Jury is still out on secondary

[Atlsport]

This isn't too take away anything from a great defensive performance, but does anyone else feel that the secondary wasn't tested much yesterday, because of who the qb was?

Of course it's hard to test the secondary if you're OL is getting abused and being pasted onto the turf and you're turning the ball over.

Ever since he was with the Jets, the knock on Pennington has been that his arm isn't very strong. He even made the statement about the Falcons defense that they didn't give them anything deep. To which comes the obvious retort, what is deep Chad 12 yds?

Consider that play where Pat White came, after a fake he threw what I remember as the only real deep ball of the game. That ball went sailing way past Ted Ginn, who had already beat Decoud and Houston.

Over the next two weeks the arms get stronger, and nobody loves the play fake deep ball as much as Brady does.

If we can maitain the pressure upfront and force throws then we'll be fine, but as good as that defensive performance was it's not likely to be repeated the next two weeks and the secondary will be put to the test.

[CraigSmackDaddy]

It's going to get tougher...

Steve Smith next week then the HUGE test in Week 3. Brady, R Moss, Welker, and Galloway.

Any defense can look bad against those guys. It will take our offense putting up some good numbers and long drives to beat the Pats.

[JayOzOne]

The DL sets up the DBs for success. No defensive backfield can survive if the line is getting manhandled. Hopefully, the front seven can stay strong while Williams and Hill continue to gel with the rest of the defense.

[jes2400]

It's going to get tougher...

Steve Smith next week then the HUGE test in Week 3. Brady, R Moss, Welker, and Galloway.

Not if Carolina plays like they did yesterday. Delhome was awfull.

[Falcons Ace]

Pennington & Co were a better passing team than Carolina last year, and it's looking to be the same this year. As for our "test" against Brady in Wk 3? No secondary in the NFL will be able to contain that. All we can hope for is our defensive line to get a monster pass rush and for our offense to play it's best.

[Peyton]

It gets harder this week. The good news is it doesn't look like the Panthers OL is playing very well, and Delhomme is still shell shocked. Maybe even more shell shocked now. Steve Smith is dangerous though.

Week 3 is going to be a learning experience for the seconday. The Falcons will probably lose that game, but it will be a necessary part of the "process". It only hurts Atlanta if anybody else in the division beats NE, and I don't really see that happening.

[bighurt]

Chad was a very smart QB, and to make them turnover the ball like that, and stop their run like that was good news for our defense. NE, DAL, PHI, NO twice will be the true tests for our Secondary. I like having B. Williams, Houston, and Grimes at Nickle. Can't wait to see Moore in action, later in the season. Also Tye Hill will get so work in the Dime, if we play Dime. I think we has some good talent on Defense. We needed another Vet on the Defense. That gives us a Vet at every position, DE, DT, LB, CD, S.

[Atlsport]

It gets harder this week. The good news is it doesn't look like the Panthers OL is playing very well, and Delhomme is still shell shocked. Maybe even more shell shocked now. Steve Smith is dangerous though.

Week 3 is going to be a learning experience for the seconday. The Falcons will probably lose that game, but it will be a necessary part of the "process". It only hurts Atlanta if anybody else in the division beats NE, and I don't really see that happening.

I didn't see any coverage of the Carolina game, other than the final. So their OL had problems?

We've had success against Delhomme and their OL before, but I do know that they will try more play action than Miami. I haven't yet watched yesterdays televised game, but like I said it seems from what I saw that our defenders we're off when White threw deep. The fakes will test the secondary more.

Other than that I didn't really look at the secondary that much, cause there was too much action on the line. Wondering if anyone saw anything differently than what I described.

[Rev_Hal]

This isn't too take away anything from a great defensive performance, but does anyone else feel that the secondary wasn't tested much yesterday, because of who the qb was?

Of course it's hard to test the secondary if you're OL is getting abused and being pasted onto the turf and you're turning the ball over.

Ever since he was with the Jets, the knock on Pennington has been that his arm isn't very strong. He even made the statement about the Falcons defense that they didn't give them anything deep. To which comes the obvious retort, what is deep Chad 12 yds?

