A TDWII Observation: Pressure is on Mularkey

[ol'_dirty2]

The pressure is on everyone this year. /end thread.

Yeah after the MNF Saints game and the Packers playoff game...everyone from top to bottom needs to RISE UP. Defense needs to knuckle up and get consistent pressure and TO's. Offense...open it up.

[delaigle]

And 0-2 in the playoff by being out coached!

GB won the super bowl averaging 24.2 points per game

Az -30 Atl -24

GB -48 Atl -21

seems more of a problem with defense than offense

21 or 24 points should be enough to win a game if you had any kind of defense.

Yet it's MM under the gun and you give BVG and Smith a total pass??????

Edited June 24, 2011 by delaigle

[peoriabird]

GB won the super bowl averaging 24.2 points per game

Az -30 Atl -24

GB -48 Atl -21

seems more of a problem with defense than offense

21 or 24 points should be enough to win a game if you had any kind of defense.

Yet it's MM under the gun and you give BVG and Smith a total pass??????

1st of all, the offense had under 100 total yards in the 1st half ending up with a total of 194 yards of total offense for the game with 4 turnovers and 5 sacks. They score only 14 points and had 15 first downs 4 by penalty. Averaged 3.2 yard per rush for a total of 49 yards on the ground. 3-10 on third down with Ryan's quarterback rating being 69. I would say that was pretty bad.

[vel]

GB won the super bowl averaging 24.2 points per game

Az -30 Atl -24

GB -48 Atl -21

seems more of a problem with defense than offense

21 or 24 points should be enough to win a game if you had any kind of defense.

Yet it's MM under the gun and you give BVG and Smith a total pass??????

The first game was a good game for such a young team in 08. The Cardinals just made a few more plays than us. Losing by 6 isn't bad.

The second game the offense scored 7, SEVEN, SIETE points in the first 3 quarters. The game was decided before the fourth quarter where they scored their last TD. You know how you help a defense when the opposing offense is on fire? Keep the opposing offense on the bench by sustaining drives. You know why we couldn't do that? Because you, me, and the Packers all knew the plays being ran. Period. Yes the defense could have stepped up and made a play, but they were gassed and weren't deep enough to handle the 4 and 5 wide looks the Pack was giving us. They were on the field majority of the game with no offensive drives to let them catch their breath and regroup.

The Pack would score, the defense would go to the sideline, watch kickoff, first down and second down and then have to start getting ready to go back in on third down because fourth down was going to be a punt. After a half of this and you are done.

That is how we beat teams. We wore them out over the course of the game so when the fourth quarter came, they were dead. But the Packers wore our defense out in 2 quarters.

[delaigle]

1st of all, the offense had under 100 total yards in the 1st half ending up with a total of 194 yards of total offense for the game with 4 turnovers and 5 sacks. They score only 14 points and had 15 first downs 4 by penalty. Averaged 3.2 yard per rush for a total of 49 yards on the ground. 3-10 on third down with Ryan's quarterback rating being 69. I would say that was pretty bad.

true but what did the D do during that game

6TDs 2FGs

442 yds total

31 of 36 passes for 346 yds

for the regular season avg per game

falcons scored more points per game

falcons gained 17 total yds per game less

so their offense was nearly average with the super bowl champs but still not good enough???

Look you see it your way(poor O) and I see it mine(poor D), let's don't make a big deal out of it.

You are welcome to your opinion, I was just stating mine, not trying to call you out or even say you are wrong just stating mine

Edited June 24, 2011 by delaigle

[freebird310]

Don't understand why some blame the D, some the O, some the coaching some blame Ryan.......helll, we sucked in all facets, it was a total team loss/disaster, no one particular entity is entirely to blame ..........

[peoriabird]

true but what did the D do during that game

6TDs 2FGs

442 yds total

31 of 36 passes for 346 yds

for the regular season avg per game

falcons scored more points per game

falcons gained 17 total yds per game less

so their offense was nearly average with the super bowl champs but still not good enough???

