nativefalcon Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Patriots’ approach surprised Falcons’ defenseBy By Tim Casey Mass. — The Falcons spent dozens of hours preparing for Tom Brady, watching film and analyzing the quarterback’s tendencies. In the Patriots’ first two games, they had thrown on 70 percent of their offensive plays.The Falcons’ defensive linemen were determined to pressure Brady on Sunday afternoon, make him rush his throws and not feel comfortable in the pocket. Instead, too often, Brady had plenty of time to find open receivers.For the second consecutive game, the Falcons’ front four didn’t record a sack. The Patriots emphasized rushing more than usual, gaining 168 yards on 39 carries, led by 12-year veteran Fred Taylor’s 105 yards. Entering Sunday, the team had only 43 rushes for 156 yards, which ranked 26th in the NFL.In particular, several Atlanta players said New England’s reliance on a play-action passing attack surprised them. Because the Falcons had to respect the Patriots’ running game, they couldn’t rush Brady as aggressively as they’d like.“They kind of did a little mind games on us. That’s all it was,” defensive end John Abraham said. “They did a good job. I’ve got to credit them with how they played. We watched a lot of tape, and they didn’t do as much play action before.”One year after setting a franchise record and personal best 16.5 sacks, Abraham had two sacks in the season-opening 19-7 victory over the Miami Dolphins. But the Patriots’ offensive line did a nice job containing the 6-foot-4, 263-pound Abraham and the rest of the Falcons’ line.Making matters even more difficult, the Falcons played without rookie defensive tackle Peria Jerry, a first-round selection. Jerry had a season-ending knee injury in last Sunday’s victory over the Carolina Panthers. Thomas Johnson, who was out of the NFL the past two seasons, replaced Jerry.“We’ve got to pass rush better,” Johnson said. “They kept a lot of guys in to protect [brady] as well. They executed their game plan. I expected them to keep more guys in. We just didn’t get it done today.”With a bye next week, the Falcons said they will re-examine how they defend against the pass. Abraham was adamant that unless the Falcons apply more pressure, it could be a recurring problem.“We’ve got to put it on us, the D-line, because we’ve got to get off our blocks and pressure [brady],” Abraham said. “A couple times I got pressure on him, and he threw the ball kind of errant. But then, a lot of times, we didn’t get to him, and he was completing to receivers that were open.“I mean, you give a guy 4-5 seconds in the pocket, he’s got a lot of time. Three seconds is the most you can give you somebody. We gave him a lot more time than that.” http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-falcons/patriots-approach-surprised-falcons-148364.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattIceRyanMVP2 Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 No excuses. They got to expect the unexpected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falcons_own_nfc_south Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 So Falcons didn't practice for Run.. LOL what did they expect after giving 5.1 yds per carry.. Even we knew that They might come and run the ball Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nativefalcon Posted September 28, 2009 Author Share Posted September 28, 2009 So Falcons didn't practice for Run.. LOL what did they expect after giving 5.1 yds per carry.. Even we knew that They might come and run the ballIts not like Bill Bellicheck has never been tricky before. :P I just can't believe coaches didn't think, they might RUN THE BALL? DUH 70% is kind of unbalanced. :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nativefalcon Posted September 28, 2009 Author Share Posted September 28, 2009 Good Article though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dardan Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 So Falcons didn't practice for Run.. LOL what did they expect after giving 5.1 yds per carry.. Even we knew that They might come and run the ballAs has been stated in other threads, besides being out-played, we got out-coached. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalconMama Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 There is another game last season where it was stated that the Falcons didn't practice the run and the team ran on us.. I think it was the Saints game in NO where Mike Smith said he was expecting the pass and the Saints ran on us with success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
since68andcounting Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 That's a lame excuse. In fact, multiple lame excuses. Heck, even the stinkin' PRE GAME show talked about how New England's offense had been out of balance, and they expected them to run the ball more. That's lame, Abe. And frankly, you got your hat handed to you today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight of God Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 There is another game last season where it was stated that the Falcons didn't practice the run and the team ran on us.. I think it was the Saints game in NO where Mike Smith said he was expecting the pass and the Saints ran on us with success.Fans are always wrong no? There were a few of us who were concerned about the run game, not sure why the FO was not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nativefalcon Posted September 28, 2009 Author Share Posted September 28, 2009 Its like Bellicheat is not going to think, hey we might need to run the ball? :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bring It Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Duh !!Belichick has made a living in the NFL forever, doing the "unexpected".What the H.ELL were our coaches thinking ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilleniumFalcon Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 That's an excuse... a poor one at that. You didn't prepare your team properly if you didn't expect them to run so effectively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalconMama Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Fans are always wrong no? There were a few of us who were concerned about the run game, not sure why the FO was not.With a defense like ours our coaches should always be concerned with the run.. Poor rushing teams have had too many good days against us. Saints, Denver, Cardinals and now the Pats.. All teams that struggled to run the ball until they played us. Stopping the run should be the first and foremost thing on EVERY game plan. Letting a team get a running game going and become balanced is the absolute worst thing that you can let a opposing team do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nativefalcon Posted September 28, 2009 Author Share Posted September 28, 2009 With a defense like ours our coaches should always be concerned with the run.. Poor rushing teams have had too many good days against us. Saints, Denver, Cardinals and now the Pats.. All teams that struggled to run the ball until they played us. Stopping the run should be the first and foremost thing on EVERY game plan. Letting a team get a running game going and become balanced is the absolute worst thing that you can let a opposing team do.I agree the No. 1 thing the defense should do is STOP THE RUN. DID BVG have the brain FART? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltstorm2 Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 There is another game last season where it was stated that the Falcons didn't practice the run and the team ran on us.. I think it was the Saints game in NO where Mike Smith said he was expecting the pass and the Saints ran on us with success.It was the Denver game. I expected Denver to try and run then and I expected NE to try and run against us. Great coaches know exactly how to beat our Smith. Shannahan(spl) and Belicheck(spl) both knew we were going to key in on the pass and they killed us. I don't know how Abraham or anyone else got fooled by the play action. If a team is getting 6-7 yards a carry, the play action pass is sure to come and come frequently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltstorm2 Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 And on that note. I know Smith is going to key in on stopping Gore. I would not be suprised one bit if San Fran comes out throwing on us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nativefalcon Posted September 28, 2009 Author Share Posted September 28, 2009 And on that note. I know Smith is going to key in on stopping Gore. I would not be suprised one bit if San Fran comes out throwing on us.Gore is hurt for the next 2 games High Ankle sprain hes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da_Truth Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Ok, well if they were killing them with play action wouldn't you think they could adjust at half time? This is B.S. that we got out coached the way we did today. ALL the blame are on our coaches to make the adjustments and take what the opponent allows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltstorm2 Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Gore is hurt for the next 2 games High Ankle sprain hes out. Well knowing that, Smith/Van Gorder will now foucs on the passing attack because they think the run game will be Frisco's weakness and then Coffee runs for 100+. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nativefalcon Posted September 28, 2009 Author Share Posted September 28, 2009 Well knowing that, Smith/Van Gorder will now foucs on the passing attack because they think the run game will be Frisco's weakness and then Coffee runs for 100+.Your probably right. :unsure: Make a rookie a star. :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasbirdfan Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 So Falcons didn't practice for Run.. LOL what did they expect after giving 5.1 yds per carry.. Even we knew that They might come and run the ballyep. clue #2 was Welker was out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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