Please Read...

[Bergin]

Many used to refer to me as "Dan Reeves". I havent been on the board as often as I once was...but I had to share my thoughts on this topic. Everybody knows we need to run the ball, including our oppposition...but just hear me out.

So I was watching the Sunday Ticket today with my brother, like I do every sunday. We have a firm understanding of the "X's and O's" of football...as both of us are coaches ourselves. I said to my brother..."Am I the only one that notices how important the running game is in the NFL this year"?? He said...well, what about all the spread offense in college...thats putting up 40 points?? Look at the Saints he says to me, they are scoring at will!! I agreed. I think the spread offense is a great college scheme. The "wildcat" is a 50/50 scheme in the NFL. So i began to discuss with him...about teams that are lining up and "pounding" the football...old school style.

Look at those Saints u were talking about. Another week of over 100 yards rushing. How about Denver?? 4-0 because of Kyle Orton...nope. They are running the ball, playing good D. Minnesota...AP...all day. The NYG...always a poundng rushing attack. San Francisco...they run 1st, pass 2nd. Baltimore..."smash mouth". Carolina...well they run good, their Qb just sucks. How about Pittsburgh?? 1-3 cause they are having trouble running. New England beat us because they ran the football. Period.

So, being a die-hard ATL fan for 20 years...I'm hear to state the obvious. We have @SF,CHI,@DAL,@NO in our next 4 games. THE NEXT 4 GAMES WILL DEFINE OUR SEASON. We do well, we have a chance. We dont,...we dont. The only way we have a chance is if we get back to running the football "smash mouth" style. I dont care if its Turner, Norwood, or Snelling...we gotta get the job done. We as fans know this. Our coaches know this. Sadly, so do our opponents. We must run the football to win in this league!!!

- some of you might not care about me, or my brothers opinions...and thats cool with us. All we ask is to hear us out. This isnt science here, we know that. However, even if they know we are gonna run...we still MUST run to win.

Thank you for reading.

F.Bergin

PS- I must say though...if its "impossible" for us to run and win...than we MUST spread the field 4 and 5 wide...and let Matty throw the ball. The San Francisco game on sunday is huge for us. GO FALCONS!!!

[JayOzOne]

I honestly believe it's more important to our squad to stop the run with four down linemen and Lofton. We have an adaptable offense and can find a matchup problem for most defenses. However, if we have to commit Peterson and Nicholas to stopping the run, even a middle of the pack QB is going to exploit our DBs.

[phattywankenobi]

I could actually hear Dan Reeves say "We got to get back to the fundamentals of football". I agree, you have to pound the rock. The thing that has changed on this team is finally in the last year the Falcons actually have a passing game. I believe the O line, Ovie, etc will work hard these 14 days to get the running game going again.

[Durrty]

I agree...BUT, with teams focusing in on our run attack and our OL not playing up to the standard that we all know they can as of late, I think it's also imperative that we mix things up to keep defenses honest. Yes, whenever you can establish the run, it opens up the pass, but you have to be able to score in more than one way. I say we put this offense in the hands of our QB...he's shown he can lead us down the field on numerous drives and he's taken great care of the football this season, so let him make the calls and I gurantee we'll see the run game open up.

[Arkansas Falcon]

I agree...BUT, with teams focusing in on our run attack and our OL not playing up to the standard that we all know they can as of late, I think it's also imperative that we mix things up to keep defenses honest. Yes, whenever you can establish the run, it opens up the pass, but you have to be able to score in more than one way. I say we put this offense in the hands of our QB...he's shown he can lead us down the field on numerous drives and he's taken great care of the football this season, so let him make the calls and I gurantee we'll see the run game open up.

I totally agree.

[FalconMama]

With 3 of the 4 being on the road. To come out of that anything more than 2-2 would be so huge.

[Jaymadd]

I agree...BUT, with teams focusing in on our run attack and our OL not playing up to the standard that we all know they can as of late, I think it's also imperative that we mix things up to keep defenses honest. Yes, whenever you can establish the run, it opens up the pass, but you have to be able to score in more than one way. I say we put this offense in the hands of our QB...he's shown he can lead us down the field on numerous drives and he's taken great care of the football this season, so let him make the calls and I gurantee we'll see the run game open up.

I agree, we need to pick up our run game and the OLine needs to get back opening up those running lanes for Turner.

[atlbravesfalcs7]

i agree. running the ball means controlling the clock, and less time with the ball in the hands of your opponent. perfect example tonight steelers vs chargers. steelers had the ball the entire first half cuz they were pounding it out and controlling the clock.

[Osiruz]

You make good points, however the running game hasn't been too much of a weakness.