Look you see it your way(poor O) and I see it mine(poor D), let's don't make a big deal out of it.

You are welcome to your opinion, I was just stating mine, not trying to call you out or even say you are wrong just stating mine

Here is the problem...The offense had 4 of the top 51 players of 2011 on it and the Defense has zero! So who do you expect to perform better?

[vel]

Here is the problem...The offense had 4 of the top 51 players of 2011 on it and the Defense has zero! So who do you expect to perform better?

The offense with numerous Pro Bowlers. 7 points...

[falconidae]

Here is the problem...The offense had 4 of the top 51 players of 2011 on it and the Defense has zero! So who do you expect to perform better?

Abe made the top 100.

If there was 125% blame, there still wouldn't be enough to go around. Coaches, Offense, Defense, falcons won as a team last year and lost as a team last year.

D gets the biggest share of the blame-overall, in the modern playoffs, the winning team's D has held the opposition to 14.67 points a game [stats from wiki]. Falcons gave up 3 times that.

Coaches get a big chunk too, as does the Offense. STs did OK, but a couple more big returns wouldn't have hurt either.

Only individual I'd single out for blame is Ryan, think the D as a group is more responsible for the loss, he's the only individual who could have made a difference. And considering how his line and the rest of the skill position players performed, don't think he could have won the game anyway.

As bummed as I was right after the game, I'm feeling good about the coming year. Jones should make a difference on the O, I'm expecting a big splash on D in FA, Think Ryan and the D can both grow up together and be a force the next few years.

[TheDirtyWordII]

There's no doubt that Mularkey will be bulls-eyed this year, in large part because of the shiny new toy that's been handed to him. But there's a fundamental flaw in the OP's logic regarding YAC, and the notion that bigger, stronger receivers necessarily improve YAC stats.

In 2010, 10 of the top 11 YAC guys were running backs. Only Santana Moss cracked the list as a receiver. The reason? Running backs with receiving skills receive the ball in open space far more frequently than WRs, and are generally better at breaking tackles and dragging tacklers than even the most physical WRs.

If you're looking for a reason why the Falcons YAC was low, look no farther than Michael Turner's hands, Jerious Norwood's injury and the limited roles of Jason Snelling and Ovie Mughelli. The acquisition of Jacquizz Rodgers may help, but only if he shows he can handle pass-protect assignments. If not, his entry into the lineup would be an instant cue to the defense.

In any case, the Julio Jones pick in no way guarantees improved YAC.

Where I agree: RB's account for most of their receiving yards as YAC. Actually, RB's have more YAC production than receiving yard production because they frequently catch the ball behind the LOS.

Where I disagree: Jason Snelling was as involved in the Falcons passing game as Jamaal Charles was in Kansas City's. Charles had but one more reception, but he averaged 3.4 YAC more/reception than Snelling. So while Turner offers very little in the passing game, this was not an area we ignored in terms of going to the RB. We simply didn't have anyone in that role who could create plays/yardage OR we didn't put Snelling in a position to do so. That said, logic indicates it was much more of the former.

Secondly, let's say you traded Snelling's production for Charles' production. This would only bring the Falcons YAC/reception number up to 3.97 (from 3.44). A definite improvement, but still by comparison to other teams, extremely low. And most teams will only have 1 RB who makes an impact in this area as only 6 NFL teams had more than 2 RB's with over 175 yards receiving. So the fact the Snelling was the Falcons RB out of the backfield to catch passes instead of Turner is not an anomoly but rather the norm.

Thirdly, RB's only account for 30% of all total YAC yardage, so while having an RB (or two) who can create in space is nice, it simply will not dictate a teams production in this area.

