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Man... Is the season over? I didn't know football seasons were decided after one game. Yes, we just witnessed arguably the single worst regular season game in the DQ era. This team was healthy, fully loaded, and laid a massive egg. No way around it. But if you think this is going to continue for 15 more games, then don't even bother reading the rest of this. You're mind is made up after one game. Move on and accept you're going to root for a miserable team until January. As for the rest of us, let's carry on. If you've ever done anything worth doing in life, you've laid an egg doing it. Period. Public speaking. Sports. Anything with any level of effort, you've dropped the ball despite being prepared. Shlt happens. You get your a** handed to you. Either you stay down or you bounce back. You let it define you or you rewrite the script. For some, that scares the crap out of you. The unknown. You want somebody to tell you it's going to be ok. That's not this. The Falcons have to stand in their shlt right now. That's exactly what they've been doing. They've accepted just how terrible they looked. We all know that's now who they are, that's why everybody is so pissed. I mean come on: When's the last time Julio plain ole played bad? Against the Eagles, Julio averages 7 catches, 120 yards, and 1 TD. Coming off a bad game, when he's had less than 50 yards, every single time he's bounced back with a massive game since DQ has been here. He's not one man who stays on the turf. Matt Ryan: I told yall on Tuesday, since DQ has been here, Matt has averaged a 113.1 passer rating with a 7:2 TD/INT ratio in week two compared to 94.1 passer rating and a 5:3 split in week one. Again, you think Matt isn't pissed? You think he's going to keep making poor decisions? Lol stupid. He hasn't done that since 2017. Matt has been mediocre in week one games for years now. He's bounced back every single time. Jake Matthews: When's the last time Jake had a game this embarrassing? Name it. Not since he was a rookie. Jake looked like Sam Baker. But is that Jake Matthews? You think he ain't bouncing back? Lol ok We all knew how much talent was on this roster going into the season. That didn't disappear after one game. This isn't Space Jam and they all lost their powers or some childish shlt. They lost. Bad. The Steelers just got held to 3 points. You think they're only going to score 48 points all year? That's stupid. The Saints let the Bucs score 48 points in the Superdump last year and only gave up over 28 points at home once more (vs LA). Week one lies. But if you want to believe it, go ahead. I bet you believe Julio is washed, Jake is trash, Matt needs to be traded, etc. Don't turn the game on. Don't post anything. Don't even speak on shlt. Just go somewhere and cry in your cheerios. This is football. You'll lose. You'll look bad. The infamous "We're on to Cincinnati" meme was after the Patriots were destroyed 41-14 on MNF. Brady was washed and the dynasty was over. Except they got the f*ck off the mat and kept destroying teams. If you don't think the Falcons can do that, I feel bad for you. It was one game. One game doesn't make a season. Never does. Especially not week one. Rise Up. Or Get Gone. Period.

We started 6-1 in 2015 and finished 8-8. The only people that are soft and broken are the fans.

C’mon man. It’s week 1.

Well, I mean, the D probably would've performed better had the O not turned the ball over 4 times and twice on the Falcons' 30.

Read the screen pass flawlessly and blew the play up. Provided pressure on multiple plays against an elite right tackle. Sacked Wentz on an excellent coverage play when it looked like Vic was out of the play altogether. His motor looked great tonight and he showed some moves beyond just his speed. A lot of players looked great tonight, and I couldn’t be more happy. Just gotta give Vic his dues!