Our O-line has been playing below par and allowing Turner to get hit in the back field, and also turner has been trying to get cute, and cutback for the long runs which have been consequentially horrid. In my opinion snelling should be given more carries given that he runs like turner and has a 5.7 YPC average. Another thing is teams key on turner because he is a top 5 NFL player, so we should play action and go downfield much more often than brian billick..err I mean mike mularky has. If that doesn't work, there's a guy in the backfield who by the way happens to have won ROY, and is already an elite level QB ready to go, I think he goes by matt ryan.

Edited October 5, 2009 by osiruz

[Osiruz]

I agree...BUT, with teams focusing in on our run attack and our OL not playing up to the standard that we all know they can as of late, I think it's also imperative that we mix things up to keep defenses honest. Yes, whenever you can establish the run, it opens up the pass, but you have to be able to score in more than one way. I say we put this offense in the hands of our QB...he's shown he can lead us down the field on numerous drives and he's taken great care of the football this season, so let him make the calls and I gurantee we'll see the run game open up.

Amen to that,

when turner got in a bit of a rut last year and teams keyed on him around games 2-5, we went to ryan and our run game benefitted from it exponentially...it baffles me why we havent spread the field and threw the ball deep much.

Edited October 5, 2009 by osiruz

[Old fan]

Not only must we run the ball, we must run it successfully. Running it for the sake of running it, gaining little yardage is hopeless. If an opponent is keying on the run, pass them to death, make them pay dearly, until they back out of the box to defend the pass. Then run it down their throats.

Most teams can not consistently defend both. The coaching staff needs to take what the other team gives us, not force the ground game when it isn't there.

[jm_falcons]

I hear what you are saying.....and I also hear what your are not saying.

Yes....if this Falcons team can run the football...they will win a majority of there games.

When considering the flash of Ryan....the power and quickness of Turner...the hall of fame beast like performances of Gonzo...and the speed of crazy legs Norwood and the talent that Roddy white has. Yes they are great and can be compared to an awsome looking sports car that on paper should dazzle our fans and be the envy of our opponents.

But....and this is what I'm not hearing. The OL is the motor under the hood. I dont care how nice and sporty your car looks...if the motor under the hood is a piece of garbage. the rest of the team is going to follow suit.

As a whole...it is the most important position on the football field and I can argue that all day long.

I've said it before....no blocking = numerous 3 and outs. Then the Defense wears down and there you go.

Oh sure you can run screen passes and short dumpoffs to take the pressure off the OL. But this is the NFL and that stands for Not For Long when you become that 1 dimensional.

If the OL does there job and wins the battle up front...we will roll. Otw...we are going to struggle. Its that simple.

Edited October 5, 2009 by jm_falcons

[putnam6]

I hear what you are saying.....and I also hear what your are not saying.

Yes....if this Falcons team can run the football...they will win a majority of there games.

When considering the flash of Ryan....the power and quickness of Turner...the hall of fame beast like performances of Gonzo...and the speed of crazy legs Norwood and the talent that Roddy white has. Yes they are great and can be compared to an awsome looking sports car that on paper should dazzle our fans and be the envy of our opponents.

But....and this is what I'm not hearing. The OL is the motor under the hood. I dont care how nice and sporty your car looks...if the motor under the hood is a piece of garbage. the rest of the team is going to follow suit.

As a whole...it is the most important position on the football field and I can argue that all day long.

I've said it before....no blocking = numerous 3 and outs. Then the Defense wears down and there you go.

Oh sure you can run screen passes and short dumpoffs to take the pressure off the OL. But this is the NFL and that stands for Not For Long when you become that 1 dimensional.

If the OL does there job and wins the battle up front...we will roll. Otw...we are going to struggle. Its that simple.

I agree OL has lost some of it's nastiness,to bad the Niners played College of Charleston they should be very confident coming into this game.**** good job Singletary has done BTW. Pound the rock and control the clock,Birds need the defense off the field as much as possible.

[bighurt]

I think we have to get back to throwing the ball down field. We played to conservative against New England. I noticed that the Ravens challenged them with deep throws. Had the Ravens QB had more time to throw, he could have made more plays down field. If teams want to stack the box, we should hit them deep. Our defense has been able to get off the field on 3rd down at times, and then have the offense go 3 and out or 1 first down and 3 and out. Our offense has not been playing as well as it did last year maybe because of better teams. But I see a lot of wasted chances from the offense. Our offense made a lot of big plays last year and first 2 games of the seasons this year. We need to get back to that against SF, CHI, and DAL. Look at what the offense did against Carolina in the 2nd Qt. Ryan had 3 TDs in the first half and we shut it down in the second half. Our defense is not able to hold teams all game, we need to get up early on teams like we did last year. I know we have a tougher schedule, but offensively, Matt has been a lot better, but the unit has not been clicking yet. I expect them to get it going against SF this week.

[~SEAMILL~]

Good point, but Baltimore seems to pass a lot more now. Flacco is 3rd in the league in attempts