Falcons: ProFootballFocus: First Impressions: Falcons @ Dolphins

[Radical]

First Impressions: Falcons @ Dolphins
by Ben Stockwell of ProFootballFocus

Quote:wo teams making major changes hooked up last night on South Beach. The Falcons, sporting a re-designed and up-tempo offense, squared up with a Dolphins team firmly in rebuilding mode and now officially under the leadership of a rookie signal caller. Both offenses have fundamentally changed since last season and with two strong defensive units on the field there is little surprise that big plays for the offenses were few and far between.

The first team offenses combined for only one touchdown and that one touchdown drive for the Falcons’ starters is tempered by the fact that it came against the Dolphins’ second-string defense. If Week 3 of preseason is when teams truly show their spots then these two offenses have a busy fortnight ahead of them before the start of the regular season. For Atlanta, things didn’t quite click as they have in the opening weeks of preseason against a strong defensive front. While for Miami, they proved once again they are lacking in offensive firepower to support their new quarterback.

This is the most important week of preseason action, so here are some take-away points for the Dolphins and Falcons.

Atlanta Falcons – Three Things of Note

1) Solid from Baker

When Will Svitek went down last week we opined on twitter it would hurt the Falcons’ new found focus on the passing game if Baker couldn’t raise his output and shake off the injury bug. While this game against Miami was far from an outstanding performance he didn’t give a great deal away as a pass protector, though he did struggle as a run blocker at the point of attack on the rare occasions the Falcons ran behind him. There is still a sense that Baker is on a knife edge though, as there were more than a handful of blocks that were a case of ‘nearly’ pressure, where you felt that he was just clinging onto the block rather than really controlling the opposing pass rusher. In a regular season game you feel as though Baker would have been given a far more thorough and consistent examination from Cameron Wake, but he was spared in this game.

2) Ryan Shows Control

The explosion wasn’t necessarily there in the offense in this game, but there were still signs of it with a 49-yard gain to Julio Jones on an adjustment that saw him work back underneath two defenders on a vertical route. Matt Ryan looked controlled even when the pocket broke and, whether Michael Turner or Jacquizz Rodgers was in the backfield, he looked to make good use of his backs in the passing game. There were elements of concern as well. His pick-six to Vontae Davis was called back for an obvious pass interference penalty, but that pass was never on and placing your possession of the football in the hands of any officials (let alone replacement officials) is distinctly ill-advised. There were also throws where the location was off and limited his receivers from making yardage after the catch. All things considered though the Falcons tempo looked good and Ryan’s willingness to use pump fakes and shoulder fakes in the pocket shows a confidence in his offensive line that he can make more use of White and, in particular, Jones on vertical routes.

3) More Needed from Dent

Taking over from Curtis Lofton at middle linebacker Akeem Dent is settling into Lofton’s old two-down role. If you compare the two middle linebackers in this role then, on this performance at least, Dent looks some way short of Lofton’s level of play. While Lofton looked to attack blockers and be physically assertive, Dent looked unable to shed blocks in the running game and got lost in traffic as well. He went largely untested in the passing game, but his inability to be a factor in the ground game is a little concerning as the Dolphins’ offensive line is far from a dominant one. He made one solid play, finding Reggie Bush in traffic for a short stop early on, but outside of that Dent was a non-factor. The Falcons will hope to see more from him in the regular season to help them forget about Lofton.

Link - http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/201...-dolphins/

I cut out the bit on the Dolphins. Read the rest at PFF if you want.

[ggp]

I have to agree with all of these points.

I thought I saw Baker holding on two occaisions. Once the regular refs return, he will need to clean that up. While he handled his duties in pass protection, I thought he was lousy blocking for runs.

Ryan was certainly in control. He played very well. He will spred the ball around and this offense will take off.

Dent looks like a rookie. It will be a long and tough year for him. Hopefully, he will learn quickly and become a decent MLB for years to come.

Robinson is still allowing too many receivers get open. The Dolphins would have smashed us if they had receivers that could actually catch the ball (Bess is the only exception).

[DemBirds]

I would have liked to have seen some comments on Lamar Holmes.