The Falcons allowed 172 yards on the ground in their season-opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings. That is far too high a number for a defense with playoff aspirations, and the Vikings’ ability to get explosive plays through their run game allowed them to dictate much of the action. And yet, although the Falcons’ run defense was far below the team’s standard, the interior of the defensive line was quite possibly the top-performing group for Atlanta on Sunday. When people think about the success or failure of a defense against the run, they most often think about the big defenders up front. That wasn’t the problem for the Falcons against the Vikings. Atlanta did have issues stopping interior runs last season, and the team made some quiet moves this offseason that appear to be paying off in a big way. Just from looking at the stat sheet, however, you might not realize it. Let’s start with Grady Jarrett, who looked like the best player on the field for the Falcons on Sunday. Jarrett has always been effective as both a pass rusher and a run defender, but he seemed to be operating at an even higher level than usual against the Vikings. “We've known about Grady, but to see him take another step this off-season and where he's starting this season, I think that goes a lot to the work that he put in even when he wasn't here; the unseen grind,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. Jarrett finished with five tackles against the Vikings – tied with Deion Jones and Foye Oluokun for third-most on the team – and he also had the Falcons’ only sack and forced fumble. Early in the second quarter, Jarrett derailed a Minnesota drive by blowing past left guard Pat Elflein in the blink of an eye to drop Vikings running back Alexander Mattison for a 4-yard loss. On the Vikings’ next drive, Jarrett again beats Elflein with a swim move to stop Dalvin Cook for no gain. This was often the result when the Vikings decided to test the middle of Atlanta’s defensive line. Minnesota ran the ball up the middle 12 times on Sunday and it averaged only 2.6 yards per carry when it did so, compared to the 10.7 yards per carry the Vikings averaged on runs off the left and right ends. That inability to find space was largely due to the interior players winning their one-on-one matchups as Jarrett did against Elflein. Jarrett very nearly swings the entire feel of the game on the second play of the second half when he flies into the backfield to strip the ball from quarterback Kirk Cousins. Had the Falcons recovered the ball, the offense would have been set up right around the 20-yard line with a good opportunity to score their first points of the game. The success of the defensive line’s interior may have been led by Jarrett, but the contributions of Allen Bailey and Tyeler Davison – two new faces within the unit – were crucial. After allowing two early touchdowns, Atlanta’s defense settled in and began to play better, and both Bailey and Davison had roles in making that happen. Davison led all Falcons defenders with eight tackles, including one tackle for a loss. And Bailey earned three tackles, including one for a loss, in his debut for Atlanta. During his time with the New Orleans Saints, Davison earned a reputation as a solid run defender, and he delivered on that reputation against Minnesota. The Falcons appeared to be operating out of more of a 3-4 look up front as both Vic Beasley and Takk McKinley were standing edge defenders throughout the game. This meant that Davison was often used as a true nose tackle while Jarrett and Bailey worked against Minnesota’s guards. As the anchor of the defensive line, Davison was very active and showed off some surprising quickness. “Inside I was pleased,” Quinn said. “I think you guys saw what I had been talking about, about how strong and stout Ty [Davison] was.” Bailey didn’t have as many plays as Davison, but he was no less important for Atlanta on the inside. The Vikings ran a lot of outside zone plays, requiring the Falcons to either make plays in the backfield before Minnesota’s backs could stretch the defense or pursue down the line of scrimmage to make the tackle. While Jarrett and Davison showed their prowess in knifing into the backfield, Bailey was really good at following the play and making the tackle before the backs to get to the second level. Was Atlanta’s run defense acceptable on Sunday? Not at all. But the overall performance of the group shouldn’t necessarily overshadow what was the clear improvement of a problem area for the Falcons last season. When discussing what the Falcons need to clean up against the run, start with setting the edge and plays like this: The Falcons have enough athletes on their defense to contain the outside plays that decimated them in Week 1. What should have fans excited moving forward is that Atlanta appears to have improved its run defense between the tackles, which was an issue in 2018 and will be very important on Sunday against a Philadelphia Eagles offense that is very good at the line of scrimmage. https://www.atlantafalcons.com/news/after-further-review-falcons-poor-run-defense-overshadowed-something-important

Mentally weak? Blew a 28-3 lead and was the only NFC team to return to the postseason, beat a good Rams team on the road, and was one play away from a return to the NFCCG. Please. Try harder.

**** the NCAA

Shut up. Please.

Is it possible for Beasley to get flagged for unnecessary softness?

Vel needs to go into the locker room and give this speech!

Are we seriously talking about this ? It's a week 1 loss, how about let's see a few more games before we panic.