What JJ will do upon establishing himself is produce not just in numbers but in terms of physicality. Go back and watch Jenkins. Guy is 6'5, his ability to fight for extra yardage is Ron Dayne-esque. Against smaller players he should be punishing them, but almost all the time he can be brought down by one guy on the spot. And breaking tackles...? JJ will change that. It's not a matter of bigger/stronger receivers being better YAC producers. It's about better overall WR's changing how a defense plays and reacts to your scheme/formation/personnel. Jenkins, for too long proved that he wouldn't make an opposing defense pay for doubling Roddy, or clamping down on Gonzo (ZERO CAREER 100 YARD GAMES!!!!). JJ needs to do that for sure, and the Falcons are counting on it. No trying to draw blood from a stone.

However, whatever we do draw out of JJ/Roddy will largely be at Mularkey's discretion. The Falcons have explosive personnel and that's never been a term used to describe Mularley's offenses. Now, I'll say, I think he's gotten to bad a rap over the three years he's been here. Does he have some culpability, yes. He's the OC. But, now if the offense struggles in this area - he'll have to solely answer for that.

[peoriabird]

D gets the biggest share of the blame-overall, in the modern playoffs, the winning team's D has held the opposition to 14.67 points a game [stats from wiki]. Falcons gave up 3 times that.

Let me put this another way...Say you were a defensive coordinator on a team and the GM continued to draft all pros on offense and not one on defense. you played in a playoff game and the all star offense scored 14 point, turned it over 4 times and had a total of 192 total offense for the game and converted only 3 out of 10 3rd down chances but the fans blamed you instead of the offensive side of the ball...How would you feel about that?

Well that is where the Falcons are! They have 7 pro bowlers on offense and 4 of the top 51 players of 2011 most of any team but yet were 16th in total offense. You as a defensive coordinator had 2 pro bowlers and a bunch of banged up players and no players in the 51 but yet you get criticized for finishing approximately 5 slots behind the offense in yards allowed. Is that fair?

Edited June 24, 2011 by peoriabird

[falconidae]

Let me put this another way...Say you were a defensive coordinator on a team and the GM continued to draft all pros on offense and not one on defense. you played in a playoff game and the all star offense scored 14 point, turned it over 4 times and had a total of 192 total offense for the game and converted only 3 out of 10 3rd down chances but the fans blamed you instead of the offensive side of the ball...How would you feel about that?

Well that is where the Falcons are! They have 7 pro bowlers on offense and 4 of the top 51 players of 2011 most of any team but yet were 16th in total offense. You as a defensive coordinator had 2 pro bowlers and a bunch of banged up players and no players in the 51 but yet you get criticized for finishing approximately 5 slots behind the offense in yards allowed. Is that fair?

Believe I said there was plenty of blame to go around. Didn't mean to imply that, say 50% of the blame goes to the D and the rest is split between the other parts. When I said biggest part, I meant around 30%, with around 25% to the coaches, 25% to the offense, 15% to Ryan and the other 5% to just the team in general.

[Mr. Right]

While some may consider Malarkey to be on the chopping block, he has stated that deep routes are there in the playbook. Given this fact, our offense will either be terrific (assuming Jones and Rodgers pan out as expected) or more of the same, in which we may have to start looking elsewhere for blame, like Ryan.

[TheDirtyWordII]

I wanted to revisit this topic in light of the fact that the Falcons offense in 2011 has largely looked inferior to the Falcons offense of 2010 that was deemed to stodgy and not explosive enough. In the original post I spoke of YAC and how the Falcons had been dismal in this area. The idea and presence of Julio Jones was designed to create more space and operating room in the secondary for Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez.

Through 3 games, this has simply not been the case. Originally I used 2010 data from any player who had 175 yards receiving or more. As such, the cutoff point this year 33 yards which includes all players on the Falcons who have caught a pass except Ovie. Here's the verdict.

74 Completions, 229 YAC yards. An average of 3.1 YAC/reception.

When we go down the player roster, we see YAC figures as such.

