Jeff Schultz update

[The Falcon Jedi]

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Jeff Schultz

August 19th, 2010

11:48 pm

Folks, just updated the column with some fresh Ryan quotes.

FYI, spent some time in Mike Smith’s press conference and he was pretty upset with performance, from top to bottom. I’m sure D-Led will have it covered. I’d expect an angry coaching staff at practice this week, leading up to the Miami game next Friday.

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I know most of you think im always so negative, but the bottom line is WE SUCKED bad tonight. And the coaching staff is angry. It's not just me. The coaching staff saw the same fundamental flaws that I saw, and they are inexcusable - pre-season or not. The things this team Failed at tonight should NOT, CAN NOT be tolerated. The Falcons have been projected in pre-season rankings as a top-3 NFC team. That will likely change after tonight. We will be lucky to stay in the top 7.

Folks, I am not here to proclaim gloom and doom. I watched the game. I watched it very closely. We broke down in most every aspect. You always need a measuring stick to gauge your team by, and the Patriots are a solid stick to do that against. And this is where we are. Against one of the best NFL teams, we do not measure up. Not yet.

Lots of work to do, lots of improvement to make, but this team still has a ways to go before it can compete for a SB title.

The final score doesnt matter. All that matters is what I saw when the Patriots 1st team steam-rolled our 1st team for 1 quarter. I saw fundamental breakdowns on defense that cannot carry into the regular season. Sean Weatherspoon maybe needs to just be a backup LB at this point. He looked horrible tonight. Kroy Bierman should be the starting DE.

Ryan looked good, made some really good throws. Matt Bryant - come on Man! Our FG kicker situation is as tenuous as it was last season. Tony G. made a great catch, dropped an easy one. Roddy White got mauled on a play that should have been pass interference. Antone Smith screwed up not turning around on a blitz. The WRs on this team need to get it together.

The Middle of this Defense looked Horrible. No excuse for letting Fred Taylor run through the middle of this team the way he did. That MUST be fixed, above all else. The one thing that this team MUST do is stop the RUN down the MIDDLE. If we cant do that, then call it a season. The one thing we were always good at is stopping the RUN. If we cant stop Fred Taylor, then who can we stop?

I expect game 3 to be much different than this game. I hope.

[A-TowN.-]

Not like it wasn't obvious

[FalconMama]

Well I guess y'all can throw the notion of preseason not mattering out the window huh? :unsure:

[The Falcon Jedi]

Well I guess y'all can throw the notion of preseason not mattering out the window huh? :unsure:

Like I said, its not the final score. It's the Fundamental Break downs that matter. And yes that did contribute to the Final Score. This team has a lot of problems that need to be corrected, quickly.

[paulitik]

I agree, I'm not that down on Spoon, because Pete didn't play much better, and Spoon's still trying to absorb 2 LB positions. He's just a step behind. He'll get there soon.

[The Don™]

We fix the fundamentals and we look soooo much better. The fundamentals is what killed us. I'm not worried.

[madman88]

>>

Jeff Schultz

August 19th, 2010

11:48 pm

Folks, just updated the column with some fresh Ryan quotes.

FYI, spent some time in Mike Smiths press conference and he was pretty upset with performance, from top to bottom. Im sure D-Led will have it covered. Id expect an angry coaching staff at practice this week, leading up to the Miami game next Friday.

>>

I know most of you think im always so negative, but the bottom line is WE SUCKED bad tonight. And the coaching staff is angry. It's not just me. The coaching staff saw the same fundamental flaws that I saw, and they are inexcusable - pre-season or not. The things this team Failed at tonight should NOT, CAN NOT be tolerated. The Falcons have been projected in pre-season rankings as a top-3 NFC team. That will likely change after tonight. We will be lucky to stay in the top 7.

Folks, I am not here to proclaim gloom and doom. I watched the game. I watched it very closely. We broke down in most every aspect. You always need a measuring stick to gauge your team by, and the Patriots are a solid stick to do that against. And this is where we are. Against one of the best NFL teams, we do not measure up. Not yet.

Lots of work to do, lots of improvement to make, but this team still has a ways to go before it can compete for a SB title.