Welp. The Falcons just got their butts kicked in Minnesota. It was ugly. The Falcons got off the bus and got the yips. It happens. You don't want it to happen week one, but if you thought the Falcons were going to play 16 games of great, flawless football, you must be new here. I'm not excusing the performance away, not in the slightest. But I said it last week, if they didn't stop the run it would be a long game. They didn't. Add in several of our key players have very subpar days (Matt, Jake, Freeman, Neal, Takk) and you get a 28-0 kick your teeth in butt whooping. Falcons are 0-1. It's one game. One week. On to Philadelphia. Head Coach: Doug Pedersen Offensive Style: West Coast on 2019 Drugs Defensive Style: Aggressive, attacking 4-3 defense 2018 Record: 9-7 The Way I See It: This game is no different than the Vikings game. The only difference? The good guys are at home. The bad part? The Falcons are only 18-14 at home under DQ. There is no home field advantage in this one. The Falcons just got embarrassed. What are they going to do about it? Right now, the fans have no reason to show up for this one other than it being the home opener. But if they stink it up early, the boo birds will be out and the Falcons just might get embarrassed at home on prime time television. This is going to be a very big test to see what kind of coach DQ is. The offense was taken advantage of out of the gate. The defense didn't play any kind of assignment football. You better believe all of this is on tape now and going to be attacked. If the defense wants to prove they are good, they better show up this week. They clearly heard all of the talk about everyone being healthy and the defense should be good. None of that matters if you don't come to play. The Vikings showed you that first hand. How We Match Up: Same as the Vikings game. We match up well on paper. Some fans are intimidated by the Eagles. Boo hoo for them. For me, they are a good team. As usual. But we've been right there on their heels the last two times we played. Fans talk about their OL mauling us, yet that didn't happen either of the last two times we played. We get them at home this time. Pissed. We saw Grady, Davison, and Bailey give the Vikings interior fits. If they can recreate that, I like their chances of getting after the Eagles. I like how the defense matches up across the board. I'm not saying it's an advantage, but it's more push than anything. As for the offense....WAKE TF UP!!! Jake needs to play better. They need to have their sh*t together on Sunday. If they play to their level, they can light this defense up. Case Keenum put up 380 yards, 3 TDs, no INTs, and an 8.6 YPA. He torched them. No way around it. If they play up to their talent level, they can put up points. It's just a matter of if... When the Falcons are on Offense: Matt got his usual week one stinker out of the way. Since DQ has been here, Matt has averaged a 113.1 passer rating with a 7:2 TD/INT ratio in week two compared to 94.1 passer rating and a 5:3 split in week one. If there is one guy I'm putting money on, it's Matthew Thomas Ryan. He bounces back, this team can win. The last two games versus Philly on the road, he's been bad. But he's at home this time and fresh off a terrible game. He rarely puts two of these together. Like I noted above, Case Keenum lit this group up in week one. Matt can do that. The Eagles tend to be more aggressive but at times less disciplined. Sark refused to exploit this the two times in a row. If Koetter and Co. want to go home early, do the same. They need to exploit this secondary. Keenum had guys running wide open all game. With lesser talent. They need to win this match up consistently. The OL should be able to get some movement, especially with Brown in the game. Lindstrom is easily the better pass protector but Brown can maul in the run game. That 6'5 340lb man needs to earn his check Sunday. They don't need 100 yards, but they need balance and the threat of Freeman and Co breaking loose. Keep the offense in 2nd/3rd and manageable situations. I'm expecting a big bounce back game from everybody on this side of the ball. Koetter, Matt, Jake, Freeman. Everybody. Too much money and talent to score 0 points for a full game (**** the 12 points they were gifted). When the Falcons are on Defense: Shut the **** up and prove you're good. The talent is there. You smelled your own sh*t all offseason and found out it stunk on Sunday. That's what you get. If I was DQ, I'd have this tape on loop. I'd cut up the ugliest plays and have it on loop. Neal getting blown up on the edges. Takk looking like a dumb***. Vic jogging for a QB hit. Campbell looking stupid. Debo getting run over. All of it. Shut up and prove you are good. Nobody cares what you should be, cuz right now the 2019 tape says you are a bunch of jokes. They know they are a talented group. They can match up with anybody. We know that. You saw glimpses of it Sunday. But if you aren't tough enough to bounce back with your offense doing everything they could to throw the game, then you suck. Plain and simple. You're soft and everybody is going to shove the ball down your throat. Forget rushing the passer, every Sunday is going to be a run defense clinic until you prove otherwise. Jason Peters is going to maul Vic Beasley. Lane Johnson is going to laugh at Takk. I'm prepared for both happening. Grady is the only baller on defense right now. He'll look decent, but unless somebody shows up, it won't matter. Davison showed well. Bailey was decent. Clayborn was bad. Crawford was MIA. Everybody wants to be a hero. I want to find out who are the villains on this team. Who's ready to ruin somebody's day? Grady and....? Beyond that, Pedersen is going to test this teams discipline. He knows they are prepared to sell out on the edges. He'll be ready to counter it. He's got a legit stable of backs and is using them (unlike Atlanta...). His three backs carried the ball 26 times for 116 yards and 4.5 ypc. Varied rushing attack. He knows we'll be preparing to slow down DJax from replicating his fire show. Alshon and Ertz are next up for the light show. Are the Falcons ready to slow them down? They have the players. Will they play? I have no clue and don't care to project they will. Vegas Line: Vegas has the Eagles as a 1 point road favorite, with the o/u set at 51. Take it for what you will. Prediction: Again, this one is no different than the Vikings game. The last two times we played, the scores were 15-10 and 18-12, both Falcon losses. One score games. Will this one be the same? Who knows? Depends on which Falcons team shows up. The one from Sunday that didn't know which way was up? Or the one that can be overwhelming on defense and scary on offense? I'm usually optimistic about this team, but they don't deserve it this week. Welcome to Missouri. Show me. I'll believe it after this one.