Roddy: 1.55 YAC/reception

Julio: 3.15 YAC/reception

Gonzo: 2.07 YAC/reception

Turner: 15.25 YAC/reception

Harry: 1.44 YAC/reception

Snelling: 3.75 YAC/reception

Jacquizz: 4.8 YAC/reception

Quite simply, these figures are simply not acceptable and shows that Mularkey/Ryan are not getting the ball to our receivers in space. Simply put, we have maintained our Point A-to-Point B scheme. Think about this. Turner is the outlier in this. If you take out Turner's unlikely passing game contribution the Falcons YAC number drops to 2.44 YAC/reception. As it stands, through 3 games, Michael Turner has accounted for 26.6% of the Falcons YAC yardage. This is an absolutely unacceptable number.

I have been reluctant to place blame on Mularkey in the past. But this offense lacks life and it seems to lack direction. Most of all, the theme of urgency that Dimitroff/Smith had preached coming into Flowery Branch seems to have disappeared from this side of the ball.

While I don't want to absolve Ryan of some of the blame here, the regression of the O-Line these last 3 games has been startling. But Ryan is starting to fall off on his throws now and he simply can't be as jumpy as he's been. He's displayed toughness in getting back up from some of the poundings that he's taken, but I'm not so sure he's been displaying that much in going down. While Julio was able to get his first real big play of his career on that 49 yard reception, the pass was underthrown. It should have been a TD...those are easy YAC yards and require additional execution to get 6 the harder way. And that is the road I feel this offense is travelling - the harder one.

It's nigh time to start demanding some accountability now for this slow start. Securing explosive personnel is half of the equation. It's more than time for this offense to start leveraging that personnel appropriately and when you see these type of numbers, you start to question if the man in charge of that personnel is equipped to handle it.

This offense was originally built around Turner. And while his receiving totals already appear to be amongst the best of his Falcons career, he's not a weapon in te passing game and he increasingly seems like a bad fit for the Falcons although his actual production is still quite solid. I can't help but think that this is a unit knee deep in transition, but perhaps not yet aware of the fact that it is

Seattle is up next and the prospect of 2-2 is very real. But so is 2-3 as the juggernaut Packers come into the Dome a week from Sunday anxious to relive their butt-whooping. While such a record would not be a death knell, what could wind up being one is if this offense does not start ot show progress in all areas over the next 2 weeks. A slow pre-season has led to a slow start in September. At some point when you purport to have all these weapons, it has to start looking easy. Right now for the Falcons, nothing does.

[Kung-Pow]

TDWII, great work as always +1..I love when someone brings a viewpoint and actually has logical thought behind the topic. I agree with your premise and analysis. If Falcons simply drop Julio ad nd Quizz into Jenkins and Snelling's roles - the results will be disappointing. The offense needs to change to maximize the talent. Having said that, one thing I have always maintained is the Falcons pass-blocking is lacking and has been a factor in the lack of explosiveness of our offense. For whatever reason, lack of talent, etc - Falcons do not hold up for a very long time in pass protection when Matt stays in the pocket. For Julio and Roddy to get downfield, Matt is going to need the pocket to hold up for longer than 2.5 seconds - which seems like about all the time that Matt has on most pass plays from the pocket. I hope the Falcons re-sign Clabo and I hope some of these guards that might replace Dahl/Blalock are an upgrade. I still don't like Sam Baker much at left tackle but he's serviceable until we can get a stud. I know many think our offensive line of 2010 was really good but its overrated. The lack of sacks is mainly due to Matt gettting the ball out fast and throwing the ball away - probably more than any other QB. We got the weapons We got the QB Now, We need the OC/Mularkey to devise the offense accordingly We need the pass-protection to improve

Man, what a good post. G-Dawg proving prophetic.

