Reality Check

[Beef]

Reality is, MM & BVG are not going to be fired. We're not going to bring in new coordinators & hand everybody new playbooks just to set everyone back with another learning curve to work through. So everytime this is suggested, it's pointless.

You guys act like every coach has a philosophy & playbook that is 100% set in stone & they will never change, adapt, and get better. But you're wrong. It is certainly possible & in our case, very likely since it's clear our play style on both sides has holes. You're retarded if you think the FO of this organization will just settle for status quo & try to make it work exactly the same next year, just hoping we draft & sign players that will fix everything & then make zero adjustments to the playbooks on each side. That's absurd.

The offense is simply missing pieces that are needed to open up the playbook & allow MM to do more than just dink-n-dunk 10-yards/3 downs clock management junk that becomes ridiculously predictible & limiting. But the fact is, MM is FORCED to run this offense like he did this year because we simply don't have the personel to make big play attempts reliably or work at a decent success rate. We really only have ONE truely big-play threat on offense & that's just not enough.

Imagine if we had 2 or 3 more REAL weapons who were constant big-play threats on top of what we already have. Are you so naive to think we wouldn't have utilized them to their max potential & designed/called plays that included more than just 10-yard clock management crap? We're missing at least 2 more big fast reliable WR's & a speed-back, period. If we had those this year in addition to Roddy, Jenks, Gonzo, & Turner, is there really any doubt that more explosive play calling would have happened & a we would have had a significantly higher producing offense? We'd have dominated offensively. But fact is we're missing those pieces. HD, Finn, Peelle, Palmer, Snelling, & Johnson/Smith simply do not meet the criteria by a long shot. We thought/hoped HD, Meier, & Norwood were going to fill in those missing holes, but clearly that didn't happen. HD has been by far the biggest disappointment this year, IMO. But, this can all be corrected if we do fill those voids & there's no question MM would open the book up to utilize them if they were there.

And as for our defense, I blame BVG & coach Smith, reluctantly. But we have ridiculously talented, fast, smart, & physical players everywhere on defense, so why are we ranked 22nd against the pass? Why did decent passing teams light us up for 300+ yards countless times? We stopped the run very well, but pass defense was our overwhelming weakness. And the only answer is the defensive playbook & philosphy/style of play, which of course comes from the coaches. This "bend but don't break" style obviously sux. The 4-3 is fine. We had extremely good pressure yet AGAIN this year, but we fell short on the actual sacks because opposing receivers were always open. I am 100% certain that if we covered receivers better, we would have gotten at least a dozen or more sacks, we were that close so many times.

That said, I think we're only 2 upgrades short on the defense. CB & Nickel. That's it. Grimes, as much as I love the guy, is still undersized & too small to be an outside CB. The TD catch vs GB is perfect evidence. If he were 2 inches taller, he knocks that ball down. He would be an outragously good nickel CB though & a massive upgrade to that position for us. All those whiffed sacks by B. Williams I bet Grimes makes those because of his insane athleticism. And yes, that means I think we're fine at DE. Although we do need to find a replacement to groom behind Abe as he probably only has 1-2 more years tops. Like I said, if our secondary coverage would have been much better, our pass rush would have had way more sacks, & that means Biermann. He made some outstanding plays this year (our top play in fact, IMO). Every game he was inches & a fraction of a second away from multiple sacks, but the QB was always able to get the pass off just before. I truely believe with better secondary coverage, Biermann would have had 10 sacks.

Anyways, we need to get lucky in the draft & maybe sign a couple good FA's if we hope to go further next year. We need 2 WR's, a speed-back, a TE to replace Gonzo (or at least groom one if Gonzo stays another year), a DE to groom, & a top-notch good size cover CB (shut-down would be great, but unrealistic to ask for). Add to that we need 1 or 2 O-linemen due to FA losses. And of course, we need BVG to change his pass coverage philosphy. If those things happen I believe we fix this year's problems & finally move to that next level.

[Swift Is a Die Hard]

(01-16-2011 10:56 PM)Beef Wrote:  Anyways, we need to get lucky in the draft & maybe sign a couple good FA's if we hope to go further next year. We need 2 WR's, a speed-back, a TE to replace Gonzo (or at least groom one if Gonzo stays another year), a DE to groom, & a top-notch good size cover CB (shut-down would be great, but unrealistic to ask for). Add to that we need 1 or 2 O-linemen due to FA losses. And of course, we need BVG to change his pass coverage philosphy. If those things happen I believe we fix this year's problems & finally move to that next level.

