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Team assessment - ggp - 09-18-2012 03:08 PM
A win is a win. Nothing can change the fact that the Falcons have a 2-0 record and are among the six best teams in the NFL. Remember, you are only as good as your record.....PERIOD.
Let me give you my opinions about the Falcons and hand out some criticism, as well as praise.
THUMBS UP:
1. Nolan's defense. No one can argue that this defense has taken a major step forward. For years, we have depended on a power run offense to keep the defense off of the field. Now, we have an smart and savvy defense that can take the ball away from opposing offenses. We did not have Grimes, worked with an injured Samuels and lost Owens....still, we contained the best QB of this generation. I can't wait to see what Nolan will do when we draft more defensive talent.
We used a lot of nickel defense last night. For that reason, we were a bit weak at stopping the run. I would have like to have seen Dent stop McGahee at the goal line on fourth down. Because of that one short fall, I have to say that there is room for improvement. It will be interesting to see what Nolan does against San Diego.
GRADE: A-
2. Matt Ryan. Our QB looked really good last night. His numbers are not eye-popping but he made great decisions, showed off his wheels a bit and threw with zip on the ball. I don't think that we can ask more of any QB.
GRADE: A
3. Sam Baker. Wow! Baker is back. With Clabo hurt, Baker was left on an island most of the night. He handled Dumervil very well and basically nullified the talented DE. My only complaint of him is that he did not open rushing lanes for our RB's. We ran a lot to the left and basically did very litte.
Baker has received plenty of criticism, but today, he gets a pat on the back.
GRADE: B+
4. Roddy White. While the Broncos were smothering JJ, White stepped up and made some great plays. He caught the ball in traffic with defenders on top of him. Roddy is a strong as hell and an excellent possession receiver. Call him a number two WR, call him whatever you like. I call him a Falcon and I am pretty damned happy about that.
GRADE: A
5. William Moore. Willy Mo introduced himself to the NFL last night. He did it all. When he jarred the ball loose from Thomas, in the end zone, I jumped out of my chair. I am going to love watching this guy for years to come.
GRADE: A+
6. Punt coverage. While Bosher did not boom the ball, our coverage was superb. Both of our back up WR's made textbook open field tackles. I like them already and I hope that they end up catches passed for us in the future.
GRADE: B+
NEUTRAL
1. Punt returns. Franks really put the offense in a hole in the fourth quarter. He can't do that again. He needs to fair catch the ball at the ten to give the O some breathing room. We did not turn the ball over, so I can't be too harsh.
GRADE: C
2. Tony Gonzalez. Yes, he scored a TD, but he also dropped two easy passes. TG has set the bar high, so I thiink that he would agree that he can and should do better.
GRADE: C
3. The offensive line. They did a very good job of protecting Ryan. He needed to roll out a lot to avoid the pass rush, but most of the time, he had more than the customary 2.5 seconds to set up and scan the field. Run blocking was suspect, particularly on the left side of the line. Reynolds: I can't believe he is our best RG.
Still, the OL allowed MR to make plays.
GRADE: C+
THUMBS DOWN:
1. The run game. We sucked. It did not matter who carried the ball, we did not run the ball well enough....especially in the fourth quarter. I am happy that Turner got that conversion to seal the game, but let's face it, the run offense has to be able to:
keep opposing defenses off balance
run out the clock
convert or score in short yardage situation
I am going to be harsh because this is our weakest facet. If it does not get fixed, we will get exposed in the playoffs.
GRADE: D
I am sure that I left out a few things. Let me know what you think.
RE: Team assessment - evo - 09-18-2012 04:04 PM
Julio Jones. He drop a TD pass and never did anything to make it up other than that 3rd down to seal the game up.
Good thing we got Roddy to save the day, but young Julio sure disappointed a lot of us. Look for him to bounce back next week.
Grade: C
RE: Team assessment - pauliwood - 09-18-2012 04:05 PM
I might move Franks to thumbs down.
In addition to the points you made about him not catching the punts, the one he did catch he got a miserable 2 yards.
on top of that he is still very week in coverage.
Team assessment - juraitwaluzka - 09-18-2012 05:25 PM
Pretty much agree across the board. More than anything I am very happy about our defense. And while they have obvious room for improvement, they have already shown more than a Van Pornstache defense ever did sans one New Orleans game which we ended up losing anyway.
For the first time in a long while I was genuinely excited watching our defense play instead of the normal frustration and trepidation.
Going forward, on both sides of the ball we are going to improve, it is week 2 after all, and that is an exciting prospect. I like the foundation we are building.
RE: Team assessment - ggp - 09-18-2012 05:27 PM
(09-18-2012 04:05 PM)pauliwood Wrote: I might move Franks to thumbs down.
In addition to the points you made about him not catching the punts, the one he did catch he got a miserable 2 yards.
on top of that he is still very week in coverage.
I don't want to critcize Franks too much. He was pressed into duty during a game. To evaluate him fairly, I think that he should be given the chance to practice, as a starter.
RE: Team assessment - Jimusmc - 09-18-2012 05:29 PM
(09-18-2012 04:04 PM)evo Wrote: Julio Jones. He drop a TD pass and never did anything to make it up other than that 3rd down to seal the game up.dropped a TD and double covered the times he was out there.. that's the entire point. pick your poison.. they picked roddy and he whooped em big time.
Good thing we got Roddy to save the day, but young Julio sure disappointed a lot of us. Look for him to bounce back next week.
Grade: C
RE: Team assessment - ggp - 09-18-2012 06:24 PM
(09-18-2012 05:29 PM)Jimusmc Wrote: dropped a TD and double covered the times he was out there.. that's the entire point. pick your poison.. they picked roddy and he whooped em big time.
Exactly. JJ did his job by simply acting as a decoy. When called upon to make the third down conversion, he came through.