Great Win at Cleveland

[Peyton]

Just rewatched the game, a couple of times. Great win, as they all are in the NFL. That is especially true this year when it is clear that the line between good and bad in this league is thinner than ever.

So here are some thoughts on the game:

Generally speaking, even though this game wasn't a blowout like the Cardinals game, the key to game was fundamentally similiar. The Falcons offensive line dominated the Browns in the running game and the Falcons defensive line dominated the Browns in the running game.

First player that stuck out for me was Corey Peters. That guy was blowing up some plays yesterday and showing great awareness as well. He sniffed out a screen on the first series and then chased down a sweep on the very next play. In the 3rd quarter he completely blew up the Browns backfield on a 2nd and short run and Chauncey was able to tackle the runner for a 3 yard loss, and the Browns had to punt a down later. Peria Jerry may or may not get back to being a good player after his knee injury, but if he doesn't, it looks like TD might have made up for it by finding this guy in the 3rd round.

Abe dominated Joe Thomas. That might have been the worst domination dude ever suffered. However, Abe did get away with one on that last play when he punched Jake in the head. Abe was a complete stud yesterday.

Hillis made my boy Grimes look silly on the Browns first offensive play, but really, what was Grimes suppose to do differently? Later in the game Hillis steamrolled Curtis Lofton, illustrating why you have to tackle the guy low. On the Grimes jump, just got to credit the guy with being a great athlete.

Grimes did miss a couple of additional tackles, but nothing consequential. It also has to be noted that he made a big tackle in the red zone when the Browns ran the wild cat and Cribbs threw the ball. He had to take on a much bigger player head to head and he cut him down. It was a big play because the Falcons were able to hold the Browns to a FG. Grimes also made an outstanding special teams tackle limiting a kick return to about a 3 yard gain. So, it wasn't all bad on the tackling front for Grimes. And, as usual, he gave up virtually nothing in the passing game. The Browns hardly seemd interested in looking his way.

The Falcons won most of the plays yesterday, but interestingly enough, they had 5 of their worst plays yesterday right in a row following the Falcons FG.

1. Cribbs breaks his only decent kick return all day out to the 45.

2. Dunta gives up a stop pattern for a 14 yard gain that was a little bit too easy.

3. Owens bites way to hard on a play action fake and Stuckey gets an easy gain, then Grimes misses a tackle and 3 more Falcons over run the play, allowing Stuckey to get an extra 5 yards.

4. Dunta gets beat by Massaquoi but dude isn't able to tap his right foot.

5. Kroy Bierman oversells his fake rush and looks like an idiot.

So, the Falcons played a very good game I thought, but that was a bad sequence lol.

The Browns came into the game hellaprepared on defense.....and offense really. Normally when Ryan struggles in the first half it is because of accuracy. Yesterday, he was flat confused, and guys weren't open anyway. It's a real credit to him that he and Mularkey got it together in the second half.

That being said, I thought the Falcons should have run more in the first half. The Falcons o-line was pushing the Browns defense backwards on every play the Falcons ran the ball. Should have made them stop it or at least commit both safeties.

The fumble by Ryan was pretty much all on Matt. His internal clock just didn't work on that play. Interestingly, the Browns made that big play with almost the exact same scheme that Kroy would later make his play on. That is, they overloaded on one side and brought a LB from the other side. Anyway, that was Matt's worst play of the game, but the defense bailed him out there by holding the Browns to a FG.

The flea flicker attempt by the Falcons I thought was a great call, they were just unfortunate that the Browns had a corner blitz called on that play. In retrospect, the result of that play could have been much worse.

Wasn't impressed with Weems yesterday. He was tentative on most of his returns, and seemingly ran directly into defenders he could have avoided a couple of times. The one time he did make a decent return I thought he ran out of bounds prematurely. Wasn't a fan of his work yesterday.

Both safeties dropped EASY interceptions yesterday. Both balls thrown straight to them and neither of them deflected in the slightest.

These are the types of games Atlanta is going to have to win all year long. The lack of WRs who are weapons is catching up to them and we aren't going to see to many explosive days on offense. The good news is that this defense is really coming together so I think the Falcons can compete with anybody.

