Falcons: What I saw go wrong, with caveat

[JDaveG]

First, I only got to watch the 1st half. I listened to the 2nd half on the radio. With that caveat, I think I learned more about the team listening to Archer diagnose the offensive problems in the 2nd half than watching the 1st. With that said, here is what I see:

COACHING

Mike Smith: I'm not ready to fire him, but he did a terrible, terrible job in this game. Forget the 4th and inches plays. I can respect going for it, though I have to say given our lack of success executing that play all year, I question why he thought we'd be able to do it against the Giants' D-line. What the hell was he thinking at the end of the 1st half when we have time running off the clock and we run our last play with 4 seconds left and 2 TIMEOUTS IN OUR POCKET! That's just stupid. I don't care how you slice it. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Very poor job by our head coach.

Mike Mularkey: Has to go. Period. He's worthless. He's worse than worthless. He's holding the offense back. We can't win with him gameplanning the offensive side of the ball. I want him run out of town like Lane Kiffin in Tennessee. I want to spraypaint "FU Mularkey!!!" on Stone Mountain in hundred-foot high letters. I want him to fear for his life as he drives away because Falcons fans with pitchforks and torches are chasing him. GET OUT OF THIS TOWN!

Brian VanGorder: Did a relatively good job today. Defensive game plan was solid. I still don't like the plain vanilla defense we run, and we can probably upgrade this position, but I can't say anything bad about how the defense played. With the offense keeping them on the field the whole game, I'm surprised they didn't score 100 on us.

OFFENSE

Horrible. Bad execution, bad playcalling, untimely penalties. Gets a slight pass ONLY because Mularkey is so damn bad.

O-line -- garbage. Must be upgraded at AT LEAST 2 positions and probably needs three. I didn't get a good feel for who was bad and who was awful, but I'm comfortable saying no one was good.

Matt Ryan as far as I could tell didn't have a particularly bad game, but there was one thing Archer kept mentioning that bugs me. Harry Douglas was apparently single-covered by a safety the entire 2nd half. Matt Ryan has to see that, check into something to take advantage of it, and get the ball to the right man. Maybe that's Mularkey more than Ryan, but given how much control Ryan has over the offense on the field, I'm inclined to place some blame here. Gets a bigger pass because our o-line is hot garbage, particularly in pass blocking, but bears some responsibility.

Roddy White had another key drop. He needs to pull his head out of his ass.

Michael Turner. I'm done with him. COULD get a pass based on o-line play but aside from playing the horrific Bucs he really hasn't been good all year. I know Turner had 1 great season for us, but this is a "what have you done for me lately league," and he ain't done shit. We need to find his replacement (it may be Snelling, Rodgers and a draft pick).

DEFENSE

Played very well in the 1st half. On the field way too long. Not much to criticize, but our d-line still sucks. Bad. Abraham was good, but the d-line got abused on running plays and did not get much pressure outside the 1st quarter. We need upgrades especially at tackle.

Jerry was on the field a lot. I didn't hear his name called. That's not good.

The corners played surprisingly well from what I saw. Owens made a CLUTCH play on that post route. I think with better pressure the corners are fine.

Safety needs an upgrade at FS. Sanders played well, and Moore is awesome, but we need a better ballhawking safety that doesn't miss his assignments.

Linebacker play was mediocre. Probably would have been better but for Nicholas and Pete, but Lofton had one costly missed assignment and from what I could tell they were not doing well in run support either.

That is all. I need a beer.