Next Day Thread: Falcons Fiendishly Feathered

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

Pretty much sums it up. It’s football and we love it and an extra playoff game would definitely be fun but again, we know this is a dead end 

[MartinC]

Just now, Stihl89 said:

Expect Daboll to eviscerate this defense 

 

The Giants O line is even more limiting than ours right now. Thomas looked to walking with a slight limp still on the sideline so I doubt he is back next week. Taylor and Jones are the kind of mobile QBs who typically give us fits though.

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

Certainly an anecdotal observation, but it sure seems our receivers in general get little separation.  Beyond that, it feels as if this offense lacks checkdowns.  I’m not seeing the dump-offs.  We all want Sam to get rid of the ball faster, but get rid of it to who?

 

Whats been missing during the weeks of this record breaking pace of sacks are cut-ups of all the plays that were available that didn’t get made.  That is a hallmark of QB’s that take a ton of sacks.  I’ve seen very little of it.

[NickyJ]

Edit: Wrong thread

Edited October 16, 2023 by NickyJ

[MartinC]

7 minutes ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

Certainly an anecdotal observation, but it sure seems our receivers in general get little separation.  Beyond that, it feels as if this offense lacks checkdowns.  I’m not seeing the dump-offs.  We all want Sam to get rid of the ball faster, but get rid of it to who?

 

Whats been missing during the weeks of this record breaking pace of sacks are cut-ups of all the plays that were available that didn’t get made.  That is a hallmark of QB’s that take a ton of sacks.  I’ve seen very little of it.

 

There is data to confirm the lack of separation. Not sure if that’s schematic or just receivers struggling to win. 
 

I commented on the lack of obvious check down options. I agree with you. I think that’s something EB needs to look at in his design. 

[NoCalMike]

It's hard to believe the game was 24-10 at one point and it felt like Atlanta was ready to roll over and mentally check out if the offense had managed to score any more points, but then for whatever reason they went into a shell.  It seemed like the right time to start using the run game to bleed clock, but EB went back into pass happy mode and it helped Atlanta's defense in their plan of attack.  

 

The defense forcing turnovers really masked the fact that they once again gave up a ton of yards.

[MartinC]

6 minutes ago, NoCalMike said:

It seemed like the right time to start using the run game to bleed clock, but EB went back into pass happy mode and it helped Atlanta's defense in their plan of attack.  

 

The defense forcing turnovers really masked the fact that they once again gave up a ton of yards.

Exact opposite. We tried to run it to burn clock and got away from early down passing that had been what was successful.

 

We ran 7 passes second half to 12 runs.

[Warhead36]

46 minutes ago, MartinC said:

Exact opposite. We tried to run it to burn clock and got away from early down passing that had been what was successful.

 

We ran 7 passes second half to 12 runs.

Exactly, and when we did pass we couldn’t execute at all. 

1 hour ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

Certainly an anecdotal observation, but it sure seems our receivers in general get little separation.  Beyond that, it feels as if this offense lacks checkdowns.  I’m not seeing the dump-offs.  We all want Sam to get rid of the ball faster, but get rid of it to who?

 

Whats been missing during the weeks of this record breaking pace of sacks are cut-ups of all the plays that were available that didn’t get made.  That is a hallmark of QB’s that take a ton of sacks.  I’ve seen very little of it.

Terry is hurt and the rest of the receivers are mediocre at best. Im tired of Dotson killing drives single handily with drops and Brown never making a big play. Samuel is a fine number 3.

[Playaction2Sanders]

3 hours ago, MartinC said:

Me too. He’d looked pretty sharp in preseason and the reports out of camp were pretty positive as well. He’s just not playing with confidence right now - it happens. Needs a couple of good catches to get his confidence back. EB scheming something’s for him early to get him in the game and get him feeling positive would be a good idea.

 

We need more YAC plays from our receivers.. I think we can move on from Curtis Samuel after this season, he's a JAG, can you list any marquee plays he's ever made since he's been here?? Dotsons regression? IDK what it is about us drafting guys named Dotson( Doctson) where they don't pan out but he's looking like a JAG too....

[MartinC]

1 minute ago, Playaction2Sanders said:

 

We need more YAC plays from our receivers.. I think we can move on from Curtis Samuel after this season, he's a JAG, can you list any marquee plays he's ever made since he's been here?

Well he caught a TD pass today. He’s a very solid #3, but I agree we can move on from him after the season.

[CapsSkins]

An ugly win that kinda felt like a loss. I was hoping this was the year we beat the teams we're supposed to beat. I understand that won't happen every week, but between Arizona, Denver, Chicago and Atlanta I expected we'd have at least two solid wins. Instead, all four were nail-biters. I thought this was a 10 or 11 win team when the season started, but now it's looking like an 8 or 9 win team and maybe they get to 10 wins if they get hot.

 

Anyway, here's 1000 words on my feelings about this game:

 

[BrentMeisterGeneral]

Woke up with a strange feeling this morning on a "victory" Monday, deflated.

