The difference between Pre and Regular Season

[Falcon Freddie]

On the Falcons' last possession of the game (last not counting that one play possession at the very end), the Falcons were 4th and 4 on the ATL 42, with 3:14 left in the game, and 4 points behind. So, what did the Falcons do? They punted, therefore almost without doubt ensuring a Jaguars win.

Under these special circumstances I really don't fault the Falcons for doing this. My thinking is the Falcons – and probably the Jaguars – wanted to end this nothing game ASAP. Also, punting gave the Falcons staff one last look at the defensive guys trying to make the roster. (Many posters seem to not realize that pre-season games are simply glorified practice sessions.)

I would hope if this were a regular season game the Falcons under this circumstance would have tried to keep possession instead of punting. I think Ryan would certainly be insisting on going for it. But the main goals of pre-season are to keep injuries to a minimum and give some guys their chance (although, sadly, most of the "walk ons" at this point have little better likelihood to make the final roster than I do.)

So now the Falcons finish the pre-season with a 2-2 record. That record doesn't bother me in the slightest. Bring on now the regular season, where we can start seeing some real football.

(You may wish to call up the below link from CBS Sports.COM showing the standings for the preseason. Perhaps someone can discern some significance in the pre-season stats.)

Link: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/standings

[The Falcon Jedi]

Game 4 mostly decides who plays on Special Teams or gets cut. That is why we punted. This game was more about Special Teams players.

[Dharma Initiative]

I was gonna say 10 more wins.

[dmite]

if this had been a regular season game we would have never found ourselves on a 4th down against the jaguars defense

We wouldn't have found ourselves down to the Jaguars either.