ShadyRef

You don't think last weeks film will cause philly to pull the okie doke on us by doing the exact opposite? Keeping us in base defense to test our run defense?

It's just another opinion.

Defense for me. With the exception of 2 or 3 years during Matt's tenure, the norm is for them to underachieve. Until I see Quinn field a bad defense under his control for a full season, he has given me enough to trust him on that side of the ball. As far as offense goes, I miss when we had a bonafide top tier running back in Turner that was the main focus of defenses before the front office changed their focus to trying to make Ryan the next Peyton Manning.

It's funny how Robert Alford looked like a pro bowler when Quinn took over the defense in 2016 but looked like trash along with thre rest of the defense last year with Manuel calling it. Jalen Collins had his only good stretch of NFL play when Quinn took over the defense as well. Trufant looked bad for 1st half of the season last year. With the exception of Grady Jarrett, I wouldn't put too much stock in player assessments from last season. I will miss Alford. Would have like to have seen him have a bounce back year with Quinn finally taking over fulltime again.

Somehow man.... watch Dirk and Matt not test these guys. They will somehow end up looking competent against us. Looking forward to the defense.

Well if it's been working, keep doing it. Greg Williams blueprint.

Correct Shanahan did have some duds. No denying that. Still I never lost confidence in the offense unlike with previous coordinators that have sputtered through Matts tenure. We had a different flow. I don't know how Shanahan conducted practices but we were seeing Matt make throws we knew he was more than capable of making regularly. Heck Taylor Gabriel, of all people, was going off. Even though he hasn't had his starting qb for much in San Fran, not only fo they move the ball but they also score and go deep with less talent and a back up qb. Shanahan called plays not trying to protect Matt. He called plays that made Matt play worry free. I felt every pass Matt was gonna make was going for a touchdown. Didn't matter if gabriel sanu or Julio was covered. That's what I meant.

Amen. He waits till our backs are against the wall or game is almost out of reach before his '**** it ' button kicks in like that Calvin Ridley touchdown last week. That's the whole point of having great players. Sometimes when the play doesn't greet anybody open as planned and they dare man up on Julio Sanu or Ridley, take a freaking chance Matt! Don't throw one of those ducks that floats in the air forever because it gives the defender a higher chance of getting back in to the play.

You are most optimistic than I am about the offense. Koetter can't make Matt throw the ball to allow his receiver to make the play for him. I see philly with their sub par secondary somehow containing our offense solely to fgs. I hope the defense can generate some turnovers to help the offense. I miss Shanahan man. He was killing the league with Taylor Gabriel and Aldrick Robinson in thre mix with Julio and Sanu. That's a less talented Corp than what we have now and yet I see us laying another stinker on offense while the defense finally shows up.

Great thread vel. Im not holding my breath expecting the offense to show up. I don't know how many weapons we need on offense for Matt and (name whatever coordinator except for Shanahan). I see us having red zone issues. None of the bigger sized backs will be activated. Matt doesn't throw jump balls, back shoulder fades to any of the receivers there. Heck I will be surprised if we even get to go deep and actually complete it against the eagles defense. Seems like teams with less talent always know how to exploit other teams weakness while we are solely only worried about spreading the ball. A teams number one corner or linebacker can be out and we still won't exploit the matchups. That's Falcons football always. Seriously im expecting more of an improvement from the defense. I can see them keeping this game close for the majority of the game. Our offense will kick plenty of field goals while philly offense scores touchdowns on the only 2-3 drives that makes it to our redzone. Looking forward to being at the game this Sunday to watch the defense. I hope Dirk and the offense proves me wrong.

Thanks for the insightful response my good sir. That's what makes Julio that much more amazing to me. He still puts up amazing numbers despite being handcuffed by inconsistent run game or lack of one especially against playoff caliber defenses, bad deep balls from Matt Ryan, and lack of 50/50 balls or even back shoulder throws in the red zone or within the drive from Matt. Iwas happy that Matt threw to a spot to allow Calvin to make a play for that td catch but hate it that it takes the game being over or the teams back being against the wall before he makes those throws because he is very capable. Why do we get to the red zone only to have Luke stocker as the main person to target expecting him to make an outstanding catch when we have sanu, Calvin, and Julio? If Julio was playing with Ben, Brady, rivers or Brees, I don't think we would be arguing who the number 1 receiver is right now. He would have broken the 2000 receiving yards milestone multiple times. That's why it's frustrating to see him taken out of the game too easily because our run game hasn't been the same since Shanahan left. Maybe im wrong but watching Falcons offense frustrates me especially when I see other offenses doing more with less. It's always almost feast or famine with our offense. Correct me if I'm wrong but even though Kyle designed everyone to get the ball, he was one of the few coordinators I was able to watch, with my limited understanding of the game, truly confuse defenses with Julio as a decoy but still made him as explosive as we've ever seen him. He made Matt work on parts of his game the past coordinators didn't have him work on. I remember several games where Matt threw at least a few 50/50 balls to allow his receivers to make plays in the red zone. That's the deadliest ive ever seen Matt. He never JUST run what Matt likes. He pushed him outside of his comfort zone to elevate his play. I am indifferent towards Dirk being back. I hope he has success but I cringe everytime I hear every coordinator hired say 'we are going to run all of Ryan's favorite plays and what he is comfortable with.' I don't know if we become very predictable too the extent that the offense sputters enough to get the coordinator fired. I hope the run game takes off. I like Freeman I just don't know if he is that back for mularkey run blocking scheme. Mike has always had bigger sized backs than Ito (even though he ran well game 1) and Freeman. I miss Turner. Hope Qadree can turn out the be, at least, half the player he was. How do you feel about the Dirk hiring? I don't think the board ever heard your take?

Thanks for posting these ergo!

I have a question. How come we have trouble getting Julio the ball compared to other teams with even less weapons? Julio can't be the only number 1 that gets double or triple covered. Some how Drew Brees always finds a way to get Kamara and Micheal Thomas the ball often despite lacking other threats. Antonio brown always feasted in Pittsburgh. DeAndre Hopkins made plays against lattimore in week one. Yet we have trouble getting Julio the ball. Im sick of the decoy excuses. We're driving a Ferrari like a Camry. I don't get why. Kyle was good at not only using Julio as a decoy but also freeing him up very often. Is it a coordinator or qb issue? I don't think other teams shut our offense down. I think we are the ones keeping Julio and the rest of our weapons in check. Can the knowledgeable x's and o's guys truly explain why we're are always the exception?

If he sticks with the 5-2, could he move bailey to Beasley's spot and put Cominsky at the vacant end spot? Will that change anything?

I believe he mentioned im the offseason how the league has caught up with his 4-3 under defense after watching hours of tape extensively. He had to add another layer to it or switch it up in layman terms.