 

I'm fairly sure it's a come down from the high of finally having Dan out of the organisation but in the years of following the franchise I could usually find the joy in what were in hindsight empty wins. I realised what it is, for the time I've been following Washington have not been relevant come post season time, and since Ron's arrival we've not been relevant come draft time either, its 500 obscurity and it's led to an overwhelming sense of apathy. This team will do enough to not bottom out, but never enough to compete and that's vintage Ron and yesterday epitomised it. I think I was only ever going to be satisfied if we blew them out and at a couple of TD's up I was keenly interested, but no as per, we merely amble over the finishing line and secure a win that to me poses more Q's than A's.

 

I think much is yet to change in the franchise, and I think that begins by removing the man that enables the 500 culture, a good man, but a mediocre HC.

 

Oh and the jury's still out on Howell for me, he's looked good, but just good ain't gonna make us relevant we need to see more.

 

 

Edited October 16, 2023 by BrentMeisterGeneral

[Panninho]

7 hours ago, NoCalMike said:

Today is the best proof that JDR absolutely must figure out ways to pressure the QB in obvious passing situations.  The pass defense did not have a good game, but I didn't realize how mediocre it was until I saw the stats after the game.  The turnovers are what made the difference (and Crowder's punt return). They needed every bit of those 3 turnovers to stop Atlanta from scoring more points.  It's a positive sign that when they can pressure the QB, the coverage can get picks, but the bigger issue it that the majority of the time the pass rush just isn't a consistent presence.

 

It doesn't matter what caliber of QB you are facing in the NFL, the QB is playing in the NFL they are going to complete passes when they have all day to throw.

 

As far as the offense goes, I've said it already but I will repeat it, I am not a fan of how EB uses the run game so far.  It feels like he uses rush attempts as a change up to the pass, but it doesn't seem to match the personnel on the team which need to get into a rhythm with some volume of attempts.   I appreciate how much trust EB has in Sam's arm and mind, but the O-line is not very good when they are constantly trying to protect the passer.

 

Up 24-10 in the second half, would have been a great time to start wearing on the Falcons defense with the run. 

 

Nice to see Crowder with the big play, it was much needed.

 

 

I think that is also my biggest issue with yesterday's game. Ridder looked absolutely atrocious when he faced pressure. He threw one of the worst redzone interceptions I have seen in a while when we blitzed Davis. He threw another interception to Kendall Fuller when we blitzed. We would have gotten a sack-fumble if it wasn't for roughing the passer on another blitz. And yet, we mostly showed the same looks as every week. I wouldn't mind giving up a big play here and there but to see every other third and long converted because they hit London on a slant or Pitts/Smith over the middle while we rush 4 is just not it. Yeah we won and "only" gave up 16 points but our opponent gained over 400 yards of offense (again). If we had faced a semi-competent QB there is no chance we win that game and that should not be the case with that defense.

I also think our defense looks so incredibly slow out there. If you watched the Browns and 49ers defenses yesterday, those guys were flying around the field. Why does it always look like our defense plays in slow motion? Seems like they either don't know/trust where they are on the field or they have zero instincts.

[Renegade7]

Giants and Jets games this weekend showed to me a reminder of what great linebacker play looks like and can do for your defense.

 

I'm not convinced Davis and Hudson can be great, but another couple games of them playing at the level they did against Atlanta then I wouldn't consider linebacker the shotgun blast gapping hole our oline is anymore.

 

And that's an in-season improvement, something we need our coaching staff to get out of our players even if we think many of the coaches will be gone this time next year.

 

Some folks are making good points that EB is potentially not just pass happy but so unconvinced of the oline that he's trying to supplement the run game with quick passes.  Well...thats all well and good until we have an incompletion or a sack anyway and it damn near kills the drive. WCO or not, sometimes they are obvious run situations because thats the smart thing to do.  We caught Atlanta off guard with when they thought we would run, but this is going to get weirder as it gets colder.

 

I do not like how few touches Robinson is getting, and agree there needs to be more and closer outlets for Howell to help avoid sacks when whatever is going on downfield isn't there.  This should be easy, have the running backs do it to get them space.  Gibson is a handle in space and clearly Atlanta wanted no part of Robinson with a full head of steam behind him yesterday.

 

But I am having some serious concern about what's going on downfield, and a lot of that I believe is tied to Dotson.  I was only at one game this year which was the Cardinals to see how everyone looked every play.  My takeaway was the Cardinals focused their resources on our WR's because that's what scared them and nothing else did.

 

But Curtis wasn't meant to be a #1 here and if Doston all the sudden is either stagnating or regressing, that allows more to move to slowing down Terry.  Early in the Falcons game it seemed obvious we were trying to feed Terry, which puts into question this whole him getting open problem I keep hearing. 

 

EB clearly can get him the ball when thats the goal...EB needs to stop mixing it up when he finds something working, Howell quick passing to Terry looks damn near unstoppable at times, it should be a staple of what we do, not something we do.

[Renegade7]

4 hours ago, MartinC said:

Well he caught a TD pass today. He’s a very solid #3, but I agree we can move on from him after the season.