[Kung-Pow]

I wanted to revisit this topic in light of the fact that the Falcons offense in 2011 has largely looked inferior to the Falcons offense of 2010 that was deemed to stodgy and not explosive enough. In the original post I spoke of YAC and how the Falcons had been dismal in this area. The idea and presence of Julio Jones was designed to create more space and operating room in the secondary for Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez.

Through 3 games, this has simply not been the case. Originally I used 2010 data from any player who had 175 yards receiving or more. As such, the cutoff point this year 33 yards which includes all players on the Falcons who have caught a pass except Ovie. Here's the verdict.

74 Completions, 229 YAC yards. An average of 3.1 YAC/reception.

When we go down the player roster, we see YAC figures as such.

Roddy: 1.55 YAC/reception

Julio: 3.15 YAC/reception

Gonzo: 2.07 YAC/reception

Turner: 15.25 YAC/reception

Harry: 1.44 YAC/reception

Snelling: 3.75 YAC/reception

Jacquizz: 4.8 YAC/reception

Quite simply, these figures are simply not acceptable and shows that Mularkey/Ryan are not getting the ball to our receivers in space. Simply put, we have maintained our Point A-to-Point B scheme. Think about this. Turner is the outlier in this. If you take out Turner's unlikely passing game contribution the Falcons YAC number drops to 2.44 YAC/reception. As it stands, through 3 games, Michael Turner has accounted for 26.6% of the Falcons YAC yardage. This is an absolutely unacceptable number.

I have been reluctant to place blame on Mularkey in the past. But this offense lacks life and it seems to lack direction. Most of all, the theme of urgency that Dimitroff/Smith had preached coming into Flowery Branch seems to have disappeared from this side of the ball.

While I don't want to absolve Ryan of some of the blame here, the regression of the O-Line these last 3 games has been startling. But Ryan is starting to fall off on his throws now and he simply can't be as jumpy as he's been. He's displayed toughness in getting back up from some of the poundings that he's taken, but I'm not so sure he's been displaying that much in going down. While Julio was able to get his first real big play of his career on that 49 yard reception, the pass was underthrown. It should have been a TD...those are easy YAC yards and require additional execution to get 6 the harder way. And that is the road I feel this offense is travelling - the harder one.

It's nigh time to start demanding some accountability now for this slow start. Securing explosive personnel is half of the equation. It's more than time for this offense to start leveraging that personnel appropriately and when you see these type of numbers, you start to question if the man in charge of that personnel is equipped to handle it.

This offense was originally built around Turner. And while his receiving totals already appear to be amongst the best of his Falcons career, he's not a weapon in te passing game and he increasingly seems like a bad fit for the Falcons although his actual production is still quite solid. I can't help but think that this is a unit knee deep in transition, but perhaps not yet aware of the fact that it is

Seattle is up next and the prospect of 2-2 is very real. But so is 2-3 as the juggernaut Packers come into the Dome a week from Sunday anxious to relive their butt-whooping. While such a record would not be a death knell, what could wind up being one is if this offense does not start ot show progress in all areas over the next 2 weeks. A slow pre-season has led to a slow start in September. At some point when you purport to have all these weapons, it has to start looking easy. Right now for the Falcons, nothing does.

I really enjoyed your original post and thought was very insightful, but here I kinda disagree with the points you're making. I don't feel that YAC, or any other singular stat can tell the full story of an offense's effectiveness, nor the impact of one player's addition. We've already seen the positive effect that Julio's addition has had on the offense.

Take yesterday's game for example: Aquib Talib was lined up on Julio the ENTIRE game, freeing Roddy White to work favorable matchups with E.J. Biggers. Julio Jones: "The Bucs tried to put their best corner on me. I just played off him. I saw him getting tired so I just kept getting stronger and stronger as the game went on." That's something the Bucs never would have done with Michael Jenkins lined opposite Roddy.

