Concerned with Falcons Beatdown?

[nativefalcon]

First and foremost, let’s all repeat it together: it’s just preseason. The games don’t count and there’s no trophy for blasting opponents and going undefeated. Preseason is a time for players to get into playing shape and mentality. It’s a time for coaches to get a good glimpse of players in real game situation and decide who stays, who goes, and who starts. That being said, it was more than a little worrisome to see the Falcons look completely disinterested to be there against one of the best teams of the 21st century, on national television, and at home in The Dome. Yes it is preseason, but the Falcons were pushed around, manhandled, and pretty much embarrassed by the Patriots. With the Birds supposedly having one of the deepest rosters in recent memory and a several spots open, fans would hope to see a better showing. Although the big test awaits in the coveted “third game” in Miami, is there reason for concern as the regular season awaits right around the corner?

1) Are You Concerned?

We know, we know, we know. It’s preseason and it means nothing, but……its hard to argue that simply putting in a game-plan, getting a few players healthy, and turning on the “real game” mentality will automatically solve some issues that have plagued the Falcons for the past two years. One of the biggest problems last year was their inability to get off the field on 3rd down. Guess what popped up again? Offensive coordinator may get more criticism that he deserves sometimes, but the Falcons had serious issues converting on third down as they neared the red zone and unable to put up any points on otherwise good and long drives. Guess what popped up again (and has all preseason)? The Birds may well have lost several games with field goals that could have easily been made by Jason Elam. Guess what popped up again…..and again……and again? Once again it’s only preseason, but some of the issues that were supposedly addressed in the off-season have reared their ugly head again in preseason. Thinking the pass defense woes in preseason last year would evaporate when the regular season started ended up with the Birds finishing near dead last in the NFL in that very category. So……are you concerned?

2) What Will Be at Receiver?

Can Weems Produce? (CCompton/AJC)

The wide receiver bad luck continues in 2010 with Michael Jenkins being out 4-6 weeks with a shoulder injury and the heart breaking news of Kerry Meier being lost for the year. Even though Meier would have only been the fourth wide receiver at best and likely come along slowly, he was having a great camp and some thought he would eventually push his way up the depth chart as the season rolled along. There already was a major fight brewing for the final receiver spot involving Eric Weems, Brian Finneran, Brandon Harvey, Ryan Wolfe, Troy Bergeron, and several others. The Falcons could possibly even carry 6 receivers now that Jenkins will likely miss a few games. Even though he’s done little as a receiver, Weems seems to have a lead due to his special teams duties and Finneran seemingly will take another spot with his veteran experience and sure hands. Brandyn Harvey and Ryan Wolfe will have to make some huge strides in the next two weeks to claim one of those spots. Even though Weems and Finneran will add some security, does it upgrade last year’s receiving corps at all? Troy Bergeron has certainly put in his duties on and off the practice squad and looked good in action the other night, but can he finally make the leap? Many will say that Weems and Finneran will add a sense of safety to the roster, but will it infuse the much needed talent at receiver? Decisions await.

3) How Bad Will the Kicking Game Get?

Most fans rarely ever question Coach Mike Smith and General Manager Thomas Dimitroff’s decisions about the roster and team overall. Their ability to stock the Falcons roster up and down with talent at almost every position has been pretty unbelievable. They always get the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. That being said, its hard to understand what they’re thinking at kicker. Dimitroff made a strong statement when he signed possible Hall of Famer Jason Elam to a four year, $9 million dollar contract when he was 38. The Falcons GM obviously knew how important the kicking game was. The plan went wonderful in 2008 with Elam being a major part of the playoff. Run. That same plan quickly unraveled when Elam started to struggle mightily. Its hard to say that the Falcons would have necessarily won a few games due to missed field goals, including New Orleans, Carolina, and New York Giants, but those field goals could have easily changed the complexion of the game and potentially led to a win or two. The front office gave him plenty of time to correct his mistake, but after going 8-15 in field goals over 30 yards the Falcons had to make a change. They picked up Matt Bryant at 34 year old and was a little more consistent, but still missed 3 field goals in 10 attempts. Seemingly, the Falcons wanted a serious competition between Bryant, Steve Hauschka, and undrafted rookied Garrett Lindholm. Most fans expected the battle to go all the way to final cut down day with the best man winning. Inexplicably, the front office cut Lindholm without even giving him a chance (Colts have since picked him up) and cut Steve Hauschka after missing one field goal, thus handing the keys over to Matt Bryant, who has already missed 2 out of 4 field goals in preseason. Can anyone explain how the Birds are in any better situation than last year? Hard to imagine this was what they had planned and the question remains: how bad will it get at kicker?