 

I wouldn't agree with this without clarity on what's going on with Dotson first.

[KDawg]

7 hours ago, MartinC said:

Exact opposite. We tried to run it to burn clock and got away from early down passing that had been what was successful.

 

We ran 7 passes second half to 12 runs.

And ironically I think the game was mismanaged because of things like this…

 

End of the half… I’m personally not risking it. Have a lead, not much time… run on first and see what happens. Big play? Let’s see if we have something going. Stuffed? Get to half. I don’t want Atlanta to double dip at the end of the half and get the ball the next half. 
 

Others disagree. That’s fine.

 

But in the second half, I don’t see why we wouldn’t be trying to put up points. There is a lot of clock to tick and we needed to score more. The offense couldn’t stay on the field.

[Thinking Skins]

Offense: So I was having a talk on twitter about this and I don't think we're used to having leads, or putting teams away. That's understandable because of the state of this franchise. I think we would like to work on our rushing game and install some more parts of our offense but suddenly we're going 3 and out and they are within 1 score and driving. 

 

I know it's cliche and coach speak, but the other team gets paid too and I felt like they (Atlanta) played like a top 10 defense yesterday. We didn't really need to test them and I feel that if we need to we would have. We may have come back to those passes to Brown and Dotson, right now they're in the book just to know that they can work and both can get open and beat CBs against most defenses and Howell can make that throw. 

 

Defense: I know a lot of people don't like him, but Doc has been calling for a complete game of complimentary football. I feel like we got that today. Offense started off hot, defense cold. Then Special Teams gave us the punt return. Then the offense cooled down in the second half and it was all bend but don't break defense and turnovers. It reminded me of the Tampa Game under Gruden mixed with the Atl game last year. But there was only one Red zone turnover. The other was just a Red zone buffoon mistake. 

 

I liked what I saw in terms of breaking on the ball to get deflections and instead of simply getting the deflections going for the catch. That was a big difference. 

[CjSuAvE22]

Jahan dotson has been a disappointment so far this year, i expected more from a 2nd year wideout that apparently runs amazing routes and is fast.

[Koolblue13]

Why did I feel better about the loss to the struggling Eagles, than the win over the middling Falcons?

[justice98]

9 hours ago, Voice_of_Reason said:

Brian Robison carried 10 times for 32 yards, a 3.2 yards per carry average.

 

Thats 2 games in a row that he’s been a non factor.  This week they tried harder with no results.

 

The run game is not working.  People seem to remember the 10 carries for 70 yards game but that was the outlier not the rule.  

 

I dont think it's a Brian Robinson issue, personally.  When we talk about OL, we only seem to only talk about pass protection, but this is a bad OL all the way around.  They're not good run blockers either. They get manhandled upfront. It was on full display against the Bears.

 

And FWIW, the Falcons are a solid run defense.

[NoVaSkins21]

Thank goodness for Desmond Ridder.  Those 3 turnovers are the difference in this game.  The defense was better, but still bad.  This team escaped.  Some of the offensive possessions after the turnovers were baffling.  A few plays and then a punt.  This team is what their record says they are.  Coaching staff is still crap.

[DWinzit]

8 hours ago, MartinC said:

 

The Giants O line is even more limiting than ours right now. Thomas looked to walking with a slight limp still on the sideline so I doubt he is back next week. Taylor and Jones are the kind of mobile QBs who typically give us fits though.

How the heck do the one win Giants without 2 starting OL and their starting QB almost beat the Bills who annihilated us a few weeks ago, ugh

[Leonard Washington]

8 hours ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

Whats been missing during the weeks of this record breaking pace of sacks are cut-ups of all the plays that were available that didn’t get made.  That is a hallmark of QB’s that take a ton of sacks.  I’ve seen very little of it.

On another forum, someone posted a cut up of all his sacks from the bears game. On all but one, no one was open or close to open when he reached the top of his drop. Our wideouts aren’t winning fast enough. 
 

If the receivers have the same “save myself for another play” lack of hustle as our defense, they are all expecting the first read to win and are loafing. 

[KDawg]

1 minute ago, Leonard Washington said:

On another forum, someone posted a cut up of all his sacks from the bears game. On all but one, no one was open or close to open when he reached the top of his drop. Our wideouts aren’t winning fast enough. 
 

If the receivers have the same “save myself for another play” lack of hustle as our defense, they are all expecting the first read to win and are loafing. 

Our receivers and route concepts aren’t getting enough grief. Howell and the OL are taking the majority of the grief.

[Koolblue13]

This reminds me of the Cards game, where our offense was trash again, but the defense carried us. 

 

We stopped their run game 26 carries for 88 yards and made them throw. Sure, the WR1 had a career day against us again, but making them throw, led to the three picks.

 

Our offense was so obvious in the second half. It sucks.First half was good.

 

I like to say we've had 6 good quarters of offense (3-Eagles, 2 Broncos lol, 1 Bears) so I'd add two more for our first half. 8 Good offensive quarters this year in 6 games.