Reality Check

[Bodhi]

First of all, yes it was a horrible muff call when Jennings clearly didn't touch the ball. Yes it's completely unfair that we couldn't get the call corrected. Yes, we can cry all we want but that wont change anything at all: that's just the way it is, period. Life isn't fair, sometimes you just get jobbed.

Now, with that said, lets step back and look at the bigger picture. We didn't play all that well on either side of the ball, yet we STILL had a chance to be in the game until the very end when we got the bad muff call. After the debacle that was last season, if someone would have told you we would be 4-3 after seven games, you know good and well you would have been ecstatic with that. So lets stop with the doom and gloom posts and stop belly aching like we were supposed to be a super bowl lock that stinks instead. We are what we are, a young team that isn't going to always be able take advantage of our opportunities, and aren't always going to play as well as we would like. This is Year One of the Smith/TD era, we are ahead of where we thought we would be, lets not forget that.

Narrowing the scope to this game, there were plenty of mistakes to go around that kept us from winning. The muff (non-muff) is the most obvious because it kept us from giving the ball back to a young QB that we are all developing some faith in to come up with big plays in the clutch. I don't think anyone of us didn't like our chances of scoring a winning TD if Ryan had gotten that ball back with over 2 minutes left. However, the fact of the matter is we were still down 6 points and Ryan driving for the winning TD was in NO WAY guaranteed. We still could have lost even if the refs hadn't blown the call, and if Jennings wasn't the worst decision maker in the history of punt returners by even putting himself in that position. Some reasons:

Throwing that fade on 2nd and goad from the 2 yard line...just...hindsight is 20/20 and if it had worked we all would have never thought about it again. However, your identity is to run, run, and run some more on offense. Therefore, your identity should be that you feel pretty good about your chances to pound the ball in from 2 yards out with 3 chances at it. I'm guessing Mularkey was trying to outsmart the Philly D, and offensive coordinators don't always guess right, sometimes the D just guesses right and wins. But still, I think we should be able to pound that ball in and not have to try and outsmart the D with an obviously risky play call. I'm sure Mularkey is kicking himself over that one as much as anybody. Lets just hope he learns from it; but lets also hope it doesn't take his aggresiveness away from future gutsy calls.

And lets not forget that Ryan placed the ball in a terrible spot. As good as he's been, that was just one of those young QB mistakes that we just have to live with for now. Speaking of which, Ryan was a little off in his accuracy today more than any game since TB. I'm sure the pressure got to him a little bit, but he missed some open WR's today that he has been hitting in other games this season.

The refs struggled pretty badly today overall. That late hit on Ryan was a gift that was clearly not a late hit or personal foul. There were a few other one's that were bad calls on both sides. The late hit on Milloy was clearly a late hit though. The thing that isn't going to sit well with Falcons fans is the only bad call that really had an impact on the outcome of the game was the muffed punt blown call that robbed us of our chance at a game winning TD drive. But we can also say if we had punched it in from the 2 instead of throwing the INT, we wouldn't have even been in that position. We would have been up 21-20. So while we can throw some blame on the refs, we can also throw some blame on ourselves for not taking advantage of our opportunities.

Quick thoughts:

Maybe now people will realize why JA98 is starting instead of Biermann and stop the silly "start Biermann" threads. While JA still has a lot to prove, an undersized DE getting blown up in the running game is why Biermann is not the desired starter.

Brooking - retire already, please. You're a great person and a great leader in the locker room, I don't care anymore. You've never been very good on the field, but now you're just terrible and robbing money from the Falcons. Thank you for your contributions and always being a stand up guy, but please move on now, thank you.

Jennings - while the refs blowing the call isn't his fault, he should have never ever ever been close enough to that ball to even give them a chance to blow it. He is a guy that I always hold my breath for him to not do something bad for us, instead of something good. And that just blows my mind that we can't find a returner that doesn't give me that feeling. I can't believe he is still on the team, but if we can't find a better returner currently on the team, what are you going to do except throw up your hands. Lets just hope the situation is improved (meaning Jennings replaced) during the next offseason.