WRS are not the problem ..while I was one who screamed for Dez Bryant cause I honestly thought Mularkey was capable of spreading out a offense and using 4 wr sets he just is 2 stubborn to come off 2 TE sets . Our offense could work with Weems and HD in slot but we were so caught up in Mularkey philosophy of being ball controlled we really never gave Ryan a chance to shine ..The question though is he capable while I dig on Ryan I still think he has tools to be a very good QB

I think we should cut ties with Tony G . I dont even want him back as a backup TE to groom . I actually wish I can get the 2nd round pick back while Tony G is a true pro I do think in one way he stunted the growth of Matt Ryan and his progressions cause as soon as he joined the Falcons we didnt start looking down field
Ryan his first year went through his progressions and got ball down field instead of these 7 yard outs


Harry Douglas coming off a Knee injury .. he is capable of making plays when targeted . which he hardly was
Michael Jenkins - is our possession wr
Roddy White is our stud

we can bring in a FA wr thats cool a guy like Malcom Floyd to stretch defense .

Mularkey needs to stop being stubborn

SPEED BACK IS A MUST ....... shit Id rather us draft a rb early and groom him to replace Turner in 2 or 3 years ..

[Beef]

(01-16-2011 11:07 PM)Swift Is a Die Hard Wrote:  WRS are not the problem ..while I was one who screamed for Dez Bryant cause I honestly thought Mularkey was capable of spreading out a offense and using 4 wr sets he just is 2 stubborn to come off 2 TE sets . Our offense could work with Weems and HD in slot but we were so caught up in Mularkey philosophy of being ball controlled we really never gave Ryan a chance to shine ..The question though is he capable while I dig on Ryan I still think he has tools to be a very good QB

I think we should cut ties with Tony G . I dont even want him back as a backup TE to groom . I actually wish I can get the 2nd round pick back while Tony G is a true pro I do think in one way he stunted the growth of Matt Ryan and his progressions cause as soon as he joined the Falcons we didnt start looking down field
Ryan his first year went through his progressions and got ball down field instead of these 7 yard outs


Harry Douglas coming off a Knee injury .. he is capable of making plays when targeted . which he hardly was
Michael Jenkins - is our possession wr
Roddy White is our stud

we can bring in a FA wr thats cool a guy like Malcom Floyd to stretch defense .

Mularkey needs to stop being stubborn

SPEED BACK IS A MUST ....... shit Id rather us draft a rb early and groom him to replace Turner in 2 or 3 years ..

I agree with some of that, but I refuse to believe that MM can't change his philosphy if he had RELIABLE big-play threats rather than young & tiny HD & Weems.

And in the last 5-6 games, I rarely saw the 2 TE sets more than 3-4 times a game. I started seeing the 3-4 receiver sets with Snelling & even Turner in the slot WAY more often. And sorry, but Roddy, TG, Turner/Snelling, HD, & Jenkins is NOT what I would like to see as our ultimate 5 receiver set. There's ONE guy listed there with bona fide YAC potential & that's it. HD is just too timid because he knows he's too small & fragile now.

GB, SD, Colts, NO, Houston, & Denver all have something in common other than being top 10 receiving offenses. They each have no less than 3 receivers who are big-play threats & can break for huge YAC after a catch. GB & SD actually have 4 receivers like that. We have ONE.

MM had no choice but to dink-n-dunk. Nothing else was reliable. So yes, maybe he was "stubborn" about it because the alternative requires pieces that we didn't have.

And I think TG fits fine if we had those other weapons. There's nothing wrong with a possession TE if you have playmakers on the outsides, slot, & RB (which we didn't).

[Sun Tzu 7]

We have to stop ALWAYS playing off coverage with our corners... Especially when blitzing... Press or bump and run coverage would have been nice to see in blitzing situations.

If it's the same system they ran in Jacksonville I don't recall them ever winning anything with it. Other DCs have gotten fired for having playoff games where the other team never had to punt.

We either need to seriously tweak the system or bring in some more help on the defensive gameplanning/coaching side.

