Review of the Falcons @ Steelers

[whitekb011]

Offense:

OL: One of the announcers said it best, "if you look at the Steelers OL, notice how they put D-lineman on the ground. The Falcons OL does not do that." The Steelers Dline played consistenly at or behind the line of scrimage. There is a reason Dahl and Clabo do not have long term deals. They are not good athletes. For as nasty as they seem to be, their nastiness did not show up Sunday. our OL got manhandled by the entire front 7 of Pittsburgh.

QB: Guys, say what you will, but Ryan put a handful of throws in some very tight windows. I saw great improvement on his accurcy. There were several key plays where Ryan put the ball where it needed to be, but some of the targets didn't finish -- IE Norwood droping the dump off and Gonzo stepping out of bounds then coming back in to catch it. The throw that Troy P picked, that ball was in a very good spot, Troy P. made an unbelievable play.

RB/FB: There was no room, but when we did get some room, turner had some nice runs of 4-7 yards. Not much was there all day. I think on the 3rd play of our first drive, if ovie goes inside and blocks 94 (I think that was the guy) that one pops for some serious yards. Instead he went front side into a log jam. The holding call in OT hurt really bad. Norwood showed burst and tuffness when he touched the ball. Snelling not much of a factor.

WR/TE: We had some open receivers yesterday, especially in the middle of the field. Our big gains where in the middle. A couple of times, I saw Douglas streaking down the seam, looked open to me, especially on the Troy P. interception. I will say that they did not get much separation and Gonzo was getting killed off the line.

Defense:

DL: These boys came to play. JA98 was very tuff against the run. Vance Walker played well, Peters penetrated well, and Abe and Bierman played well. I can't really see a whole bunch of fault, excepted the TD run. That whole opened up quick. Looked like someone got caught up in traffic.

LB: Lofton absolutely crushed Dixon and he played at a high level. Spoon, played well and belongs. Peterson made some very nice plays. That unit is very strong and really did a good job shredding and tackling for most of the day.

CB/S: I lumped these two together because the middle of our field was open most of the day, except for the 52 yard completion by Dixon. Ward did well in the center and had that one catch on the sideline. I felt Ward wanted it more than we did. My concern is Grimes outside and Coleman. On the 52 yarder, coleman was late. On the TD run, he was behind. I believe William Moore makes both those plays just because of his speed alone.

Coaching:

Kicking the field goal was the right choice. Away Game, Offense was not moving the ball, and the opposing QB was not moving the ball. Right decision, live to fight another day. PLay calling, I don't think I saw one mis-direction play, like what Pittsburgh opened up with. Defensively, hard to tell, because we played against, basically, a rookie QB.

[Tandy]

I can't find a single thing to argue about. I agree 100% with your assessment this game.

[paulitik]

Yep. Pretty much. I'd be curious on your observations on the coaching/playcalling.

[Osiruz]

trey lewis got blown up on the td play, and mike peterson was blocked into grimes. Matt ryan basically locks on white and gonzales, its easy to read their short routes.

[DoYouSeeWhatHappensLarry]

Absolutely crushing analysis. Excellent post sir.

Two points specifically stuck out to me as things I had noticed

1) Hines Ward was crafty as **** and continued to get open as a result. He never got open simply by beating someone inside, he consistently created defensive traffic and got open on long, drag type routes. It killed us.

2) Coleman really blew the two biggest plays of the game IMO. After struggling a bit last year, I can't imagine he holds his job for much longer playing like this....

[MSalmon]

Absolutely crushing analysis. Excellent post sir.

Two points specifically stuck out to me as things I had noticed

1) Hines Ward was crafty as **** and continued to get open as a result. He never got open simply by beating someone inside, he consistently created defensive traffic and got open on long, drag type routes. It killed us.

2) Coleman really blew the two biggest plays of the game IMO. After struggling a bit last year, I can't imagine he holds his job for much longer playing like this....

Great analysis to the poster; and great adds by Larry. I think if Moore is in game the Mendenhall run doesn't happen and the passing defense improves even more. Coleman seems slower and to have regressed a bit.

It would not suprise me in the least to see Moore starting alongside Decoud soon, because with those two in the game you almost have two extra cbs with LB skills with their speed and range.

Probably most encouraging to me was watching JA98 at DT...He's found his spot. I could see us retaining him (at a lesser price) as a DT. Inside he's quick, stout and gets a nice push. Put him next to Babs or Jerry and i see good things coming.

Also, i bet the defense does some hand drills in practice after those dropped INTs!!