Roddy White caused the 1st INT with shoddy route running. He just showed he's still human. But he came back and played well the remainer of the game and I'm sure he'll hear about it during film review so I'm not worried about him at all. However, Ryan really only had 1 INT that was on him.

Baker being out really hurt our offensive consistency. I saw at least 2 or 3 times that the LT's defender wasn't even picked up due to miscommunication and got a free rush on Ryan.

Bottom line is this is a young team that still needs to mature and still has a few pieces to add to the puzzle over the next few offseasons. We have a rookie QB, a rookie head coach, a new offensive system, a lot of young starters and contributors, and it showed up on the field today. I think it's a testament to the direction that we are headed in that we even had a chance to get the ball back with a chance to win the game with over 2 minutes to go. Yes this is a game we could have won, but you aren't always going to win these. There is also another team on the other side fighting and clawing just like our guys are. And especially a young team isn't going to win these type of games very often. What we can take from this game is learn where we made our mistakes, correct them in the future, realize we slugged it out to the end with a more talented, veteran, team and get better from here. Ryan had his highs and lows in dealing with this Philly blitz scheme, he'll learn and get better from this. So will the rest of the guys and the coaches too. I actually think Ryan handled it fairly well. A lot better than any other rookie QB that has gone up against that D. He just proved to me again today that he is a once in a lifetime QB and we are lucky to have him. He didn't have his best day, but still showed poise and made enough plays to have us right there until the end.

Lets just keep things in perspective. We are ahead of where we thought we'd be at this point in this rebuilding project. While we could have won this game and were robbed of a chance to win by the officials, we are still building a good foundation for the future and headed in a good direction. Things didn't always work out like we hoped they would in this game, but learning from games like this is how young improving organizations get better. And for the first time in a long time, I can honestly say we are a young improving organization, and actually mean it.

[Bodhi]

.

[Bodhi]

Shameless bump for some perspective

[ghoticov]

That was uh... long.

[Bodhi]

That was uh... long.

Sorry. Ok then, coaches stink, players stink. Fire everyone!

Is that better?

[xrage]

Very very solid post. Extremely rare that we have reason like this on this board.

[Johnny U]

Sorry. Ok then, coaches stink, players stink. Fire everyone!

Is that better?

And yet it's funny how this morning we were 4-2 and everything was going right for us...

[Dirty-Bird]

Good post. A little harsh on Brooking though.

[thempizzle]

We CAN beat every team that is left on our schedule.

Thats all im saying.

[Bodhi]

Good post. A little harsh on Brooking though.

I'll tell ya what's harsh on Brooking: anybody with the ball or any route runner he's responsible for covering.

[Bodhi]

And yet it's funny how this morning we were 4-2 and everything was going right for us...

Your insight amazes me, I can tell you really paid attention.

But in all seriousness, if "everything was going right for us" we would have been 6-0, not 4-2. I said we're pointed in the right direction with a lot still left to improve upon, not that we "have arrived."

[Falcon Fanatic]

I'll tell ya what's harsh on Brooking: anybody with the ball or any route runner he's responsible for covering.

Well Brooking is only one man. He can't make every play on the field. I will admit he has lost a step or two but stop the tunnel vision please.

[Bodhi]

Well Brooking is only one man. He can't make every play on the field. I will admit he has lost a step or two but stop the tunnel vision please.

Wait a second here, are you actually DEFENDING the play of Brooking?!?!? Please tell me this is a sick joke, otherwise I'm going to laugh myself to death. I've heard of blind homerism, but dang man, seriously...

[bhain3s]

First of all, yes it was a horrible muff call when Jennings clearly didn't touch the ball. Yes it's completely unfair that we couldn't get the call corrected. Yes, we can cry all we want but that wont change anything at all: that's just the way it is, period. Life isn't fair, sometimes you just get jobbed.

Now, with that said, lets step back and look at the bigger picture. We didn't play all that well on either side of the ball, yet we STILL had a chance to be in the game until the very end when we got the bad muff call. After the debacle that was last season, if someone would have told you we would be 4-3 after seven games, you know good and well you would have been ecstatic with that. So lets stop with the doom and gloom posts and stop belly aching like we were supposed to be a super bowl lock that stinks instead. We are what we are, a young team that isn't going to always be able take advantage of our opportunities, and aren't always going to play as well as we would like. This is Year One of the Smith/TD era, we are ahead of where we thought we would be, lets not forget that.