You also said this is the best Falcons team you've ever seen lmao. You can't just spew a billion things and pick and choose which to use to claim you knew all along. But watch us win the next 3 games and you'll be referencing that thread instead

Oliver says hi. Incredible tackle. Dude is gonna be REALLY good. lol at TATF writing him off

That's my right tackle Falcons Kaleb McGary told me.. “It was a knee thing and I was nervous at first ... that snap, crackle, pop is never a good thing..... If I sat out the rest of the game.. that’s admitting defeat and I was letting my teammates down, I never wanna let my brothers down.”

Screw the NCAA. Screw anyone who says the players get a free ride and they don’t need the money. The NCAA and these schools, especially the big name schools, make good money off of these players yearly. They can give a small piece of the pie

The benefits of a good whoopin early. When you were a kid, your parents or some adult told you "don't do that" at some point in your life. As kids often do, you pushed your luck, got punished in some way. Maybe you got verbally scolded, maybe you got your hand smacked or something else that wasn't that bad So, you pushed your luck again and again until you got that restrained but undeniable butt whoopin. In short, you got by and got by until someone got you straight. This is often what our team does and unfortunately, the whooping usually comes at a mid-late point in the season and leaves them searching for answers because, they though they were better than this. When you were a kid, someone in your life didn't puss-foot around and went strait to that restrained but undeniable butt whoopin and you didn't do X again, did you? You immediately understood what you needed to do for that not to happen again. For this I want to Thank the Vikes because, I know my team are fighters and I know you just made a much better Falcons team with a single game. Any illusions of coasting on talent and media accolades from a previous years are gone. The Eagles better bring their A-Game this week.

Okay...at himself I hope! He did not have this team ready to play and it showed! Hold yourself accountable Dan.

Thank you Carpenter, Brown and McGary, you guys made a significant difference in our OL pass protection. I’ve not seen Ryan face that kind of pass rush intensity an entire game only to get sacked once, and that was on a blitz. Furthermore, Ryan was hardly hit all game. Typically, that’s the kind of game Ryan gets pounded with several nasty hits throughout the game. You guys are making a big difference up front and will only get better with time. Ryan often had plenty of time to find a target. Great Job Tonight! The rebuilt OL and DLs are already paying dividends. Our DL was beastly and played nasty all game. It’s been years since I saw our DL play that physical, and we would have lost had they not been that physical. Bailey is powerful, Davison is a non stop powerful stud and beastly Grady is better playing next to him. They make Takk and Beasley better. Our team identity was established tonight by the rebuilt lines. We are now a tough nosed, gritty, never quit physical team.

