I just rewatched the game...offense only

[SeaMill]

Ok, guys. I am not one to "break down film" but I just quickly re-watched the offense (mainly to see Ryan play calling/hurry up v/s MM play calling) and here is what I noticed. This might be stating what you guys already knew, but it was mostly for my own benefit.

1.) Ryan's arm is fine. When he has time to set, there looked to be plenty of sip on the ball.

2.) Ryan stared down Gonzo hard on several occasions. Even Mora said Ryan needs to quit staring him down and go through his progressions.

3.) I have no problem with Turner trying to bounce it outside. During the game I thought it never worked, but I realize he is trying to set up his blocks and as many times as it didn't work, it was a few of his decent runs as well.

4.) When we went empty backfield out of the shotgun it was a bad play. Usually Turner and Weems were 2 of the wideouts. There were either screens to Roddy or bad routes all together. The one screen to Roddy where Turner was the lead blocker was a cool idea IMO, but just got a few yards

5.) Speaking of screens, I thought (when I saw it live) we threw too many WR screens. It wasn't as many as I thought. Most of the time it was when The Steelers blitzed, so I guess the intent was good. But we didn't get much out of it since they are such a good tackling team. But, I still wonder why half of those were not RB screens.

6.) When Ryan actually threw to Harry in the slot we got good results. Hopefully we see more of those.

7.) Our best shotgun plays were 2 backs blocking and 3 WR's. I dont know if its the routes or what, but we got better results with this formation.

8.) Matt had several bad "overthrows" In fact, it almost looked like he was throwing the ball away, but it looked like just terrible accuracy to me. I am sure he will kick himself in the film room when he watches it (probably already has)

9.) Mike Mularkey plays for the first down. 2nd and 2? run the ball. I don't think I saw a time where we really took a chance in short yardage to try and get something bigger.

I know Mularkey has it in him. Hell, remember when we went deep to Roddy the first play of the game against Buffalo last year? We scored a touchdown. I just hope we try stuff like that more often. Maybe it was because we were playing the Steelers. But, I figure that's a time to be more aggressive since you are not likely to march down the field in 20 plays.

[NZFalcon]

Good break down ill +1 you for that and would like to add what I said in another thread, plus been said 1000000000000000 times on AFMB, get Norwood involved. Sure it was his first real game back but that was prime Norwood time in the 4th, noone is more dangerous to break one when the defense is tired plus with a TD pretty much meaning the game would be won we needed to get the ball in his hands and let him do his thing.

[cnasty]

Go back and see how many times we took a shot 20+ yds downfield. I'm just curious if it was more than 1 or 2. I cant really recall. I thought we did best when we spread out our WRs personally, but then again I was extremely drunk after the 1st quarter.

[raysnill1]

(09-15-2010 04:12 AM)cnasty Wrote:  Go back and see how many times we took a shot 20+ yds downfield. I'm just curious if it was more than 1 or 2. I cant really recall. I thought we did best when we spread out our WRs personally, but then again I was extremely drunk after the 1st quarter.

I know there wasn't many, but that's a good thing to look for

[FullMetalFalcon23]

I like the comment made by the OP about how we seemed to thrive well in 2 back 3 WR formations. I have long thought that this should be the way the Falcons go about Offense. My reasons for this are as follows:

1) Matt Ryan is a pocket style passer. He can make plays in the pocket and yes if needed he can roll out of it, but I don't think we should be rolling him out on purpose.

2) IMO 3WR's and 2 RB's forces a D to play honest before the QB has even set the O line. They have to play what is done rather than jump the run or pass. I like this formation with our skills personnel, Looking at our receivers we have an Elite guy in Roddy we have an Gonzo, who I think we should move around more we have Jenkins who is a vertical threat (yes he is up and down but he can stretch the field) And we have Weems and HD two shifty guys who can be lined up in the middle or worked around, if the scheme and play calling is ambitious enough to allow that. With combinations of these guys and their skill sets with a QB like Matt, is there really any reason why we should not be able to efficiently move the ball. I do not think so

3) The RB's we have lend themselves well to a Run and Pass style O. I like how we are trying to use Turner more vertically but Norwood needs to be a part of this. I would like to see more split back/ off set split back with Turner and Norwood/Smith in the backfield.