It wasn't Chris Owens best day in coverage. He didn't really give up anything big but he did show some hesitation on two straight 3rd down conversions and had passes completed against him for 1st downs. Fortunately for him Bierman put a close to that drive in a spectacular way.

Speaking of Bierman, what an incredible effort! Bierman lined up way wide on the play and blitzed Nicholas on the opposite side. Davis dropped into coverage, so it was still just a net 4 man rush. Cleveland simply didn't block Bierman, I guess that would have to be considered another mistake by Joe Thomas. Did I mention that yesterday was probably the worst game of his career?

I don't remember the last time I saw Roddy White get his hands on a ball and not catch it. That guy is playing out of his mind.

I'm starting to think Robinson has some lingering effects from his hamstring injury, causing him to give guys a little too much respect, and I think that is the reason why we are seeing quite a few catches in front of him and slants thrown at him. When he does press the receiver, we've seen a couple of guys get some separation on him. I don't think the guy is 100%, but he is scrapping out there.

I don't know why it takes injuries to get Nicholas on the field, but props to him for stepping up in that situation. The defense didn't miss a beat with him in there, and he was making plays out there.

Anyway, that is all I got for now, I'll add more when I figure out what I missed.

[supremedarius]

Spot on with everything. Our O is not going to be dynamic due to the fact that we do not have explosive players nor is the offense BUILT to be that way. We do not really attack teams weaknesses. I think we JUST go out there and just do what we do best, run the ball, dink and dunk the ball. Play ball control O. It can come back to bite you in the *** but you work through it..

I think if we had another WR, maybe the route combinations would be more effective and teams would back off our WR but until then, either Gonzo or Roddy will be covered every play. Someone else has to step and get OPEN....

[Bullitt]

5. Kroy Bierman oversells his fake rush and looks like an idiot.

Are you referring to the zone blitz? Yeah, I'm not a big fan of seeing DE's drop back into coverage.

[Tim Mazetti]

Thanks for posting. I agree that both lines were outstanding.

[HouseofEuphoria]

Good post, Peyton. +1

[Da_Truth]

Good write up. The only thing I'd add is Ryan needs more patience in the pocket and needs to step up in the pocket instead of back pedaling with defenders chasing him. Also I think our corners are giving too much cushion to these WRs allowing them to complete catches right in front of them. It's not just Robinson either. We need to tighten that up and take that away--especially since we have the pass happy Eagles next week.

[Peyton]

Are you referring to the zone blitz? Yeah, I'm not a big fan of seeing DE's drop back into coverage.

Yeah, that is the one I am talking about. Before he dropped into coverage he tried to fake the line out, and he just way oversold it and found himself cooked.

[HouseofEuphoria]

A couple points i'll comment on:

Abe definitely played his most dominant game since he victimized Jake Long last year. Dude seems to rise up to the challenge when he goes against players who are touted as "one of the best LT in the game".

Corey Peters also had a good game. But you left out JA98s sack..his first in how long? That deserves a mention if not front page news. :P

Chauncey Davis and Babineaux also put in good games as our defensive line cause the Browns all kinds of trouble for 4 quarters.

As far as offensive line, those guys played hard against a pretty good Cleveland defense. And our running game came out on top. Before the game the word on ESPN and from pretty much everyone was: "what are the Falcons gonna do about Hillis and the Browns rushing attack?" and i was thinking..."Heck, what are they gonna do about our rushing attack?"

After 2.5 quarters, the Browns didnt want to play anymore. They didnt want to get hit anymore and they didnt want to hit us anymore. They were like the walking wounded out there. Even the guy who tried to level Gonzo with the helmet-to-helmet hit knocked his own self out. (That hit should have been a penalty, btw)

But, really i think we won this game in the trenches. We knew the Browns were gonna be a tough team, but in the process of grinding out a win, we beat those guys up pretty bad.

[CatfishHunter]

Good write up. The only thing I'd add is Ryan needs more patience in the pocket and needs to step up in the pocket instead of back pedaling with defenders chasing him. Also I think our corners are giving too much cushion to these WRs allowing them to complete catches right in front of them. It's not just Robinson either. We need to tighten that up and take that away--especially since we have the pass happy Eagles next week.