4) Should Brian Van Gorder Receive More Criticism?

Look Familiar? (CCompton/AJC)

The beloved former University of Georgia defensive coordinator (you know the one that actually had his defenses prepared?) has had mixed success as the Falcons defensive coordinator under Coach Mike Smith. The first year under Van Gorder saw the Falcons overachieving with less talent, but more veteran leadership and experience. The surprising defense was a main reason for the Falcons resurgence in 2008. Thomas Dimitroff oversaw a complete overhaul in 2009, releasing 5 starters on defense (Keith Brooking, Lawyer Milloy, Michael Boley, Grady Jackson, and Dominique Foxworth) and the youth movement was sure to see some growing pains. It surely did. The pass defense was atrocious, failed to put any pressure on opposing QBs, and absolutely could not get off the field on 3rd down to save their life. After multiple injuries and a very poor performance for most of the year, the Falcons D started to gel somewhat towards the end of the year. Curtis Lofton continued his ascension and the Falcons started to see great glimpses of young guns Thomas DeCoud, Christopher Owens, Brent Grimes, Stephen Nicholas, and Kroy Biermann. They also got good play out of journeyman Thomas Johnson and 7th round draft pick Vance Walker at defensive tackle. Dimitroff then added one of the best cornerbacks on the free agent market and used the first round pick on arguably the best linebacker in the draft in Sean Weatherspoon. Unquestionably, the Falcons have gotten more talented on defense and that’s not even including Peria Jerry and William Moore’s potential. So when the same old problem reappeared on Thursday night (little pressure and terrible on 3rd down again), many may start pushing a little blame towards Van Gorder, who’s definitely gotten more of a pass than his counterpart Mike Mularkey. Yes, it’s preseason and you never want to give away too much, but should Brian Van Gorder start feeling the heat a little more if the Falcons defense doesn’t improve? How can he not?

http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-falcons-fans/2010/08/22/concerned-with-falcons-beatdown/?cxntfid=blogs_atlanta_falcons_fans

The guy pretty much put down what we have been talking about.

[sdogg]

Preseason or no preseason...they better show out on Fri night. Starters should play at least a full half and there is some game planning. No excuse not to score some points and to tackle on initial contact.

Edited August 23, 2010 by sdogg

[nativefalcon]

Preseason or no preseason...they better show out on Fri night. Starters should play at least a full half and there is some game planning. No excuse not to score some points and to tackle on initial contact.

I agree,

The writer though on the article, its not D-Led sounds like he has been in the message board taking notes. :P

[SWIFT HITTER]

cant wait to watch the vanilla offense with Mularky 7 yard curls/stops and run off tackle..and throw in a roll out and were set

[Shuswap]

cant wait to watch the vanilla offense with Mularky 7 yard curls/stops and run off tackle..and throw in a roll out and were set

That does'nt matter because your not a falcons fan.

[Falcons 'til Death]

1 ) No I'm not that concerned now. I bet this up coming week Smith and his coaches will pound these guys so that the same mistakes won't be repeated in the next game. One of the things I love about this staff is the fact they move quickly to address problems so that they don't became bigger ones. If I see the same problems like missed tackles appear in the Miami game, I will become more concerned.

2 ) Meier's unfortunate injury opened the door for one of the remaining receiver's on the roster. One from the group of Wolfe, Harvey, or Bergeron will now get a legit shot of making the final cut instead of us risking of putting them on the PS and having another team put in the claim for their services.

3 ) Since Bryant no longer has to look over his shoulder and see who's breathing down his neck, he has a little more freedom to experiment and try different things. Maybe a different pair of shoes whatever. If that's the case I'd rather see it during the preseason than the regular season. Not worried yet.

4 ) Van Gorder has got a young defense to work with and with those young players comes some bone-head plays. We all have to exercise some patience and wait for them to develop because that's the direction the FO has elected to take. As far has him receiving criticism there will always be some second guessing going on about some plays, but the people calling for his head don't understand that he's Smith's hand picked man to run his defense. Unless he totally screws up I think his job his safe.

[KMarch]

This article is actually good. I'm not sure if any of this questioning gets back to Flowery Branch, but its good for coordinators and the FO to know that we have a rabid fan base that really cares about this franchise. While, like Ledbetter, I'm hesitant to form an opinion b/c its preseason, that doesn't mean that we should let MM and BVG (and the kicking situation) have a free pass if things go poorly. This is how all media and fans react in big markets, b/c they expect winning.

I'm hoping for the best, and that all the facets mentioned above work well this season. But, if they don't, then there will certainly have to be changes made at the end of this season.

Let's kick some a-ss, Falcons!