I don't mind that Turner's our leading receiver in YAC. Look at the stats for PHI and SD and especially CHI and BAL... I would venture to say that Shady McCoy and Matthews/Tolbert and Matt Forte and Ray Rice are all leading their respective teams in YAC also. That's a byproduct of having two receivers on the outside and a TE that draw so much attention. Michael Turner has already been more of a factor in the passing game through three games this season than he has in the past three years combined. If anything, it's just one more thing that the defense has to account, drawing attention away from others.

If this offense lacks direction, it's solely on Mularkey. He's the offensive coordinator and it's supposed to be his philosophy in combination with the HC's game plan. We've seen too little fluidity and far too many disjointed efforts.

Edited September 26, 2011 by Kung-Pow

[FalconFanSince1970]

We’ve heard Thomas Dimitroff talk about explosiveness all off-season on both sides of the ball.

We have 10 explosive plays on offense so far. Turner (4), Julio (3), Roddy (2), TonyG (1). That's not world beating but it's on pace for 54 over the season which is better than the 44 we had last year.

On the defensive side of the ball our sack numbers are way down. That's concerning. RayEd and the blitzing LBs and DBs need to get some sacks. Our takeaways and defensive touchdowns are trending upward.

So it looks like we are getting more explosive on both sides of the ball. And that's after playing three teams with double digit wins in 2010. We should be able to pad some of these stats when we play some of the pansies on the schedule like SEA.

[ghostofdonkey]

Its hilarious that nobody blames noodle. YAC relies on the QB putting the ball in a spot that enables the WR to go upfield. Its all on noodle folks

[TheDirtyWordII]

I really enjoyed your original post and thought was very insightful, but here I kinda disagree with the points you're making. I don't feel that YAC, or any other singular stat can tell the full story of an offense's effectiveness, nor the impact of one player's addition. We've already seen the positive effect that Julio's addition has had on the offense.

Take yesterday's game for example: Aquib Talib was lined up on Julio the ENTIRE game, freeing Roddy White to work favorable matchups with E.J. Biggers. Julio Jones: "The Bucs tried to put their best corner on me. I just played off him. I saw him getting tired so I just kept getting stronger and stronger as the game went on." That's something the Bucs never would have done with Michael Jenkins lined opposite Roddy.

I don't mind that Turner's our leading receiver in YAC. Look at the stats for PHI and SD and especially CHI and BAL... I would venture to say that Shady McCoy and Matthews/Tolbert and Matt Forte and Ray Rice are all leading their respective teams in YAC also. That's a byproduct of having two receivers on the outside and a TE that draw so much attention. Michael Turner has already been more of a factor in the passing game through three games this season than he has in the past three years combined. If anything, it's just one more thing that the defense has to account, drawing attention away from others.

If this offense lacks direction, it's solely on Mularkey. He's the offensive coordinator and it's supposed to be his philosophy in combination with the HC's game plan. We've seen too little fluidity and far too many disjointed efforts.

A singular statistic is always an indicator. But what I would counter with is as follows:

Last year I brought up that during the final 9 games, the Falcons had but 1 pass play over 26 yards. IMO, it's amongst the most jaw-dropping statistics I've seen for any team, much less a successful one.

Thus far, we have 5 in 3 games. So we've improved in that area yet our offense is accounting for 18 PPG and we've scored one offensive TD in 2 road games. Was that an indicator of a problem - yes? By correcting it, like it seems we have, did it fix the problem? No, or at least not yet.

But YAC as an indicator is a stat shows what happens on each individual pass play. And when you compared our numbers against the rest of the NFL last year, our figures were putrid. And this year - they simply aren't better.

Is Turner showing up in the passing game more? Yes, but let's be honest...he's showing up as a safety valve not a real part of the passing game like a McFadden/McCoy/Rice does where there are specific elements of the passing game that are designed to get the ball in their hands.

So as I start to define explosive offenses, what really comes to mind is:

1) Seeing a WR settling down in a zone, wide-open 15-20 yards downfield.