The final score doesnt matter. All that matters is what I saw when the Patriots 1st team steam-rolled our 1st team for 1 quarter. I saw fundamental breakdowns on defense that cannot carry into the regular season. Sean Weatherspoon maybe needs to just be a backup LB at this point. He looked horrible tonight. Kroy Bierman should be the starting DE.

Ryan looked good, made some really good throws. Matt Bryant - come on Man! Our FG kicker situation is as tenuous as it was last season. Tony G. made a great catch, dropped an easy one. Roddy White got mauled on a play that should have been pass interference. Antone Smith screwed up not turning around on a blitz. The WRs on this team need to get it together.

The Middle of this Defense looked Horrible. No excuse for letting Fred Taylor run through the middle of this team the way he did. That MUST be fixed, above all else. The one thing that this team MUST do is stop the RUN down the MIDDLE. If we cant do that, then call it a season. The one thing we were always good at is stopping the RUN. If we cant stop Fred Taylor, then who can we stop?

I expect game 3 to be much different than this game. I hope.

well fred taylor is the only RB to have a 100 yrd run on us last year, but the middle of the defense reminded me back in 08... scarey thought... but at the sametime this is where u want to make these mistakes, in the preseason. spoon will be fine, he made some good plays out there and some rookie plays... i think ur being a lil harsh for two preseason games on him.... as long as he keeps improving he will be fine

Edited August 20, 2010 by madman88

[King ED]

Well I guess y'all can throw the notion of preseason not mattering out the window huh? :unsure:

It doesn't matter when it comes to trying to predict regular season performances/success.

[swgadirtybird]

It doesn't matter when it comes to trying to predict regular season performances/success.

OK so based on last nights performance only how would you predict we would do in regular season..

[birds_till_death]

Well I guess y'all can throw the notion of preseason not mattering out the window huh? :unsure:

Normally, i am on the opposite end of the opinion spectrum from falcon jedi, but i agree with him here. the things in this preseason game do matter. He's not complaining about a lack of blitzing, or play calling which is what does not matter in preseason.

He's talking about the missed tackles, the hitting and not wrapping up. Yes it is preseason, so it's not a death nail for our team, but it is also something to be aware of and addressed, like the coaching staff stated. That is a fundamental breakdown, and a player on player talent level breakdown. those things are what the pre-season is for, and those are the things we were very poor at last night.

I'm not condeming the team, i don't want to speak for jedi, but i don't believe he is either. But dismissing those and saying, ehhh, it's preseason who cares is wrong also. there's a middle ground, you gotta figure out what is important in a preseason game and what isn't. Luckily, from Smitty's press conference last night, he knows what is important and they will try to correct it so it doesn't happen again, preseason or not.

[Dr. Billings]

Jeff Schultz is a fair weather fan. He is a Rat Jumping Ship. What an idiot. How can he evaluate a preseason game so critically. Weatherspoon is the second coming of Ray Lewis, wait until the regular season starts. <sarcasm off>

[FalconMama]

It doesn't matter when it comes to trying to predict regular season performances/success.

Never said it did but not playing fundamentally sound football even during the preseason will adversely effect regular season performance/success. That's why Smith is upset, so yes to him preseason DOES matter.

I don't care about the score but I do care about my team getting their ***** kicked up and down the field. Especially if we're supposed to be a playoff team.

[MagnusXXIII]

1. We played the game without a significant number of our defensive starters.

2. The refs spotted Brady 7 points.

3. The uncharacteristic drop from Gonzalez ultimately cost us points.

I agree:

1. Weatherspoon needs time develop ... hips did not look as fluid as billed.

2. Their Offensive line appeared dominate.

3. What happened to our run defense?

[e.lo]

I agree, I'm not that down on Spoon, because Pete didn't play much better, and Spoon's still trying to absorb 2 LB positions. He's just a step behind. He'll get there soon.

I agree with you on Spoon. I just think they should have started out just training him at one of the linebacker positions to start with. Jumping to the NFL from college is tough enough just learning one position, let alone two.

[Falcons_own_nfc_south]

ON lots of their run play, They spread our D. Show us the pass but they ran all over us.