[whitekb011]

Yep. Pretty much. I'd be curious on your observations on the coaching/playcalling.

Playcalling is really hard for a fan to evaluate, it's more scheeme. Offensiviely, we were very predictable, except when Ryan used the no huddle. I think we should have done more 5 wide to spread the field and to take advantage of the matchups. IE Douglas was covered man-to-man by Harrison on one play. Harriso actually did a good job on that play, but that is a matchup that favors the offense most of the day. Deffensively, It's really hard to evaluate this game because the Pittspburgh Playbook was probably scaled down to 15-20 plays for Dixon to run, if not less. I think I saw the same running play over the right side like 20 times.

[whitekb011]

Absolutely crushing analysis. Excellent post sir.

Two points specifically stuck out to me as things I had noticed

1) Hines Ward was crafty as **** and continued to get open as a result. He never got open simply by beating someone inside, he consistently created defensive traffic and got open on long, drag type routes. It killed us.

2) Coleman really blew the two biggest plays of the game IMO. After struggling a bit last year, I can't imagine he holds his job for much longer playing like this....

Thanks.

Ward just wanted the win, he knew he had basicallly a rookie receiver and needed to make a play.

Coleman, he is solid, but not game changing.

I see Owens is listed as the starter now, so that takes away the problem with Grimes. He is a nickle corner. Robinson should have the rust off by now, so we will see next week against Arizona. I personally believe we run all over them just because smitty is threatening people with their jobs this week. He aint playing... He was really mad at the team.

[whitekb011]

Great analysis to the poster; and great adds by Larry. I think if Moore is in game the Mendenhall run doesn't happen and the passing defense improves even more. Coleman seems slower and to have regressed a bit.

It would not suprise me in the least to see Moore starting alongside Decoud soon, because with those two in the game you almost have two extra cbs with LB skills with their speed and range.

Probably most encouraging to me was watching JA98 at DT...He's found his spot. I could see us retaining him (at a lesser price) as a DT. Inside he's quick, stout and gets a nice push. Put him next to Babs or Jerry and i see good things coming.

Also, i bet the defense does some hand drills in practice after those dropped INTs!!

Thanks, I am a moore and ownes fan because they play with the same type mentality. If you watch moore in the preseason, watch the outside runs and look how he comes up and lays people out. He can intimidate. I think we see him on the field soon too. This is a good week against Arizona to go out and show us the Money... Think Jerry McGuire

[whitekb011]

I can't find a single thing to argue about. I agree 100% with your assessment this game.

Thanks Tandy. Hope you are well.

[FalconMama]

On 680 yesterday Hines Ward stated that Matt Ryan locked into Roddy way too much and the Troy P pick came from him knowing exactly where Ryan was going with the ball..

Great play by Troy indeed, not so great that he knew where it was going before the ball left Matt's hand.

That is predictable playcalling.

[FL Falcon]

Spot on!!! +1

I think Smith made the right call on the field goal as well

[vel]

I can't blame Ryan for locking onto Roddy so much if that deep out/comeback was working ALL game. Mularkey kept calling it. Roddy had run that "fake the post and comeback" route all game that I was waiting for a post corner deep because even the corner knew the route after a while. I just think if we took a couple shots deep we would have opened up the defense a lot more than the short dink and dunks we were pulling.

[whitekb011]

Spot on!!! +1

I think Smith made the right call on the field goal as well

Yea, when he was thinking about going for it, I was like... Noooooooo then he kicked the Field Goal, good call. OL play really was upsetting.

[whitekb011]

I can't blame Ryan for locking onto Roddy so much if that deep out/comeback was working ALL game. Mularkey kept calling it. Roddy had run that "fake the post and comeback" route all game that I was waiting for a post corner deep because even the corner knew the route after a while. I just think if we took a couple shots deep we would have opened up the defense a lot more than the short dink and dunks we were pulling.

Agree, Douglas and even Finn were streaking free down field. Problem was, Ryan could not step up in the pockett that much. Also, most of the pressure came from 4 man pressure and sometimes 5 man pressure.

[ghostofdonkey]

On 680 yesterday Hines Ward stated that Matt Ryan locked into Roddy way too much and the Troy P pick came from him knowing exactly where Ryan was going with the ball..

Great play by Troy indeed, not so great that he knew where it was going before the ball left Matt's hand.

That is predictable playcalling.

Nope, that's predictable QB play.

Ryan has other options, him knowing they've gone to that play a handful of times should have had his inner voice yelling him to look to Roddy then go elsewhere. Ryan is a robot, that's why he got picked a critical point in the game and he will continue to get picked at critical points in games.