I refrained from posting this on Monday because I was afraid some fans were on suicide watch, but get ready for some more growing pains on Sunday. I was telling everyone that first game was going to be ugly, sloppy on offense etc the week prior, although even I didn't predict just how ugly. I predicted a 2-2 start which I still think will be the case. I expected the defense to play better last week, but in retrospect I can see how that happened without effective communication. The 3 turnovers on offense and block punt were all attributable to growing pains IMO. So many changes this offseason to offense, defenses and STs, so many new starters or ones coming back from IR the previous year, so few snaps with our starters this preseason.....it was predictable we would struggle against a top veteran defense in an exceptionally loud dome. If players have a lot of snaps next to each other, they know better how to communicate with deafening crowd noise in background, they have established chemistry and when the wheels start falling off on a drive they know they can trust each other to turn it around. Last week, I can see easily how it got so out of hand. The Saints lost to the Bucs opening game last year, allowing Bucs to score 48 points, in the Saint back yard. It happens. It took Shanny a full year to get the offense firing on all cylinders to where the next year we were 7th in NFL history in points. Why not give Keotter a few games to do the same thi9ng it took Shanny 16 games to do? I recall fans wanting to fire Shanny his first season. I expect more growing pains on offense against the Eagles defense. We will be playing at home which will help a lot, but the OL needs more time to gel, the running game needs more snaps to get timing down between blockers and running backs before its going to play at the level we want it to. It just is what it is. 3 new starters and injuries causing all kinds of interruptions to that. I do expect our defense to STEP UP Sunday though. The defense doesn't have the latitude the offense has in my view. This message board is probably going to be intolerable again next week with over the top sky is falling panic and speculation of TDs, DQs Keotter's firings, but I fully expect our team to be hitting on all cylinders by midseason, prior to us getting into our division stretch and I also believe we will be a feared team by that point, and have a strong playoff run. Here's to a win Sunday, but its going to be really tough to pull one out given the circumstances.

Ok now folks. This isn't coach speak. This what you guys wanted. So don't be inconsistent and come in here complaining.

Top pass defense. Let's Go baby

The throw was good, the READ is what made all the difference (and that Matthews block)

Heard DQ say back in the summer that part of the reason for going to the 2pt. stance for Takk and Vic was the help with setting the edge.

When have we ever capitalized on our opponent’s weaknesses?

The team looked lethargic and in complete disarray from the moment kickoff happened until the game ended. We got our butts handed to us in all facets of the game. That being said, the reason we found ourselves down 28-0 are mostly fixable and mostly our own fault. Lets go drive by Drive on offense: Drive 1 - A Blocked Punt is inexcusable. It's even worse when the block comes from someone going right up the gut untouched. Does not help Bosher eats a 3 course meal in the backfield prior to punting the ball. He needs to go. Vikings start the drive at our 21 yard line. Hard to fault the defense for giving up 7. Drive 2 - Matt Ryan makes one of the worst reads of his career. Not sure what glue he sniffed prior to throwing that pass but it was horrible. Triple coverage and you still force it in there? Again, The vikings start on our side of the field. Just like that its 14-0 in 5 minutes. Drive 3 - We throw a screen that gets us inside the Vikings 30 yardline. Block in the back then takes us out of FG range. 3-7 points off the board. Drive 4 - We get to the Vikings 21 yardline and Freeman proceeds to fumble. 3-7 more points off the board. Drive 5 - We get to the Vikings 28 yardline and we get a holding call. Out of Field Goal Range. 3-7 Points off the board. Drive 6 - End of half Drive. Did not matter with so little time. Drive 7 - We get to the Vikings 2 yardline. Ryan makes a bad pass and Stocker quits on his route. Interception. 3-7 points off the board. Drive 8 - 3 and out. First drive since the first 2 that looked bad. Drives 9 and 10 - Touchdowns, We go for 2 both drives for the **** of it. Should have had 14 points rather than 12. Recap: We got inside the Vikings 30 yardline 4 times and came away with 0 points (Fumble, INT, 2 Penalties). Brutal. Even if we only got FGs on those 4 drives, You are talking about 12 points. The drive that got us to the 2 should have been a TD, then you're talking 16 points. Huge difference and completely changes how this game probably ends. We gave them essentially a 14-0 head start and throughout the rest of the game it was 14-14 (if we had just kicked the XPs). Considering how many mistakes we made and points we left off the board, That's kind of surprising. Side Note - Defensively, We missed out on recovering a FF by Grady. We had a Defensive Hold that extended a drive on 3rd down that would have been a punt but instead turned into a Vikings TD. Turnovers and Penalties will lose teams games every week. Vikings are a good team, Maybe you can get away with it playing the Dolphins of the NFL but you can't do that against a talented good coached football team. We came out flat, made mistakes and got our *** kicked. Lick our wounds, Learn from it and come back next Sunday night and Win.