Narrowing the scope to this game, there were plenty of mistakes to go around that kept us from winning. The muff (non-muff) is the most obvious because it kept us from giving the ball back to a young QB that we are all developing some faith in to come up with big plays in the clutch. I don't think anyone of us didn't like our chances of scoring a winning TD if Ryan had gotten that ball back with over 2 minutes left. However, the fact of the matter is we were still down 6 points and Ryan driving for the winning TD was in NO WAY guaranteed. We still could have lost even if the refs hadn't blown the call, and if Jennings wasn't the worst decision maker in the history of punt returners by even putting himself in that position. Some reasons:

Throwing that fade on 2nd and goad from the 2 yard line...just...hindsight is 20/20 and if it had worked we all would have never thought about it again. However, your identity is to run, run, and run some more on offense. Therefore, your identity should be that you feel pretty good about your chances to pound the ball in from 2 yards out with 3 chances at it. I'm guessing Mularkey was trying to outsmart the Philly D, and offensive coordinators don't always guess right, sometimes the D just guesses right and wins. But still, I think we should be able to pound that ball in and not have to try and outsmart the D with an obviously risky play call. I'm sure Mularkey is kicking himself over that one as much as anybody. Lets just hope he learns from it; but lets also hope it doesn't take his aggresiveness away from future gutsy calls.

And lets not forget that Ryan placed the ball in a terrible spot. As good as he's been, that was just one of those young QB mistakes that we just have to live with for now. Speaking of which, Ryan was a little off in his accuracy today more than any game since TB. I'm sure the pressure got to him a little bit, but he missed some open WR's today that he has been hitting in other games this season.

The refs struggled pretty badly today overall. That late hit on Ryan was a gift that was clearly not a late hit or personal foul. There were a few other one's that were bad calls on both sides. The late hit on Milloy was clearly a late hit though. The thing that isn't going to sit well with Falcons fans is the only bad call that really had an impact on the outcome of the game was the muffed punt blown call that robbed us of our chance at a game winning TD drive. But we can also say if we had punched it in from the 2 instead of throwing the INT, we wouldn't have even been in that position. We would have been up 21-20. So while we can throw some blame on the refs, we can also throw some blame on ourselves for not taking advantage of our opportunities.

Quick thoughts:

Maybe now people will realize why JA98 is starting instead of Biermann and stop the silly "start Biermann" threads. While JA still has a lot to prove, an undersized DE getting blown up in the running game is why Biermann is not the desired starter.

Brooking - retire already, please. You're a great person and a great leader in the locker room, I don't care anymore. You've never been very good on the field, but now you're just terrible and robbing money from the Falcons. Thank you for your contributions and always being a stand up guy, but please move on now, thank you.

Jennings - while the refs blowing the call isn't his fault, he should have never ever ever been close enough to that ball to even give them a chance to blow it. He is a guy that I always hold my breath for him to not do something bad for us, instead of something good. And that just blows my mind that we can't find a returner that doesn't give me that feeling. I can't believe he is still on the team, but if we can't find a better returner currently on the team, what are you going to do except throw up your hands. Lets just hope the situation is improved (meaning Jennings replaced) during the next offseason.

Roddy White caused the 1st INT with shoddy route running. He just showed he's still human. But he came back and played well the remainer of the game and I'm sure he'll hear about it during film review so I'm not worried about him at all. However, Ryan really only had 1 INT that was on him.

Baker being out really hurt our offensive consistency. I saw at least 2 or 3 times that the LT's defender wasn't even picked up due to miscommunication and got a free rush on Ryan.

