Next Day Thread: Falcons Fall Flat

[Chump Bailey]

1 hour ago, Playaction2Sanders said:

My brother is a huge Falcons fans and apparently we caught a break in the fact they didn't give the ball to Caleb Huntley at all who he says is their most exciting runner avg. 5 yards a pop. He only got the ball once against us for 12 yards...

 

I liked Caleb too out of school. IMO, he's yet another example of the "pro" scouts getting it wrong. QB's are a different animal but to not see the potential of Caleb as a RB is strange to me. He's a bit better version of Samaje Perine in my view.

[Stone Cold]

This was a character win for us.  We got punched in the mouth by their run game.  That’s a fact.  However, we didn’t allow that trend to infect the rest of what we were doing well.  We completely made them 1 dimensional.  Knowing that, Atl has a monster run game.  We went the distance in a smash mouth slug fest and won.  Character win.  Statement win.  Now…on to the giants…1 week at a time.

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

The Falcons sure looked a lot like us.  They were giving us a heavy dose of what we’ve been doing to everyone else.  Mariota > Heinicke, but our defense > than theirs proved to be the difference.

 

I saw a lot of ****ing and moaning about the defense in the gameday thread, but honestly I wasn’t ever all that concerned with them, even when the Falcons had periods of gashing us.  They commit like a mf to that run just like we do, but they have that added element of RPO athleticism with Mariota.  Our defense struggled with that a bit but they kept it in front of them for the most part.  I think their performance against this type of attack bodes well for cold weather.  I’m still buying our defense even after they showed kinks in their armor.

[Est.1974]

I didn’t like this match up so I’m basically just happy we got the W.

 

Daron Payne is making himself some serious coin. Paired with Allen, what a great interior line we currently have.

[Voice_of_Reason]

2 hours ago, Warhead36 said:

It really is remarkable. Heinicke is really not doing anything at all in the passing game. Had like 30 yards passing in the 2nd half yesterday, total was around 150 or less.

138 yards total passing yards.

 60 yards on the first drive

34 yards on 5 completions in the second half

 

That is putrid. Against statistically the worst pass defense in the NFL.

 

A win is a win and I'll take the win.

 

But this is a rabbit's foot win if there ever was one.  TH had another INT overturned, because the defender didn't catch the ball.  It was the right call, but it was CLOSE.  And it was a late throw with nowhere near enough arm.

 

He got away with a throw to Robinson on the outside in the second half which had pick-6 written all over it.

 

He missed a TD to Bates because he floated it high and couldn't drive the ball.

 

As long as the rabbit's foot continues to hold, we will continue to win.  

 

But I don't know how long it's going to hold.  

 

I do think they should win next week playing this style of football.  It would just be SO nice if we could get more 3rd down conversions.  If they could do that, they would really be in good shape.  

[Renegade7]

I wish I was a fly on the wall during film review and that near lateral was thrown early in the game.

 

If Ron is concerned about losing locker room flipping away from Taylor too early, this is going to be one of those games all of them see how much they carried him instead of the other way around.

 

What Falcons were doing via RPO was becoming concerning, but not enough to get them more then 13 points.  I'm not sure what more can be asked of this defense. They are even getting turnovers to end games when they having trouble getting stops instead.

[Voice_of_Reason]

General thoughts:

 

1. TH is who he is, and he should continue to play until they lose.  The question is, has he done enough to stay the starter after a loss?  I dunno.  I think if it's a close loss he's not directly responsible for, then yes.  If they had lost yesterday, specifically if that second INT was actually an INT, I think Ron would have gone back to Wentz.  TH is not playing well, but the rest of the team is, so they are winning.  You don't mess with success.  

 

2. Robinson was shot 3 months ago.  TWICE!  Remarkable recovery and remarkable game.

 

3. The OL was better, but against one of the worst DL's in the NFL.  So, grading a bit on a curve, but they passed.  It would have been disastrous if they had a lot of problems with the Falcons DL.  They didn't.  Cosmi was beat IMMEDIATELY on one play, but I only noticed it happen once.

 

4. Dotson and Samuel are being wasted on the team because we don't want to throw the ball more than 25 times. And 5-10 of those targets are going to RBs.  

 

5. The fact they didn't have St. Juste effected the run defense, I think.  Because instead of playing St. Juste outside, and bringing more safeties into the box, they had to use the safeties more as actual safeties and play LBs.  And Bostic and Holmes are not good.  If St. Juste was available, I think you would have seen less of them.  I hope he recovers quickly.  They need him.  

 

6. Jon Allen had an unbelievable play, I think on a third or 4th and short where he shot in and just grabbed the runner and threw them backwards and denied the line to gain.  I don't remember where it was in the game, but it was a "ooooooo-wheeeeee" play.  Really well done.