And just like that the Falcons are in the same conversation as the Browns, Giants, and Jaguars...

Hopefully it’s just a sprain at worst and nothing is revealed torn but he fought to get back on the field. Love to see that heart. Ty did a decent job filling in. Hate that we’ve needed the depth so early but glad to have it. Kaleb and this OL getting tested first 2 weeks vs very good DL is valuable experience for their first full game action together.

All time leading franchise receiver. And he does it on a game winning TD vs the Eagles.

I know Eagles had injuries, blah blah blah. Defense looked really good tonight. Eagles had great starting field position all game, especially in the first half, and our defense stood strong. Quietly, we are 3rd in total defense right now, giving up 277.5 yards per game. We need to improve our scoring defense, but I’m enjoying seeing a defense that doesn’t give up yards in bunches. We’re making them work for the yards they get. Run D was also a LOT better this week.

Freakin love this kid, hopefully just a scare...

Can we have a third option?

I dont want to say this but boy i saw some misses by Neal too....He is coming off injuries so he should get a pass but he was out of position on some of the runs on the edge Hopefully the back seven get it together because its def fixable but mannnnnnn

By that same logic I would also like people banned for *****ing about this game

I saw that too. And I’m all for experimenting but this may be one of those cases where DQ might be outthinking himself. He seems to be intent on making Vic an every down player, which in this alignment means turning him into a linebacker for all intents and purposes. We’ve seen that experiment. Put Takk back on the weak side so he doesn’t have to set an edge every down and Bailey at the 5. If we can’t find a true SAM to play on top of the TE to play the Under, which may be the real reason for all this, then so be it. Put Claborn on the other side and we’ll play Over. We can still get 8 men in the box and we can get three true linebackers on the field with Foye out there.

HOW ABOUT THAT STOP!!!! AWESOME WIN!!!

They don't understand corner is the hardest position to play on defense and second hardest period after QB.

1. Florio is never right... 2. If we did reset, it would more than likely be Quinn and his staff...this roster is a contender level roster, you don't just give up on that.

My son, I love you, but check that math! Dad

And to add.... Our Ends on defense have got to contain! They were crashing down hard like they had not played in an NFL game for much of the first half giving Cook half of his yards right there!

I think we’ve played 2 very physical defenses that are stingy as hell on the running game

That's right. As of right now the Falcons have the #7 defense after all that. This is proof that stats are misleading. #1 against the pass but the 3rd worst against the run. Enjoy it while it lasts because the Eagles are going to destroy this.

I saw that too atljbo. Even saw Allen slow to the ball a couple times. Also our LBers (Campbell especially) did not have a very good game either, IMO. But to the OP's point, yes our interior DL looks to be much improved. That will bode well for us this year.

Even though I was one of the leading proponents in hiring Quinn I have been more than a little disappointed in him lately. He's starting to remind me a good bit of Mora...I think he's too close to many of his and Dimitroff's "pet projects" to seriously and honestly evaluate them as effective football players.

Wow. On this note I think I’m gonna step away from this place for the night. Losing ****s with you guys far too much

You can dishonor me everyday and twice on Sunday. But don’t you DARE dishonor my cow!!