Bottom line is this is a young team that still needs to mature and still has a few pieces to add to the puzzle over the next few offseasons. We have a rookie QB, a rookie head coach, a new offensive system, a lot of young starters and contributors, and it showed up on the field today. I think it's a testament to the direction that we are headed in that we even had a chance to get the ball back with a chance to win the game with over 2 minutes to go. Yes this is a game we could have won, but you aren't always going to win these. There is also another team on the other side fighting and clawing just like our guys are. And especially a young team isn't going to win these type of games very often. What we can take from this game is learn where we made our mistakes, correct them in the future, realize we slugged it out to the end with a more talented, veteran, team and get better from here. Ryan had his highs and lows in dealing with this Philly blitz scheme, he'll learn and get better from this. So will the rest of the guys and the coaches too. I actually think Ryan handled it fairly well. A lot better than any other rookie QB that has gone up against that D. He just proved to me again today that he is a once in a lifetime QB and we are lucky to have him. He didn't have his best day, but still showed poise and made enough plays to have us right there until the end.

Lets just keep things in perspective. We are ahead of where we thought we'd be at this point in this rebuilding project. While we could have won this game and were robbed of a chance to win by the officials, we are still building a good foundation for the future and headed in a good direction. Things didn't always work out like we hoped they would in this game, but learning from games like this is how young improving organizations get better. And for the first time in a long time, I can honestly say we are a young improving organization, and actually mean it.

would you have wrote this if we had won the game?

[augfalcon77]

we might not agree alot this week, but on this topic we do. we need to move on. Our we at a point were we can start pointing figures and asking for peoples heads? a 4-2 start sure got everyone spoiled huh? What happened to the "let's all stand around a camp fire and sing songs" attitude from 2 weeks ago. THIS JUST WASNT OUR DAY. WE Contributed to this loss as much as the refs. JENNINGS DID NOTHING TO COSTS US THE GAME. The raiders in 6 days.

[Bodhi]

would you have wrote this if we had won the game?

Umm, did you even READ it? lol

Would I have written something about us being farther along than where anyone thought we would be at this point and lets stop the doom and gloom posts over one loss? Well, no, becuase there wouldn't be all the doom and gloom posts over one loss if there WASN"T A LOSS...reading comprehension FTW!

[crimsonhawk]

First of all, yes it was a horrible muff call when Jennings clearly didn't touch the ball. Yes it's completely unfair that we couldn't get the call corrected. Yes, we can cry all we want but that wont change anything at all: that's just the way it is, period. Life isn't fair, sometimes you just get jobbed.

Now, with that said, lets step back and look at the bigger picture. We didn't play all that well on either side of the ball, yet we STILL had a chance to be in the game until the very end when we got the bad muff call. After the debacle that was last season, if someone would have told you we would be 4-3 after seven games, you know good and well you would have been ecstatic with that. So lets stop with the doom and gloom posts and stop belly aching like we were supposed to be a super bowl lock that stinks instead. We are what we are, a young team that isn't going to always be able take advantage of our opportunities, and aren't always going to play as well as we would like. This is Year One of the Smith/TD era, we are ahead of where we thought we would be, lets not forget that.

Narrowing the scope to this game, there were plenty of mistakes to go around that kept us from winning. The muff (non-muff) is the most obvious because it kept us from giving the ball back to a young QB that we are all developing some faith in to come up with big plays in the clutch. I don't think anyone of us didn't like our chances of scoring a winning TD if Ryan had gotten that ball back with over 2 minutes left. However, the fact of the matter is we were still down 6 points and Ryan driving for the winning TD was in NO WAY guaranteed. We still could have lost even if the refs hadn't blown the call, and if Jennings wasn't the worst decision maker in the history of punt returners by even putting himself in that position. Some reasons:

Throwing that fade on 2nd and goad from the 2 yard line...just...hindsight is 20/20 and if it had worked we all would have never thought about it again. However, your identity is to run, run, and run some more on offense. Therefore, your identity should be that you feel pretty good about your chances to pound the ball in from 2 yards out with 3 chances at it. I'm guessing Mularkey was trying to outsmart the Philly D, and offensive coordinators don't always guess right, sometimes the D just guesses right and wins. But still, I think we should be able to pound that ball in and not have to try and outsmart the D with an obviously risky play call. I'm sure Mularkey is kicking himself over that one as much as anybody. Lets just hope he learns from it; but lets also hope it doesn't take his aggresiveness away from future gutsy calls.

