Great Win at Cleveland

[Peyton]

Just rewatched the game, a couple of times. Great win, as they all are in the NFL. That is especially true this year when it is clear that the line between good and bad in this league is thinner than ever.

So here are some thoughts on the game:

Generally speaking, even though this game wasn't a blowout like the Cardinals game, the key to game was fundamentally similiar. The Falcons offensive line dominated the Browns in the running game and the Falcons defensive line dominated the Browns in the running game.

First player that stuck out for me was Corey Peters. That guy was blowing up some plays yesterday and showing great awareness as well. He sniffed out a screen on the first series and then chased down a sweep on the very next play. In the 3rd quarter he completely blew up the Browns backfield on a 2nd and short run and Chauncey was able to tackle the runner for a 3 yard loss, and the Browns had to punt a down later. Peria Jerry may or may not get back to being a good player after his knee injury, but if he doesn't, it looks like TD might have made up for it by finding this guy in the 3rd round.

Abe dominated Joe Thomas. That might have been the worst domination dude ever suffered. However, Abe did get away with one on that last play when he punched Jake in the head. Abe was a complete stud yesterday.

Hillis made my boy Grimes look silly on the Browns first offensive play, but really, what was Grimes suppose to do differently? Later in the game Hillis steamrolled Curtis Lofton, illustrating why you have to tackle the guy low. On the Grimes jump, just got to credit the guy with being a great athlete.

Grimes did miss a couple of additional tackles, but nothing consequential. It also has to be noted that he made a big tackle in the red zone when the Browns ran the wild cat and Cribbs threw the ball. He had to take on a much bigger player head to head and he cut him down. It was a big play because the Falcons were able to hold the Browns to a FG. Grimes also made an outstanding special teams tackle limiting a kick return to about a 3 yard gain. So, it wasn't all bad on the tackling front for Grimes. And, as usual, he gave up virtually nothing in the passing game. The Browns hardly seemd interested in looking his way.

The Falcons won most of the plays yesterday, but interestingly enough, they had 5 of their worst plays yesterday right in a row following the Falcons FG.

1. Cribbs breaks his only decent kick return all day out to the 45.
2. Dunta gives up a stop pattern for a 14 yard gain that was a little bit too easy.
3. Owens bites way to hard on a play action fake and Stuckey gets an easy gain, then Grimes misses a tackle and 3 more Falcons over run the play, allowing Stuckey to get an extra 5 yards.
4. Dunta gets beat by Massaquoi but dude isn't able to tap his right foot.
5. Kroy Bierman oversells his fake rush and looks like an idiot.

So, the Falcons played a very good game I thought, but that was a bad sequence lol.

The Browns came into the game hellaprepared on defense.....and offense really. Normally when Ryan struggles in the first half it is because of accuracy. Yesterday, he was flat confused, and guys weren't open anyway. It's a real credit to him that he and Mularkey got it together in the second half.

That being said, I thought the Falcons should have run more in the first half. The Falcons o-line was pushing the Browns defense backwards on every play the Falcons ran the ball. Should have made them stop it or at least commit both safeties.

The fumble by Ryan was pretty much all on Matt. His internal clock just didn't work on that play. Interestingly, the Browns made that big play with almost the exact same scheme that Kroy would later make his play on. That is, they overloaded on one side and brought a LB from the other side. Anyway, that was Matt's worst play of the game, but the defense bailed him out there by holding the Browns to a FG.

The flea flicker attempt by the Falcons I thought was a great call, they were just unfortunate that the Browns had a corner blitz called on that play. In retrospect, the result of that play could have been much worse.

Wasn't impressed with Weems yesterday. He was tentative on most of his returns, and seemingly ran directly into defenders he could have avoided a couple of times. The one time he did make a decent return I thought he ran out of bounds prematurely. Wasn't a fan of his work yesterday.

Both safeties dropped EASY interceptions yesterday. Both balls thrown straight to them and neither of them deflected in the slightest.

These are the types of games Atlanta is going to have to win all year long. The lack of WRs who are weapons is catching up to them and we aren't going to see to many explosive days on offense. The good news is that this defense is really coming together so I think the Falcons can compete with anybody.

It wasn't Chris Owens best day in coverage. He didn't really give up anything big but he did show some hesitation on two straight 3rd down conversions and had passes completed against him for 1st downs. Fortunately for him Bierman put a close to that drive in a spectacular way.

Speaking of Bierman, what an incredible effort! Bierman lined up way wide on the play and blitzed Nicholas on the opposite side. Davis dropped into coverage, so it was still just a net 4 man rush. Cleveland simply didn't block Bierman, I guess that would have to be considered another mistake by Joe Thomas. Did I mention that yesterday was probably the worst game of his career?

I don't remember the last time I saw Roddy White get his hands on a ball and not catch it. That guy is playing out of his mind.

