Doesn this bother anyone else but me?

[Voice of Reason]

These stats are completely wrong. Completely! We had 29 first down plays. Only 15 were to Turner. The rest were pass plays with the one exception of the kneel down at the end. I might suggest you watch the game before making such statements.

[Finally]

These stats are completely wrong. Completely! We had 29 first down plays. Only 15 were to Turner. The rest were pass plays with the one exception of the kneel down at the end. I might suggest you watch the game before making such statements.

He says in his post that it is the first 11.

[falconfanjason]

Its a trick, don't you know we're setting up the Panthers for play action from the first play from scrimmage on Sunday?!

[russ7000]

shut it

[Peyton]

If Ryan hits that pass down the left side to White, and / or that bomb down the middle to White, and the pass in the left corner of the endzone, he would have had about 350 yards passing and 4 - 5 TDs and we would all be saying "Miami stacked against the run, but we made them pay big time".

Even though Miami was playing run, we had to keep pounding at them to keep things fairly advantageous for the passing game, particularly since they were leading the whole game.

[falcoatlantae]

Nope not worried.

1. If you want to run the ball in the fourth quarter, you have to test the opposing run defense to find weaknesses.

2. If your defense is taking the ball away from the other team, what's the need to expose more of your playbook to future opponents? Down and Distance are important aspects of play-calling.

[Ric Roc]

The pattern that always annoys me in the NFL is: 1st down - incomplete pass / 2nd down - running play

You see it over and over.

And there's a logical reason for that...no one wants to be stuck in a 3rd and long situation...so you run on second down to try and pick up some positive yardage...even if it is only 3 or 4 yards...you're still 3 or 4 yards closer to the first down marker.

This ain't Madden ya know!

[Infinitepwnz]

Fire Smitty and Mularkey right now!! Worthless bums.

I second this motion...

[TeamPlayer1]

Here is a synopsis of 11 of our first down plays against the Dolphins. It worries me only because I could think of a few better things to do with Michael Turner than this! Eleven plays, eleven handoffs. Maybe there was a good reason.I am wondering what you think? This came from NFL.COM.

1-10-ATL 29 (14:54) 33-M.Turner up the middle to ATL 29 for no gain (94-R.Starks).

1-10-ATL 43 (12:57) 33-M.Turner left tackle to ATL 47 for 4 yards (55-J.Porter

1-10-MIA 37 (7:55) 33-M.Turner right end to MIA 37 for no gain

1-10-ATL 11 (1:04) 33-M.Turner up the middle to ATL 12 for 1 yard (97-P.Merling).

1-10-ATL 21 (15:00) 33-M.Turner up the middle to ATL 23 for 2 yards (51-A.Ayodele).

1-10-ATL 50 (12:53) 33-M.Turner up the middle to ATL 49 for -1 yards (55-J.Porter).

1-10-MIA 37 (11:27) 33-M.Turner left tackle to MIA 36 for 1 yard (52-C.Crowder, 51-A.Ayodele).

1-10-ATL 24 (5:22) 33-M.Turner right tackle to ATL 27 for 3 yards (55-J.Porter).

Second half

1-10-MIA 48 (9:54) 33-M.Turner right tackle to MIA 46 for 2 yards (97-P.Merling).

1-10-MIA 38 (:27) 33-M.Turner right end to MIA 33 for 5 yards (37-Y.Bell, 25-W.Allen).

1-10-MIA 34 (3:18) 33-M.Turner left tackle to MIA 32 for 2 yards (37-Y.Bell).

Running the ball on first down worked vey well last year. No reason to stop now.

[Knight of God]

We run the ball

[Finally]

I don't this is going the way the OP thought it would.

[Shiney_McShine]

Miami 7, Atlanta 19

[JC Falcon]

Lots of learned responses here.

I'll add that Turner is not Brian Westbrook. Screens and swing passes out of the backfield are not really his thing.

Besides if we found out those 1st down plays were 5+ yards a pop, Turner would finish the day with about 180 yards and Matt Ryan would have about 15 pass attempts on the day. If a team can't stop the power run - why overcomplicate - keep on running it.

[Voice of Reason]

He says in his post that it is the first 11.

No he didn't. He said "Here is a synopsis of 11 of our first down plays against the Dolphins." Not our first 11 plays.

Then he listed those plays. Which were completely wrong.

We had 17 first down plays in the first half alone, 8 of which were passing plays. That's 8 of 17! That's a pretty heavy ratio for a "run first" team.