Consider that play where Pat White came, after a fake he threw what I remember as the only real deep ball of the game. That ball went sailing way past Ted Ginn, who had already beat Decoud and Houston.

Over the next two weeks the arms get stronger, and nobody loves the play fake deep ball as much as Brady does.

If we can maitain the pressure upfront and force throws then we'll be fine, but as good as that defensive performance was it's not likely to be repeated the next two weeks and the secondary will be put to the test.

Pennington does not have a ton of arm strength, but is very accurate. Most of the day he had no one to throw to, and the pass rush was very good.

[MattyIce07]

Front 7 looked great yesterday. Hopefully good ole Jake will be our 12th man like he seems to be prone to do. 11 turnovers over the last 2 games? YIKES!

[Peyton]

I didn't see any coverage of the Carolina game, other than the final. So their OL had problems?

We've had success against Delhomme and their OL before, but I do know that they will try more play action than Miami. I haven't yet watched yesterdays televised game, but like I said it seems from what I saw that our defenders we're off when White threw deep. The fakes will test the secondary more.

Other than that I didn't really look at the secondary that much, cause there was too much action on the line. Wondering if anyone saw anything differently than what I described.

I really think that our secondary does a pretty good job of covering guys, they just get taken advantage of by taller receivers. Miami didn't have any of those so it was just a bad matchup for them.

Decoud froze for just a split second on the playfake on that White pass, but he turned and was running full speed before Ginn got to him. Ginn was just way faster than Decoud and that's why he blew past him. Still it would have taken a perfect pass, and fortunately White made far from a perfect pass.

[Peyton]

I didn't see any coverage of the Carolina game, other than the final. So their OL had problems?

We've had success against Delhomme and their OL before, but I do know that they will try more play action than Miami. I haven't yet watched yesterdays televised game, but like I said it seems from what I saw that our defenders we're off when White threw deep. The fakes will test the secondary more.

Other than that I didn't really look at the secondary that much, cause there was too much action on the line. Wondering if anyone saw anything differently than what I described.

The Panthers gave up 5 sacks on the 3 different QBs, one of which resulted in a fumble return for a TD. I am sure pressure contributed to the 40% completion percentage and 5 INTs as well, although I haven't studied the game. I do know a couple of the Delhomme pics were just bad passes.

[JC Falcon]

That deep play with Ginn was set up by the wildcat. The safety was frozen flat footed waiting to make a read to see if the play slid out to either side, etc. The safety should have been turning to run with Ginn earlier, but he seemed to be expecting Ginn to try to block or break off the route.

I don't see the Pats causing the same type of problems for the safeties (although they'll surely cause others). The Pats play action will freeze them a moment, but it's not like the Pats will run the triple option wildcat with Fred Taylor and Kevin Faulk.

[JayOzOne]

I didn't see any coverage of the Carolina game, other than the final. So their OL had problems?

We've had success against Delhomme and their OL before, but I do know that they will try more play action than Miami. I haven't yet watched yesterdays televised game, but like I said it seems from what I saw that our defenders we're off when White threw deep. The fakes will test the secondary more.

Other than that I didn't really look at the secondary that much, cause there was too much action on the line. Wondering if anyone saw anything differently than what I described.

Rodney Harrison was spot on last night when he said that Delhomme's interceptions were the type that a rookie QB should make, not a 34 year old veteran.

[Peyton]

That deep play with Ginn was set up by the wildcat. The safety was frozen flat footed waiting to make a read to see if the play slid out to either side, etc. The safety should have been turning to run with Ginn earlier, but he seemed to be expecting Ginn to try to block or break off the route.

I don't see the Pats causing the same type of problems for the safeties (although they'll surely cause others). The Pats play action will freeze them a moment, but it's not like the Pats will run the triple option wildcat with Fred Taylor and Kevin Faulk.

The problem with the Pats is that Randy Moss can make big plays even if you cover him perfectly, which isn't easy in the first place.