I'm no defensive genius, but I would LOVE to see our corners come up & knock the H*ll out of opposing receivers AT THE LINE!!! This should put them out of their route for a moment, couple that with a blitz at the same time, should result in a sack, or at least, a failed play.

[Peyton]

A couple points i'll comment on:

Abe definitely played his most dominant game since he victimized Jake Long last year. Dude seems to rise up to the challenge when he goes against players who are touted as "one of the best LT in the game".

Corey Peters also had a good game. But you left out JA98s sack..his first in how long? That deserves a mention if not front page news. :P

Chauncey Davis and Babineaux also put in good games as our defensive line cause the Browns all kinds of trouble for 4 quarters.

As far as offensive line, those guys played hard against a pretty good Cleveland defense. And our running game came out on top. Before the game the word on ESPN and from pretty much everyone was: "what are the Falcons gonna do about Hillis and the Browns rushing attack?" and i was thinking..."Heck, what are they gonna do about our rushing attack?"

After 2.5 quarters, the Browns didnt want to play anymore. They didnt want to get hit anymore and they didnt want to hit us anymore. They were like the walking wounded out there. Even the guy who tried to level Gonzo with the helmet-to-helmet hit knocked his own self out. (That hit should have been a penalty, btw)

But, really i think we won this game in the trenches. We knew the Browns were gonna be a tough team, but in the process of grinding out a win, we beat those guys up pretty bad.

I meant to mention the JA sack, it was a nice effort on his part. It was a bit of a coverage sack but he kept fighting on that one. Also Vance Walker did a great job on that play and was there to help JA finish it off.

Also wanted to add what a stud of a guy Tony Gonzalez is. Sheldon Brown put a hit on him that should have knocked him out, and instead it was Brown who got knocked out.

Then two plays later......torched.

[dmite]

Are you referring to the zone blitz? Yeah, I'm not a big fan of seeing DE's drop back into coverage.

On that play, I don't think Kroy oversold the rush, but I believe he expected Hillis to stay in to block.

[atljbo]

+1 Peyton

4 things.

1. I know Weems has allot of fans on the MB but dude is just not the guy as the KR/PR... We have to upgrade this position.

2. The Owens third down plays... I feel like its near impossible for Owens to defend that option route/slants...

3. Stepehen Nicholas should be a starter with Spoon and Lofton.

4. I cant remember the last time we've had so much talent on Defense.

[dmite]

1. I know Weems has allot of fans on the MB but dude is just not the guy as the KR/PR... We have to upgrade this position.

That being said, it would be nice if he could get some blocks. Seems like he had 3-4 free runners at him on some of the kicks.

[atljbo]

That being said, it would be nice if he could get some blocks. Seems like he had 3-4 free runners at him on some of the kicks.

I agree with that on PR's (a couple of times) ... But on KR... I saw blocks... Dude is just not getting it done

[dmite]

I agree with that on PR's (a couple of times) ... But on KR... I saw blocks... Dude is just not getting it done

No, I mean KRs... watch Ovie and a couple others completely whiff.

[Lucky_Tom]

When Jenkins gets back and Weems drops to #5, I wonder if we would think about activating Franks instead and giving him a try. That doesn't seem like a Falcons type of move without any real cause (i.e. fumbles/muffed punts), but I do hope they are looking to upgrade the KR/PR position next year.

[Peyton]

I no what you missed...WE COMPLETED A 45-YARD PASS FOR A TD TODAY!!! :P

Yes, I probably should have mentioned that. It was great to see Matt throw a strike on that one.

[Peyton]

When Jenkins gets back and Weems drops to #5, I wonder if we would think about activating Franks instead and giving him a try. That doesn't seem like a Falcons type of move without any real cause (i.e. fumbles/muffed punts), but I do hope they are looking to upgrade the KR/PR position next year.

No, as long as Weems isn't turning the ball over, they won't replace him. Can't say that I blame them either, holding onto the ball is the most important thing. I just think the guy has pretty poor instincts.