[Falconsfan567]

Game 3 is when everyone treats it like a regular season game. That means Matt Ryan will play well into the 3rd quarter. That means that we should expect to see all the starters on defense (FINALLY!). We'll have a good read on where we stand.

[g-dawg]

Falcon Jedi, could not find one thing in your post that I disagreed with.

Bottom-line, Falcons do not "measure up" yet against the upper echelon teams and I put the Patriots in that category...

hopefully progress will be made so that we can get there. If that was a regular season game and the starters played the whole game, it would have looked much like last year's game. We probably would have lost 38-16. It would not have been close. To let some 33 year old RB like Fred Taylor run the ball down our throat was very demoralizing.

[Supes™]

To me, the game last night served the exact purpose of what preseason games are intended to do, which is mostly to evaluate new players along with giving the vets some warm-up time. Yeah, we looked bad and naturally Smitty is upset, but far better to look bad now than on Sept. 12th in Pittsburgh.

We're gonna be fine.

[Dedsquirl]

I have to stick a lot of this on Peterson.

He was on rollerskates all night.

Not only was he getting blocked, he was getting blocked into other defenders.

There was one play where the G practically threw him into Lofton and the other LB (couldn't tell if it was Spoon or Nick).

So the Guard effectively blocked our whole Linebacking Corps.

Alge made him his Beeyotch.

There were other players not putting out great effort.

Our whole DL looked like they were playing high.

But Peterson should be embarrassed.

[g-dawg]

To me, the game last night served the exact purpose of what preseason games are intended to do, which is mostly to evaluate new players along with giving the vets some warm-up time. Yeah, we looked bad and naturally Smitty is upset, but far better to look bad now than on Sept. 12th in Pittsburgh.

We're gonna be fine.

Well, what I like about it is this - every team needs a good "butt-kicking" every now and then and Falcons were getting lots of bouquets thrown their way in the off-season and, while never satisfied, I think the Falcons coaches/players thought they were further along than they really are.

Better to get the wake-up call in preseason. We got one last year as well when the SanDiego Chargers exposed our defense in preseason.

[falconidae]

To me, the game last night served the exact purpose of what preseason games are intended to do, which is mostly to evaluate new players along with giving the vets some warm-up time. Yeah, we looked bad and naturally Smitty is upset, but far better to look bad now than on Sept. 12th in Pittsburgh.

We're gonna be fine.

Exactly

[Goal Line D]

I hope Smitty works them to death this week! There is a LOT that needs fixing.

This 3rd down stuff is going to make me crazy I swear!!!

[Hashbrown3]

g-dawg makes a legit point in that every team can benefit from a good "butt-kicking". I agree. I hated it but it goes a long ways to humbling our team. It grounds them in reality and lets them know that all these high expectations for our team are real and to win, we must improve. we'll lick our wounds for a day and then work out a real nice "pissed-off-violence-session" from hear on out. One thing Bellichek understands is hard core trench warfare and I am sure he took this game more serious than us. He wanted to let TD and staff understand that although they shared some background, we plan on kicking ur a$$es when all the practice pleasantries are done... We will regroup!!!

[Arkansas Falcon]

To me, the game last night served the exact purpose of what preseason games are intended to do, which is mostly to evaluate new players along with giving the vets some warm-up time. Yeah, we looked bad and naturally Smitty is upset, but far better to look bad now than on Sept. 12th in Pittsburgh.

We're gonna be fine.

That's right. 100%.

[Falcons_own_nfc_south]

Ryan and Turner both looked good. Turner was in game more than I expected (catching balls hmmmm)

On our 1st drive, When NE brought a blitz we had a rookie Smith RB, who didn't turn around his head. We are not going to put rookie (PS) in our real game for this type of play. No Wonder, Smith and Ryan pulling for Norwood since he's been in system for while.

OL played good, Ryan had better time in Pocket than 1st pre-season game.

Penalties were down from last game.

D looked bad (lots of mis-tackling) but again it's fixable plus it's a pre-season. We didn't plan for this game so Coach Smith and co were trying different look and see what's working or not.

GA Dome is becoming hard place to put FG from 45+ (had to throw this in there) LOL