 

7. Allen, Payne, Curl, DFo, Davis, St. Juste, Sweat.  That's 7 players on defense who are legitimately good, young, and all drafted by this team.  They need to keep that group together for the next 3-5 years.  That's their window.  The folks who want to draft and develop, well, there you go.  And that doesn't even include Chase Young, JSW, and several other defensive players.  Young obviously will be on that list if he plays and plays well after recovering from the injury.  

 

8. Mariotta isn't a very good passer of the football but he adds an element to the run game which is really tricky to deal with.  

 

9. The interception by TH might have been the worst one he's thrown this season, except for the other 5 interceptions he's thrown this season which might have been the worst he's thrown this season.  An INT here and there is expected.  He needs to stop with the heave it directly to the opponent plays.  Terry has bailed him out so many times on bad decisions and throws, he thinks he can get away with them.  He won't always.  

 

10. Quiet game for Gibson.  Probably because they were riding the hot hand with Robinson.  

 

Side note, unless I missed it or he edited it since I saw it earlier, @KDawg did not give a star to Allen.  I think that's a travesty against humanity, and I am giving Allen a VOR super-duper double cool bonus star. 

 

[KDawg]

5 minutes ago, Voice_of_Reason said:

General thoughts:

 

1. TH is who he is, and he should continue to play until they lose.  The question is, has he done enough to stay the starter after a loss?  I dunno.  I think if it's a close loss he's not directly responsible for, then yes.  If they had lost yesterday, specifically if that second INT was actually an INT, I think Ron would have gone back to Wentz.  TH is not playing well, but the rest of the team is, so they are winning.  You don't mess with success.  

 

2. Robinson was shot 3 months ago.  TWICE!  Remarkable recovery and remarkable game.

 

3. The OL was better, but against one of the worst DL's in the NFL.  So, grading a bit on a curve, but they passed.  It would have been disastrous if they had a lot of problems with the Falcons DL.  They didn't.  Cosmi was beat IMMEDIATELY on one play, but I only noticed it happen once.

 

4. Dotson and Samuel are being wasted on the team because we don't want to throw the ball more than 25 times. And 5-10 of those targets are going to RBs.  

 

5. The fact they didn't have St. Juste effected the run defense, I think.  Because instead of playing St. Juste outside, and bringing more safeties into the box, they had to use the safeties more as actual safeties and play LBs.  And Bostic and Holmes are not good.  If St. Juste was available, I think you would have seen less of them.  I hope he recovers quickly.  They need him.  

 

6. Jon Allen had an unbelievable play, I think on a third or 4th and short where he shot in and just grabbed the runner and threw them backwards and denied the line to gain.  I don't remember where it was in the game, but it was a "ooooooo-wheeeeee" play.  Really well done.

 

7. Allen, Payne, Curl, DFo, Davis, St. Juste, Sweat.  That's 7 players on defense who are legitimately good, young, and all drafted by this team.  They need to keep that group together for the next 3-5 years.  That's their window.  The folks who want to draft and develop, well, there you go.  And that doesn't even include Chase Young, JSW, and several other defensive players.  Young obviously will be on that list if he plays and plays well after recovering from the injury.  

 

8. Mariotta isn't a very good passer of the football but he adds an element to the run game which is really tricky to deal with.  

 

9. The interception by TH might have been the worst one he's thrown this season, except for the other 5 interceptions he's thrown this season which might have been the worst he's thrown this season.  An INT here and there is expected.  He needs to stop with the heave it directly to the opponent plays.  Terry has bailed him out so many times on bad decisions and throws, he thinks he can get away with them.  He won't always.  

 

10. Quiet game for Gibson.  Probably because they were riding the hot hand with Robinson.  

 

Side note, unless I missed it or he edited it since I saw it earlier, @KDawg did not give a star to Allen.  I think that's a travesty against humanity, and I am giving Allen a VOR super-duper double cool bonus star. 

 

 

He didn't stand out. I mean he did, but not to the point of being a game breaker. He was solid in what he did. If you notice, Curl is one of my favorite players on the defense and I think he is a top three player on it. But look at how many stars he has this year. 

 

He's a player for sure.

Edited November 28, 2022 by KDawg

[Voice_of_Reason]

6 minutes ago, KDawg said:

 

He didn't stand out. I mean he did, but not to the point of being a game breaker. He was solid in what he did. If you notice, Curl is one of my favorite players on the defense and I think he is a top three player on it. But look at how many stars he has this year. 

 

He's a player for sure.

I dunno, I saw Allen flash on several plays, including one that I described above.  I also think he did some of the dirty work this game.  I saw him stand out a bit, but who knows.  

[NoCalMike]

If Wentz is healthy and ready, I don't see Heinicke surviving a loss if he continues to play the way he is.  Now if he goes out and has a 3 TD 250 yard and the defense gives up a TD at the end of the game for a loss?  Then maybe he survives it.