Here is the breakdown of our first down plays:

1st - Run (Turner)

2nd - Run (Turner)

3rd - Pass (incomplete bomb to White)

4th - Pass (comeback to Jenkins)

5th - Run (Turner)

6th - Run (Turner)

7th - Pass (Deep-in to Jenkins which was incomplete)

8th - Run (Turner)

9th - Run (Turner)

10th - Pass (out route to White)

11th - Run (Turner)

12th - Run (Turner)

13th - Pass (Highlight catch over the middle by Gonzalez)

14th - Pass (Ovie's TD)

15th - Run (Turner)

16th - Pass (Jenkins on a slant)

17th - Pass (Ryan sacked before he could set up)

These are all of our "1st down" plays in the first half of Sunday's game.

I have no idea what the OP is talking about.

[Finally]

No he didn't. He said "Here is a synopsis of 11 of our first down plays against the Dolphins." Not our first 11 plays.

Then he listed those plays. Which were completely wrong.

We had 17 first down plays in the first half alone, 8 of which were passing plays. That's 8 of 11! That's a pretty heavy ratio for a "run first" team.

Here is the breakdown of our first down plays:

1st - Run (Turner)

2nd - Run (Turner)

3rd - Pass (incomplete bomb to White)

4th - Pass (comeback to Jenkins)

5th - Run (Turner)

6th - Run (Turner)

7th - Pass (Deep-in to Jenkins which was incomplete)

8th - Run (Turner)

9th - Run (Turner)

10th - Pass (out route to White)

11th - Run (Turner)

12th - Run (Turner)

13th - Pass (Highlight catch over the middle by Gonzalez)

14th - Pass (Ovie's TD)

15th - Run (Turner)

16th - Pass (Jenkins on a slant)

17th - Pass (Ryan sacked before he could set up)

These are all of our "1st down" plays in the first half of Sunday's game.

I have no idea what the OP is talking about.

Ok Ok. I didn't closely analyze the useless drivel.

[MattyIce07]

The reason you run the ball up the middle on first down as opposed to running outside the tackles, because if you're running east and west you're not condensing the defense, you're keeping them spread out. The Falcons running sprint and dive plays on first down keeps the defense with the mindset they have to play the middle of the line of scrimmage on any down, especially first down. I think they also kept a good balance of running and passing on first down to make sure it wasn't too predictable:

1st half:

1-10-MIA 49 (11:43) 2-M.Ryan pass incomplete deep left to 84-R.White.

1-10-MIA 39 (10:58) 2-M.Ryan pass short right to 12-M.Jenkins to MIA 28 for 11 yards (25-W.Allen).

1-10-MIA 37 (7:33) 2-M.Ryan pass incomplete deep middle to 12-M.Jenkins.

1-10-ATL 38 (13:19) 2-M.Ryan pass short right to 84-R.White ran ob at ATL 50 for 12 yards.

1-10-MIA 20 (9:24) 2-M.Ryan pass short middle to 88-T.Gonzalez to MIA 1 for 19 yards (37-Y.Bell).

1-1-MIA 1 (8:41) 2-M.Ryan pass short right to 34-O.Mughelli for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN.

2nd half:

1-10-ATL 29 (13:14) 2-M.Ryan pass short right to 84-R.White pushed ob at ATL 35 for 6 yards (24-S.Smith).

1-10-MIA 20 (1:39) 2-M.Ryan pass incomplete short right.

1-10-MIA 27 (13:40) 2-M.Ryan pass short right to 88-T.Gonzalez pushed ob at MIA 15 for 12 yards (37-Y.Bell).

1-10-ATL 31 (11:30) 2-M.Ryan pass short left to 34-O.Mughelli pushed ob at MIA 48 for 21 yards (28-G.Wilson).

1-10-MIA 48 (11:02) 2-M.Ryan pass short right to 84-R.White to MIA 45 for 3 yards (25-W.Allen).

[putnam6]

we're not a screen team or a trick play team. we're the falcons and we play smashmouth football. we run it up your throats until you stop it. then we air it out on you because we can, but the falcons are always going to try and establish the run first.

I think unless they are way behind the Falcons need to continue to pound the rock,it sets up everything else keeps everybody tight to the line opening up the middle for the passing game,besides it controls the clock gives the defense a rest. Sure they could have been more imaginative but I ain't complaining in what was a 19-7 win against a playoff team last year.

[Falcon Fantom]

That's what we do man. They were only trying to establish it. Heck I'm glad they never got away from it. I remember being in the stands on 3rd and one when Ryan does a play-action and throws a bomb. Couldn't believe it. POUND THE ROCK BABY!!!

3rd and short should be a HB draw out of the gun or a FB run. That's what I would do with 3rd and short. Especially when we were in Dolphins territory last week and they went for the endzone. They need to be more patient in those situations and get the first.