[JayOzOne]

I'm in the minority of fans that believes that the reactions by many Falcons fans is an exercise in knee jerking. Of course we want the team to look great every outing, but when you have new pieces you have to see what works and what doesn't. Missing half of our projected starting defensive backfield shouldn't be discounted, nor should the fact that we took #2 and #33 out of the game way early compared to a lot of other teams this weekend.

I'll be worried if we come out flat against Pittsburgh in game 1, but certainly not against the Pats (or anybody else) in the pre-season.

[Chili Dog]

Van Gorder has got to step up on the schemes. Luck in 08 is an understatement. After watching every game for season after season, blowouts and letdowns, still watched every snap. Last season, I seriously had to cut it off mid game and just walk away. There wasn't even a defense on the field last season IMO. It was disgusting to see the Browns, Rams, Bucs, Lions, etc have a better 3rd down defense than the Falcons. It's got to change.

[nativefalcon]

I'm in the minority of fans that believes that the reactions by many Falcons fans is an exercise in knee jerking. Of course we want the team to look great every outing, but when you have new pieces you have to see what works and what doesn't. Missing half of our projected starting defensive backfield shouldn't be discounted, nor should the fact that we took #2 and #33 out of the game way early compared to a lot of other teams this weekend.

I'll be worried if we come out flat against Pittsburgh in game 1, but certainly not against the Pats (or anybody else) in the pre-season.

I agree with you, the Vikings got beat by the 49ers, surprised NOPE, Pre-season, was quite funny though because Brett Farve on his first pass, they did a blitz package and surprised the he-ll out of ****, he went rolling like a sack of potatoes. :P

[1989Fan]

If Bryant isnt STELLAR against Miami I expect to see Haushka or another kicker back in camp.

TD and Smith know how the kicking game kept us out of the playoffs last season, and wont just look past it and figure it'll all be OK.

In the dome, our kicker should be 80% plus no excuses. And with how our offense has stalled inside the 20, we NEED those points, and there is no excuse to miss a kick under 45 in these conditions, especially not 50% of them.

I thought Haushka would win this job, and he obviously didnt, but maybe the FO jumped to soon in handing Bryant the keys.

As for WR, I think Harvey will be the guy to make a leap, if any. I expected more from Wolfe, but he has been a no show.

and the CBs, pass defense...come on AJC. We have our 2 best CBs not playing, and it is preseason, w little to no blitzing, etc. What kind of pass defense do you expect? I wont be worried unless I see us get burned against Miami with Robinson, Owens, Robinson and Grimes in there. I do think we keep 6 CBs, I just cant see this team letting go of Jackson or Franks. They are both young and have alot of potential. If anything, I could see us trading Grimes, Owens or Jackson...but even that is doubtfull

[Rickey]

You don't have to win preseason games but don't get thrown around like chumps.

[BruceReville]

2008 PreSeason

Jacksonville 17-20 loss - Board melted down - Question drafting Ryan talk of Redman starting the year

Indianapolis 9-16 loss - Board called for OC head and said Redman needed to start

Tennesse 17-3 win - Board focused on positive defensive play - debate began that maybe Ryan should start

Baltimore 10-9 win - Board focused on positive defenive play but questioned the offensive production and starting QB situation

Final 2008 Record 11-6

2009 PreSeason

Detroit 26-27 loss - Board melted down called for DC head

St Louis 20-13 win - Board focused on positives and rookies

San Diego 27-24 win - Board was giddy with itself said it was Super Bowl or bust for the Falcons

Baltimore 3-20 loss - Board melted down called for OC & DC heads - looked for Super Bowl revenge

Final 2009 Record 9-7

Notice the trend?

[controlfreak]

Am I the only one who isn't concerned about result of the 2nd preseason game? I expected our defense to look exactly how it did. I expected Matt to come out passing, and for the offense to be vanilla. I also expected the O-line to have problems and they did.

Let's take a look at the def first.

With Corey Peters (early injury), JA98, Brian Williams, Brent Grimes,Will Moore, Dunta Robinson, and Peria Jerry sitting on the sidelines, how could anyone think Tom Brady and co would be held in check. It is my opinion that at some point during the season all of the aforementioned players will start or play significant minutes. TD brought in 3 "fresh legs" for the secondary and they got smoked just like I and anybody else should have expected.

2. The offense is what it is. Michael Jenkins is more important to the offense than most think. I thought a couple of runs would have gone farther if he had been in there blocking.

3. The O line always and I mean always takes take time to sync. With players being rotated and coaches experimenting with personnel there tends to be lapses in execution. The line will play better.

So lighten up, see this preseason as it is, and expect us to make a run for the Lombardi!