I'm starting to think Robinson has some lingering effects from his hamstring injury, causing him to give guys a little too much respect, and I think that is the reason why we are seeing quite a few catches in front of him and slants thrown at him. When he does press the receiver, we've seen a couple of guys get some separation on him. I don't think the guy is 100%, but he is scrapping out there.

I don't know why it takes injuries to get Nicholas on the field, but props to him for stepping up in that situation. The defense didn't miss a beat with him in there, and he was making plays out there.

Anyway, that is all I got for now, I'll add more when I figure out what I missed.

[bF™]

great write up peyton

this team reminds me a whole lot of the 07 new york giants. the giants pass rush was better, but our secondary is better than theirs was. both had solid groups of linebackers. both teams relied heavily on the run and both teams had young qbs (i trust ryan WAAAAAAY more than i think anybody trusted manning though).

i agree 110% about our WR group though. you've been ranting about that (as have i) for a while now. i think having jenkins back will help, but i think we need another weapon out there that puts fear into the defense (or at least a little fear). HD is a good slot receiver (would be having a much better year if he didn't have so many drops). gonzo is solid, but past his prime. he still has some of the best hands in the game and is a solid route runner as a TE, but the speed and acceleration just isn't there anymore. roddy is a stud. HOPEFULLY jenkins will come back and help some, but i'm not counting on it.

i think dunta is still having problems driving back to the ball and making a play. he does a pretty good job covering guys on deep routes, but the 5-10 yard in routes are killing him.

[zigg zagg]

dont ever put ryan and manning in the same sentence. eli is pedestrian and always will be. he is middle of the pack at best. hes no scrub dont get me wrong but if his name was eli brown he wouldnt get nearly as much attention.

[TAZZ77]

Nice write up sums up my thoughts as well.

I like what I saw from our lines yesterday generally speaking. But and its a major one is our LT is subpar, he was getting Matt killed if not flat out giving up a sack his man more often times than not got to and knocked Matt down. And as cool as the Iceman is I do think he was uncomfortable in the pocket in the first half. Which amazingly all seem to change when he rolled right to avoid pressure and staired down a brutal rush knew he was gonna get hit and still stepped into the throw across his body across the feild and connected what looked to be 40-50 yards in the air. That kinda play really gets me pumped dude is such a warrior. And after that he seemed to say ok I took your best shot and he settled down.

The D-line like the announcers said may look light on paper but are beastly good. And Peters is a big part of that, his first step is fast! Even if Jerry gets back 100% at some point, its gonna be hard to imagine that he will be better than Peters who looks to be the gem of this draft for TD. Babs seems to be picking right up where he left off last year as one of the best D-lineman in the league if you dont think so look at the numbers.

Abe also has returned to form and Kroy's play had me running around the house jumping and screaming easily the defensive play of the week. Up to this point I have been a little disappointed with Kroy's play and I dont want to think he's only capable of mediocre play for weeks and then we get the beyond amazing play. But I will take it for now and hope he can raise his overall game. Abe seems to be gaining enough steam for both of them. So we know the philosophy is sound more pressure from the middle does help free up the ends so all in all very pleased with our front 7.

Maybe the so called experts thought the Browns would roll over for us but they absolutely came to play very prepared and talented team. I dont wish injuries on anyone but I was relieved when Abe put Wallace out of the game. Not because I wanted Wallace hurt but I was licking my chops thinking of DelHommo coming in to the game!! And I shutter to think how the game might have gone if Wallace would have played the whole game. Big props for Hillis I have not been as impressed with another teams player all year. He came in hurt and gave 110% effort anyway from jumping over Peyton's man crush to dozing thru Loften that was majorly impressive!!

Roddy continues to be our only bright spot at WR. And Matt continues to look for TG to bail out nearly every play TG is the only checkdown he looks to. I can see where HD could be spectacular but sadly he has yet to be that. We need another recieving option. We could still go to the SB with the team we have as long as our run game and defense holds out and the injury bug doesnt bite us.

I hope you are right on Robinson having some lingering injury issues or needing to get in game shape after not playing any pre season heck I am looking for any excuse. I am not gonna bash him although I REALLY want to! I just hope he can adjust to our scheme. He is good enough for a number #2 but I agree Grimes in far and away our #1 CB. Regardless of all his haters or all our praise the oponents week in and week out have shown they will go at DRob 4 times before they test Grimes 1. We are gonna have to pay Grimes a hella raise and he deserves it alot more than DRob.

All in all great hard fought win the game plan might not be flashy and some would complain sloppy, boring, and that we dont look like a championship offense. But I see it for what we are a hardnosed group of pounders who beat teams into submission by the fourth quarter. I will take it and believe it can take us into the playoffs once that happens anything can. RISE UP!!!!

[papachaz]

great post peyton! i love to read the break down on the game like that, much appreciated.