracing that role, and 2 of the best cover corners in the league on the outside and one of the best cover safeties and hardest hitters in Moore, along with Nolan's pressure system forcing QBs to make hasty throws, there's no question we'll be significantly improved on defense as a whole.

Now take out Mularkey's predictable play calling, his horrible short hook and out routes on every passing down, no screen game, and Turner up the middle 35x a game, and you've improved our offense by default. Now add to that the emergence of Julio, Quizz, and receivers being thrown to in stride, and Matt working out being noticeably stronger and throwing harder.

The OL is really the only question mark. But other than LT, you can't question depth on the OL any longer. We have 3 centers and 6 guards now. We just have to figure out which ones can hold down the middle and RG best. Nobody is happy about LT, but if we're strong as hell at 21 other positions, 1 average to below average bad apple isn't a team killer. Svitek can do the job just fine if Baker can't. We already know this.

Getting our RBs involved in the short passing game with screens and dumps alone could solve all of our OL woes as it is.

Basing your decision on prior performance when you know it won't look or be the same makes your analysis inaccurate by default.

There's no question we're going to be an improved team over last year, and yet you have us missing the playoffs with Carolina leap-frogging us somehow. You media guys are so caught up on the Cam hype, as if this isn't a team sport and he can win it by himself with significantly more pockets of average talent around him compared to us.

Not one of you're better mental projections this round, Digs. You can't use the fact you don't know what will change so you have to go by last year as a basis for anything. That's lazy analysis. You have to dig deeper and make educated decisions. Saying maybe Nolan and Koetter will change things when it's an absolute certainty they already have and then ignoring the differences and just going off old data isn't how you make educated predictions on accurate basis.

[evo]

(06-28-2012 09:14 AM)Beef Wrote:  So you've based your decision on prior styles of play alone and totally disregarded what everyone knows about Nolan's style and the fact that Koetter and Smith have already openly stated we will finally have a screen game and use Quizz and other RBs more and Turner less.

If you go to the Falcons site and watch the interview videos from offensive players, they ALL keep saying that the defense looks completely different, that they are constantly being fooled by amazing blitz packages they've never seen them do before and the pressure is ramped up almost 10-fold.

You mentioned depth as an issue, but it's not. It's not like after Abraham and Edwards we have nobody but junk. Biermann and Sidbury should thrive in Nolan's style. Matthews and Massequa are unknown commodities and can't just be prematurely labeled. And after Babs and Peters it's not like Jerry and Walker suck, they are both very good rotational players. And the new kid, Robertson is beastly strong and raw.

LB is actually a strong suit. Spoon is going to be a top 3 LB and a sure probowler this year. Dent lead the special teams in tackles as a rookie, and he's a LB. He's not even a gunner and he wracked up crazy tackle numbers. Tatupu has a ton to prove and he's in incredible shape right now. And Nicholas is a starter on 25 teams in this league at OLB because he's that solid. That's 4 LBs and we're going to be in the big nickel only playing 2 of them the majority of the time.

As for our secondary, with Robinson on the inside embracing that role, and 2 of the best cover corners in the league on the outside and one of the best cover safeties and hardest hitters in Moore, along with Nolan's pressure system forcing QBs to make hasty throws, there's no question we'll be significantly improved on defense as a whole.

Now take out Mularkey's predictable play calling, his horrible short hook and out routes on every passing down, no screen game, and Turner up the middle 35x a game, and you've improved our offense by default. Now add to that the emergence of Julio, Quizz, and receivers being thrown to in stride, and Matt working out being noticeably stronger and throwing harder.

The OL is really the only question mark. But other than LT, you can't question depth on the OL any longer. We have 3 centers and 6 guards now. We just have to figure out which ones can hold down the middle and RG best. Nobody is happy about LT, but if we're strong as hell at 21 other positions, 1 average to below average bad apple isn't a team killer. Svitek can do the job just fine if Baker can't. We already know this.

Getting our RBs involved in the short passing game with screens and dumps alone could solve all of our OL woes as it is.

Basing your decision on prior performance when you know it won't look or be the same makes your analysis inaccurate by default.

There's no question we're going to be an improved team over last year, and yet you have us missing the playoffs with Carolina leap-frogging us somehow. You media guys are so caught up on the Cam hype, as if this isn't a team sport and he can win it by himself with significantly more pockets of average talent around him compared to us.

Not one of you're better mental projections this round, Digs. You can't use the fact you don't know what will change so you have to go by last year as a basis for anything. That's lazy analysis. You have to dig deeper and make educated decisions. Saying maybe Nolan and Koetter will change things when it's an absolute certainty they already have and then ignoring the differences and just going off old data isn't how you make educated predictions on accurate basis.

I've spoken to HD several times, and all he had said was good things about the new regime . He specifically said Kotter and Nolan was brought in to let the players play to their own strength. He didnt want to give out much, but also said you will see alot of difference things coming out of the Offense and defense this year.

[RFlagg]

The more I hear from our players (both offense and defense), the more I believe we have the potential to be a force this season. It sounds like our D is going to be much improved and will be carrying a swagger. It also seems that the offense is ready to really produce.

If things workout the way I'm thinking, 12 or 13 wins wouldn't be out of the question. Even if they don't I think we have the talent to get 9 or 10 wins.