The only reasons why I can see a system like this not currently working is our O line. As much as I like this system they are not the O line for it. We have elements but not all the pieces. I liked our O line in 08 but less and less are they who I thought they were. Now I don't blame them solely for this. MM has to be part and party to this blame game as his system in my opinion is one that is slowly suffocating the entire Offensive Unit. I would much rather him adapt successfully than see him fired, and break the continuity. I think it would be great to see that happen and it would be an inspiration to the entire O that they can all change and grow together. If MM is failing to accept that he is fallible and not acting upon it. A difficult road lies ahead, as I see a parting coming if he doesn't, and whilst I think we will be invigorated with a new OC part of me thinks for Matt's sake wouldn't it be nice if he did not need to start from scratch but rather evolve. The other part of me thinks that perhaps this is as far as Matt can go with MM, considering how well he plays when setting up his own offense. I definitely think we need a OC who will work with Matt to create a system he can not operate but EXCEL in. Then we will see the style player who can make those around him better.

All opinion hopefully down the road it matures into fact

[SeaMill]

(09-15-2010 04:22 AM)raysnill1 Wrote:  

(09-15-2010 04:12 AM)cnasty Wrote:  Go back and see how many times we took a shot 20+ yds downfield. I'm just curious if it was more than 1 or 2. I cant really recall. I thought we did best when we spread out our WRs personally, but then again I was extremely drunk after the 1st quarter.

I know there wasn't many, but that's a good thing to look for

As far as it actually working there was only one. harry caught that one for 23 yards. hell, Roddy's longest was just short of 20 and Tony's was right at 20. Some of those "down field" throws were the overthrows I mentioned.

[Tandy]

(09-15-2010 06:35 AM)DoDaDirtyBirdUK23 Wrote:  The only reasons why I can see a system like this not currently working is our O line. As much as I like this system they are not the O line for it. We have elements but not all the pieces. I liked our O line in 08 but less and less are they who I thought they were. Now I don't blame them solely for this. MM has to be part and party to this blame game as his system in my opinion is one that is slowly suffocating the entire Offensive Unit. I would much rather him adapt successfully than see him fired, and break the continuity. I think it would be great to see that happen and it would be an inspiration to the entire O that they can all change and grow together. If MM is failing to accept that he is fallible and not acting upon it. A difficult road lies ahead, as I see a parting coming if he doesn't, and whilst I think we will be invigorated with a new OC part of me thinks for Matt's sake wouldn't it be nice if he did not need to start from scratch but rather evolve. The other part of me thinks that perhaps this is as far as Matt can go with MM, considering how well he plays when setting up his own offense. I definitely think we need a OC who will work with Matt to create a system he can not operate but EXCEL in. Then we will see the style player who can make those around him better.

All opinion hopefully down the road it matures into fact

The reason our O Line looked so good in 2008 is that we did not face any 3-4 defenses until we got to the playoffs.

We struggle mightily against the good 3-4 defenses but not so much against 4-3 defenses or hybrid defenses.

3-4 or hybrid teams we've played since last year (including playoff in January) - Dallas, Steelers, Cardinals, Miami, 49ers (Hybrid), Jets, Patriots[/b]

[Dale4Saul2Red0]

No one can argue against Ryan's arm strength at all. He threw that deep out route/comeback route on the sidelines so many times. Mora kept saying how impressed he was with Ryan on that throw because it is the hardest throw for an NFL QB to make. Ryan did take some shots down the field and overthrew most of them, but at the same time the WR's weren't open to begin with. Matt was probably trying to get Tony his 1,000 catch a little too hard and now that is over hopefully he avoids forcing him the ball. If Ryan realizes Douglas is a very nice addition to this offense that can become a big weapon, they can produce some very big plays. Douglas will get the ball in space if Ryan is able to get him the ball. I would still like to see a screen to the RB, even Turner because the defense would be keying on that less than say Norwood being in the game.

As for the running game, there weren't many holes there but when Turner did have some daylight he still seemed very slow to get going. This is a major concern for me because running the ball effectively is something Mularkey needs to be successful as an offensive coordinator. If we can't do that, the results won't be consistent in the passing game. That usually goes for any run first football team though.

[BadMoonRising]

A lot of our success with the 3 wide and two back formations is TG is out of the lineup. I think there was a lot of pressure on Ryan to get the ball to TG and it caused Ryan to stay a little to focused on Tony until the second half.

[JKH5785]

You all know that Tomlin beat it into his guys about not being the defense to give Tony his 1000th catch!