[cooperbh]

Reality check: Having Vincent Jackson and Santonio Holmes lining up alongside Roddy does no good whatsoever if our O-line continues to consistently fail at providing Ryan a proper pocket from which to throw, as well as not allowing the required time to let downfield pass plays develop.

I'm always blown away by how many people give our shoddy O-line a total pass when filling out their shit lists. Especially after a game in which Ryan was sacked 5 times and pressured more times than I could count.

[Swift Is a Die Hard]

The major beef I have with Mularkey is his wr route design ..Everything is to sidelines either outs deep cuts ..Doesnt it feel when we utilize the middle of the field . Now that could be cause of the major factors or like the problems you brought up not the big play wr threats to attack down field or a TE to stretch. Its funny how every team around the league can run successful screens to either wr or rb and we can not .
Also in his 3 wr sets he sends a clear out route ..(Which is White running a go or clear out so can occupy S ) Tony G curl stop route and Jenkins slant ..so Jenkins will me drape by corner cause he is a possession wr ..Ryan turns to Tony G on curl or check down to Snelling

I would like to bring in a guy like Malcom Floyd ...He is big /lanky and a down field threat . but he has to be used right or there really isnt a point . We need new route patterns and we need to take shots down field

[Sun Tzu 7]

(01-16-2011 11:47 PM)cooperbh Wrote:  Reality check: Having Vincent Jackson and Santonio Holmes lining up alongside Roddy does no good whatsoever if our O-line continues to consistently fail at providing Ryan a proper pocket from which to throw, as well as not allowing the required time to let downfield pass plays develop.

I'm always blown away by how many people give our shoddy O-line a total pass when filling out their shit lists. Especially after a game in which Ryan was sacked 5 times and pressured more times than I could count.

No the O-line has had its issues but my thing is it just one position that needs to be upgraded, (like LT), or do we need to upgrade multiple spots?

[Beef]

(01-16-2011 11:47 PM)cooperbh Wrote:  Reality check: Having Vincent Jackson and Santonio Holmes lining up alongside Roddy does no good whatsoever if our O-line continues to consistently fail at providing Ryan a proper pocket from which to throw, as well as not allowing the required time to let downfield pass plays develop.

I'm always blown away by how many people give our shoddy O-line a total pass when filling out their shit lists. Especially after a game in which Ryan was sacked 5 times and pressured more times than I could count.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_...rder/false

In case you didn't know, our O-line gave up the 3rd fewest sacks in the entire league while also having the 12th best team rushing & 3rd overall rushing RB, and was by far the least penalized O-line in the league.

When you're only two-dimensional (dink-n-dunk passing + vanilla power running), the opposing defense has an easy job of scheming against you. There is absolutely ZERO question that we were the most blitzed against offense by a ridiculous margin. Stacking 7-8 in the box & rushing 6-7 was easily 70% of the play calls against us. And yet, our O-line only allowed 23 sacks the entire regular season, which again is 3rd fewest in the league.

If we were more than just two-dimensional & had more than just ONE player who was a YAC & deep threat, we wouldn't have seen half as many of those blitzes & stacking of the box. And as a result, Ryan would have had significantly more time much more often to sit in the pocket & wait for the down-field routes to finish. This didn't happen though because we don't have the personel for it.

Our O-line played ridiculously well considering that's the case.

[JDaveG]

(01-16-2011 11:27 PM)Beef Wrote:  And in the last 5-6 games, I rarely saw the 2 TE sets more than 3-4 times a game. I started seeing the 3-4 receiver sets with Snelling & even Turner in the slot WAY more often.

I was thinking the same thing -- we go empty backfield, spread formation all the time. It's not always 2 tight, two wide, single back. Hell, it's not really frequently 2 tight to begin with unless it's an obvious running play or a max protect scheme (and even then, sometimes with Gonzo going out in a route).

[juraitwaluzka]

(01-16-2011 11:51 PM)Swift Is a Die Hard Wrote:  The major beef I have with Mularkey is his wr route design ..Everything is to sidelines either outs deep cuts ..Doesnt it feel when we utilize the middle of the field . Now that could be cause of the major factors or like the problems you brought up not the big play wr threats to attack down field or a TE to stretch. Its funny how every team around the league can run successful screens to either wr or rb and we can not .

Yeah, that bugs me too. And even if we aren't capable of doing some of those things at least try to be creative and do some decoy work, then it might actually open something else up.