And lets not forget that Ryan placed the ball in a terrible spot. As good as he's been, that was just one of those young QB mistakes that we just have to live with for now. Speaking of which, Ryan was a little off in his accuracy today more than any game since TB. I'm sure the pressure got to him a little bit, but he missed some open WR's today that he has been hitting in other games this season.

The refs struggled pretty badly today overall. That late hit on Ryan was a gift that was clearly not a late hit or personal foul. There were a few other one's that were bad calls on both sides. The late hit on Milloy was clearly a late hit though. The thing that isn't going to sit well with Falcons fans is the only bad call that really had an impact on the outcome of the game was the muffed punt blown call that robbed us of our chance at a game winning TD drive. But we can also say if we had punched it in from the 2 instead of throwing the INT, we wouldn't have even been in that position. We would have been up 21-20. So while we can throw some blame on the refs, we can also throw some blame on ourselves for not taking advantage of our opportunities.

Quick thoughts:

Maybe now people will realize why JA98 is starting instead of Biermann and stop the silly "start Biermann" threads. While JA still has a lot to prove, an undersized DE getting blown up in the running game is why Biermann is not the desired starter.

Brooking - retire already, please. You're a great person and a great leader in the locker room, I don't care anymore. You've never been very good on the field, but now you're just terrible and robbing money from the Falcons. Thank you for your contributions and always being a stand up guy, but please move on now, thank you.

Jennings - while the refs blowing the call isn't his fault, he should have never ever ever been close enough to that ball to even give them a chance to blow it. He is a guy that I always hold my breath for him to not do something bad for us, instead of something good. And that just blows my mind that we can't find a returner that doesn't give me that feeling. I can't believe he is still on the team, but if we can't find a better returner currently on the team, what are you going to do except throw up your hands. Lets just hope the situation is improved (meaning Jennings replaced) during the next offseason.

Roddy White caused the 1st INT with shoddy route running. He just showed he's still human. But he came back and played well the remainer of the game and I'm sure he'll hear about it during film review so I'm not worried about him at all. However, Ryan really only had 1 INT that was on him.

Baker being out really hurt our offensive consistency. I saw at least 2 or 3 times that the LT's defender wasn't even picked up due to miscommunication and got a free rush on Ryan.

Bottom line is this is a young team that still needs to mature and still has a few pieces to add to the puzzle over the next few offseasons. We have a rookie QB, a rookie head coach, a new offensive system, a lot of young starters and contributors, and it showed up on the field today. I think it's a testament to the direction that we are headed in that we even had a chance to get the ball back with a chance to win the game with over 2 minutes to go. Yes this is a game we could have won, but you aren't always going to win these. There is also another team on the other side fighting and clawing just like our guys are. And especially a young team isn't going to win these type of games very often. What we can take from this game is learn where we made our mistakes, correct them in the future, realize we slugged it out to the end with a more talented, veteran, team and get better from here. Ryan had his highs and lows in dealing with this Philly blitz scheme, he'll learn and get better from this. So will the rest of the guys and the coaches too. I actually think Ryan handled it fairly well. A lot better than any other rookie QB that has gone up against that D. He just proved to me again today that he is a once in a lifetime QB and we are lucky to have him. He didn't have his best day, but still showed poise and made enough plays to have us right there until the end.

Lets just keep things in perspective. We are ahead of where we thought we'd be at this point in this rebuilding project. While we could have won this game and were robbed of a chance to win by the officials, we are still building a good foundation for the future and headed in a good direction. Things didn't always work out like we hoped they would in this game, but learning from games like this is how young improving organizations get better. And for the first time in a long time, I can honestly say we are a young improving organization, and actually mean it.

**** you for taking my laser like hate for all things in stripes and making it go "poof" with a well thought out and very articulated post!

[Bodhi]

**** you for taking my laser like hate for all things in stripes and making it go "poof" with a well thought out and very articulated post!

Haha, glad to 'help' :P

[augfalcon77]

Haha, glad to 'help' :P

your sig is making this loss easier to swallow...

[RW84]

Haha, glad to 'help' :P

your sig is addicting

[neatodrum]

can't think about football...........staring at BOHDI's sig...............

[Falcster]

I LOVE your sig! Show me more!