 

I also look at the next 3 games, and if they sweep the NYG, I think Heinicke will survive potentially losing to the 49ers even if he plays poorly because that can be justified as facing the #1 defense.

 

The fact that they were triple teaming Allen & Double teaming Payne in order to create running lanes was something else man. I know the Falcons got a lot of run yards out of it in the first half, but I think if JDR had made those adjustments earlier, we might have reduced some of the damage.

 

Shout out to Christian Holmes for playing well in place of BSHJ!

 

Tress Way still an MVP.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

 

 

[FootballZombie]

Big game from MVP Way. Played the rain w/ the high splatting pin punt, caught another wonky snap from Cheese and drew a crucial penalty. Killin it.

 

B-Rob tore it up on the ground which allows Gibby to have another 100 All P yards thanks to playing multiple roles. He is right in that top-10 area for that stat across the NFL now. Its working to perfection.

 

As long as we are gonna run the ball this hard, Bates is TE1. His blocking becomes more important than anyone's catching ability. The TD he got today was a bonus, but his blocking ability is gonna be vital.

 

 

Even tho it ended in disaster due to a horrific play from TH, we did try to get more points at the end of the half this week instead of just running out the clock to halftime. I'm not sure if this makes us more apprehensive to do so in the future however.

 

[Ball Security]

 

We know Bates can block.  But, damn, Cole got after it yesterday.  And look at Dyami spring Robinson on his big gainer.

[Zim489]

1 hour ago, Voice_of_Reason said:

I dunno, I saw Allen flash on several plays, including one that I described above.  I also think he did some of the dirty work this game.  I saw him stand out a bit, but who knows.  

He was consistently being doubled and often triple teamed. Even playing as the 3T. Those are the times Payne needs to be absolutely dominate. If you get a 1v1 as a 1 or 0 you need to drive the IOL into the QB near immediately on every play. 

 

Payne is pretty good in those situations. Needs to be better. I want my NT taking every single double team. 

[Ball Security]

1 hour ago, Voice_of_Reason said:

I dunno, I saw Allen flash on several plays, including one that I described above.  I also think he did some of the dirty work this game.  I saw him stand out a bit, but who knows.  

I believe the play you are talking about was the failed fourth down prior to the Int.  Sweat missed him deep in the backfield, but Allen finished him off.

[KDawg]

9 minutes ago, Zim489 said:

He was consistently being doubled and often triple teamed. Even playing as the 3T. Those are the times Payne needs to be absolutely dominate. If you get a 1v1 as a 1 or 0 you need to drive the IOL into the QB near immediately on every play. 

 

Payne is pretty good in those situations. Needs to be better. I want my NT taking every single double team. 

Payne was dominant. 
 

Allen played terrific from the eye test but it’s hard to ID grades for OL and DL without actually studying the film. So I generally try to avoid it unless things jump off.

 

But yes, no disagreement from me that Allen was excellent per usual. 

[NeverSurrender]

6 hours ago, The Hangman- C_Hanburger said:

Why did Atlanta succeed in gashing the D running the ball...was it;

1) Their OL scheme was something we more than expected?

2) Our LB's weren't filling the gaps well. (KDAWG saw no "duds" here??).

3) Their backs were better than our previous opponents in the winning streak

 

How would we stop a repeat of this with Barkley and Elliot...

 

Got me worried our D has been exposed some.

 

 

They were pushingus off the line by 5 or more yards at times.  I think they were doubling Payne and Allen and LBs were getting blocked by TEs.  We immediately added Ridgeway back into the mix but it didnt seem to help much.  We didnt get off blocks or hold our ground.  

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

As everyone has said, we have a misallocation of resources that is paralleled a bit with Atlanta. McLaurin, Dotson, Samuel are not effectively utilized under the current offensive gameplan. We aren't going away from it, because it's somewhat functional with Heinicke. Mariota isn't/wasn't using Pitts and London as well as he could be either. The game was kind of like looking in a somewhat fuzzy mirror. We're not fun to play against, but we're also not a threat to put the game out of reach. Ev

 

As for defense, we're much better than Atlanta is, but that also reflects how poorly our passing offense is playing right now.

 

I think Atlanta started realizing that unlike Wentz, Heinicke is getting tunnel vision for McLaurin. Other teams will start shifting more coverage his way or straight doubling him and relying on Heinicke to use the other guys. You don't have to defend every part of the field. Only the parts McLaurin could go. Cover 60% of the field. The flats and all layers near McLaurin, but don't worry about covering the other 40% tightly. Heinicke lacks the arm and confidence to throw there to anyone but McLaurin.

 

We need to design some shots 20+ yards down field for guys not named McLaurin. To keep the defenses honest.

