Falcons: This is not the 2010 Falcons

[Jesus]

(11-27-2012 12:50 AM)phocis850 Wrote:  So your explanation for the lack of blitzing, screens, and players moving around on defense is?...

Have you watched us run a screen lately. They are pretty well sniffed out. Note the saints game. They stopped everyone we tried. As for blitzing we had one successful blitz on Sunday, duntas sack. Then got burned on another. Payton had worked out the amoeba defense by the third quarter.

[RnB]

I promise you, we are not limiting our offensive and defensive playcalling to "save" it for the playoffs. The reason why the first few games were a little different is because teams had NO TAPE on the new Falcons schemes until a few games in. Let's be honsest, our first few games were against bad teams.

We are playing for a first round bye and homefield throughout. It is silly to think our coaches and players aren't maximizing our chance to win every week. If you want to believe that, just because we play close games often, you have another thing coming. I would love to believe we are holding a lot back and can blow out teams at will with our "full" playbooks, but it is very naive and not realistic in any way, shape, or form.

Yes, we are still evolving our playbooks and personell schemes. Yes, we will probably see some new things come playoff time. Does that mean we are making it harder to win games now, on purpose, just to show a few unscouted looks in the playoffs? No.

[AUTiger7222]

(11-27-2012 06:15 AM)RnB Wrote:  I promise you, we are not limiting our offensive and defensive playcalling to "save" it for the playoffs. The reason why the first few games were a little different is because teams had NO TAPE on the new Falcons schemes until a few games in. Let's be honsest, our first few games were against bad teams.

We are playing for a first round bye and homefield throughout. It is silly to think our coaches and players aren't maximizing our chance to win every week. If you want to believe that, just because we play close games often, you have another thing coming. I would love to believe we are holding a lot back and can blow out teams at will with our "full" playbooks, but it is very naive and not realistic in any way, shape, or form.

Yes, we are still evolving our playbooks and personell schemes. Yes, we will probably see some new things come playoff time. Does that mean we are making it harder to win games now, on purpose, just to show a few unscouted looks in the playoffs? No.

Just explain why we saw plays (on both sides of the ball) against the Chiefs, Broncos and Chargers that we've very rarely seen since. Also where has the no huddle offense gone? I haven't seen it since the 2 minute drill against the Saints.

[FullMetalFalcon23]

Again DeCoud said it himself that the D scheme since about 6 and 0 has been more vanilla and more focused on the fundamentals of the system. If they need it they do go to it. But it isn't relied on as a cruch. I shit you not. Even this week we started to see new elements in the playbook and scheme. It's not implausible that the staff are holding their best tools closer to their chest and not using them till they become ineffective. I am not saying that there is gonna be something insane. But the intensity and aggression of the play calling will change as will the tempo of the games particularly from our offense. We know we haven't seen the no huddle in a while and I know partly that is to take some weight off of Matt but you can bet in the closing weeks of the season certain things that are familiar and successful as well other elements we have not seen will start to emerge. Eg the way we ran the ball against Tampa. Jacquizz's increased field time. You don't go through the whole season full tilt you have to crescendo and get hot. All of that is a process.

[juraitwaluzka]

(11-27-2012 12:46 PM)AUTiger7222 Wrote:  Just explain why we saw plays (on both sides of the ball) against the Chiefs, Broncos and Chargers that we've very rarely seen since. Also where has the no huddle offense gone? I haven't seen it since the 2 minute drill against the Saints.

Obviously there is some reason for that. Perhaps the coaches don't think it's the best plan for some reason, but just because we can't explain it doesn't mean "saving it for later" is the only answer.

Besides the excellent reasons given in RnB's post there is something else that hasn't been mentioned. It's impossible to hide those plays you mentioned, they are already on film!!! Do you really think an opposing defensive coordinator in the playoffs would not look at the game film from all our games, including the first three, because that's what it would take to fool them with something we have already run. That would be incredibly stupid on their part.

Come playoff time I expect to see new wrinkles but they will be custom designed for the given opponent, not pulled out of storage so that we can hide our dominance now.

[RnB]

(11-27-2012 12:46 PM)AUTiger7222 Wrote:  Just explain why we saw plays (on both sides of the ball) against the Chiefs, Broncos and Chargers that we've very rarely seen since. Also where has the no huddle offense gone? I haven't seen it since the 2 minute drill against the Saints.

Just because we don't use some formations and plays against certain teams does not mean we are "holding back". They build gameplans for every single game we play and sometimes they are vastly different from week to week. I think people just want to blame something, anything, for the way we keep the game in command and win by small margins. You simply need to come to terms with the fact that we are not a team that TRIES to blow people out.

Yes, we can blow teams out of the water. It has more to do with how our coaching staff insulates their gameplanning each week, how the defensive side of the ball dictates the playcalling (both the ooponents defense and how well our defense is keeping the other teams scoring in check), and a myriad of other factors.

The NFL is an extremely complex sport, from the player level all the way to the owner level. The most complex aspect is at the coaching level. Its cool to assume and guess, or try to figure out the why's and how's, but most people really overlook exactly how complex the answers are.

[FullMetalFalcon23]

It's not an issue of dominance for me. For me it's game plan. The more wrinkles we have off of base plays or other plays available to us as not seen on tape from other looks the better. We kept freeman off guard as we " worked outside our tendencies" particularly in the run. That is what I am talking about.

I am not referring to a whole new scheme and plays but there will be new plays and wrinkles on other staples. That we have not had to use so desperately. In sure there are others. The coaches have had to use that they would have rather held on to until later. But sometimes it's good to put people on notice. Look out for it. Gameplan for it. Then get hit with its variant.

[juraitwaluzka]

(11-27-2012 03:02 PM)RnB Wrote:  The NFL is an extremely complex sport, from the player level all the way to the owner level. The most complex aspect is at the coaching level. Its cool to assume and guess, or try to figure out the why's and how's, but most people really overlook exactly how complex the answers are.

Exactly. Well stated.

[phocis850]

So... what will our D look like Thursday?

We know the O will be fairly simple, except in the red zone this time.

If we win this game, our main rival is done.

[juraitwaluzka]

(11-27-2012 06:49 PM)phocis850 Wrote:  So... what will our D look like Thursday?

We know the O will be fairly simple, except in the red zone this time.

If we win this game, our main rival is done.

Hopefully they will look like a bunch of crazed serial killers.

As for the O I'm not so sure you are right. I'm thinking both staff and players are placing a high priority on this game simply because it is the saints. Regardless of playoff situation I'm sure they want this game more than any other this season.