[Renegade7]

Man...Payne is tied with Allen for sacks and had the tip that lead to game ending int yesterday. 

 

I'm not following the "Payne needs to show more" logic at all.  Allen is better, but playing this show me more game with him could force a franchise tag and maybe outright losing him in 2024.

 

He's shown enough for LTS, he's got other teams attention as well, the eye test has been passed.  Seeing him and Allen do twists and stunts in person looks completely unfair, pay that man.

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

18 minutes ago, NeverSurrender said:

They were pushingus off the line by 5 or more yards at times.  I think they were doubling Payne and Allen and LBs were getting blocked by TEs.  We immediately added Ridgeway back into the mix but it didnt seem to help much.  We didnt get off blocks or hold our ground.  

 

Their run blocking is really good. They have 3 1st rounders on that OL. TE Pruitt blocked in Tennessee for Derrick Henry. They use a real Fullback. I'm glad we don't have to play them again. Most teams won't be able to do what they did.

 

Either the Giants OL is pretty banged up, or Saquon Barkley is getting worn down (like Gibson was last year). His ypc seems to be getting worse as the season goes on.

 

Giants are a game on paper we should win, but they are well coached so maybe they can figure out how to scheme up an exploit of our offensive tendencies.

Edited November 28, 2022 by Always A Commander Never A Captain

[Thinking Skins]

9 minutes ago, Always A Commander Never A Captain said:

As everyone has said, we have a misallocation of resources that is paralleled a bit with Atlanta. McLaurin, Dotson, Samuel are not effectively utilized under the current offensive gameplan. We aren't going away from it, because it's somewhat functional with Heinicke. Mariota isn't/wasn't using Pitts and London as well as he could be either. The game was kind of like looking in a somewhat fuzzy mirror. We're not fun to play against, but we're also not a threat to put the game out of reach. Ev

 

As for defense, we're much better than Atlanta is, but that also reflects how poorly our passing offense is playing right now.

 

I think Atlanta started realizing that unlike Wentz, Heinicke is getting tunnel vision for McLaurin. Other teams will start shifting more coverage his way or straight doubling him and relying on Heinicke to use the other guys. You don't have to defend every part of the field. Only the parts McLaurin could go. Cover 60% of the field. The flats and all layers near McLaurin, but don't worry about covering the other 40% tightly. Heinicke lacks the arm and confidence to throw there to anyone but McLaurin.

 

We need to design some shots 20+ yards down field for guys not named McLaurin. To keep the defenses honest.

I don't think this is a fair assessment. It was a rainy day and we actually started if passing. But after a few errant passes by Heinicke late in the second and in the third, I think Turner just decided to tie things down and get the W. Could we have come back had they scored (earlier in the game) I think so. Could we have opened it up after the rain stopped, I think so. I think the pass to Bates showed that Heinicke could still find his targets. Next drive we moved the ball 35 yards with 10 passing before getting a FG, but that OPI was a real problem because we were driving. Then we were just playing clock. 

[Ball Security]

31 minutes ago, Always A Commander Never A Captain said:

 

Their run blocking is really good. They have 3 1st rounders on that OL. TE Pruitt blocked in Tennessee for Derrick Henry. They use a real Fullback. I'm glad we don't have to play them again. Most teams won't be able to do what they did.

 

Either the Giants OL is pretty banged up, or Saquon Barkley is getting worn down (like Gibson was last year). His ypc seems to be getting worse as the season goes on.

 

Giants are a game on paper we should win, but they are well coached so maybe they can figure out how to scheme up an exploit of our offensive tendencies.

We could very well end up playing Atl in the playoffs.  If we get in we could end up having a rematch with SF, MN, or Atl.

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

21 minutes ago, Ball Security said:

We could very well end up playing Atl in the playoffs.  If we get in we could end up having a rematch with SF, MN, or Atl.

 

Either we need to win out, or Atlanta does. Even if they get in with a likely meh record they'll be 4th seed. That Wildcard opponent would be 5th seed. Which is shaping up to either be Philly or Dallas.

 

Pretty unlikely scenario, but possible I guess.

 

After the pair of Giants games our remaining schedule is tough. Cowboys, 49ers, and Browns. Browns offense is surprisingly good right now, maybe Deshaun Watson will be rusty coming back and play worse than Brissett. 49ers are absolutely rolling. Cowboys might be resting starters at least? Or they could be fighting for 1st seed.

 

[Califan007 The Constipated]

 

 

[AlvinWaltonIsMyBoy]

4 hours ago, Zim489 said:

Payne is pretty good in those situations. Needs to be better. I want my NT taking every single double team. 

Some of your takes in this thread are not accurate. 
 

Jamin Davis has been playing really well.

 

Daron Payne is a force inside. 
 

Maybe we’re watching different sports.