2) Seeing a WR get the ball in a position where the defender is in chase mode as the receiver is in full gate.

3) Overall an offense that puts defenses on their heels because now they can mix in the entire playbook and the run game with ease.

That's not happening here. We're 0-for-3. Turner's overall numbers look healthy, but on 95% of his carries, he's getting 3 yards. We brought Mularkey in here because he had a PIT pedigree and Mike Smith was a hard-nosed defensive guy. There was no Ryan/Turner/Julio. And Year 1 was great because you brought in a fresh 'bull in a china shop' type of RB and built the team around that concept. Ryan averaged 27 passing attempts/game.

But this is a different team with potentially divergent agendas/skillsets between the coaching staff and front office. If I've got 2 weapons like Julio/Roddy along with a TE who is still pretty effective, is Mike Mularkey the guy to mix the ingredients together? I'm starting to lose confidence. Quite frankly, Turner seems almost out of place here now.

But Roddy has a ridiculously low 1.55 YAC/reception number. That simply has to be leaving other areas of the field open and we're not taking advantage of it.

[lasher1116]

Its hilarious that nobody blames noodle. YAC relies on the QB putting the ball in a spot that enables the WR to go upfield. Its all on noodle folks

Funny how many people blame Ryan. If all the WR routes are curls, In's, Out's, all out stops, then how can he throw the ball in a manner that produces YAC???? MM constantly calls plays that lead to exact yards, not YAC plays...again...this comes back to MM>

[PapaJoe]

I really enjoyed your original post and thought was very insightful, but here I kinda disagree with the points you're making. I don't feel that YAC, or any other singular stat can tell the full story of an offense's effectiveness, nor the impact of one player's addition. We've already seen the positive effect that Julio's addition has had on the offense.

Take yesterday's game for example: Aquib Talib was lined up on Julio the ENTIRE game, freeing Roddy White to work favorable matchups with E.J. Biggers. Julio Jones: "The Bucs tried to put their best corner on me. I just played off him. I saw him getting tired so I just kept getting stronger and stronger as the game went on." That's something the Bucs never would have done with Michael Jenkins lined opposite Roddy.

I don't mind that Turner's our leading receiver in YAC. Look at the stats for PHI and SD and especially CHI and BAL... I would venture to say that Shady McCoy and Matthews/Tolbert and Matt Forte and Ray Rice are all leading their respective teams in YAC also. That's a byproduct of having two receivers on the outside and a TE that draw so much attention. Michael Turner has already been more of a factor in the passing game through three games this season than he has in the past three years combined. If anything, it's just one more thing that the defense has to account, drawing attention away from others.

If this offense lacks direction, it's solely on Mularkey. He's the offensive coordinator and it's supposed to be his philosophy in combination with the HC's game plan. We've seen too little fluidity and far too many disjointed efforts.

More telling still.... it Roddy had caught the deep ball that went thru his hands that was a huge YPA gain for Matt, as well as for roddy in the toal yards for the game. Also, roddy dropped another pass iside the 10 yd line that was destined to be a likely TD. Again another great stat booster for he, ryan, and the offense.

On the other point showing here in the thread , and elsewhere, the route combinations we run are extremely ANTI- YAC inducing. that isn't a Ryan issue, its an OC issue. Our offense pressure no D really hard. our WRs are rarely running in space. i have a hard time remembering th elast time i saw a crossing route, deep cross, few double moves, drag routes at 25 yards, etc. we just dont do that stuff. and our OL sukking is a part of that too

[Tandy]

This is where we stand after WEEK 3 in YAC per reception:

[Tandy]

This was our final standing in 2010:

[Tandy]

One thing that caught my attention was that our YAC per completion has gone up 30% since last year. If we continue at the exact pace we are on now - we would end the year with 2043 yards of YAC - an improvement of 42.6% or 610 yards. That's facing the Bears, Eagles and Bucs defenses - all good defenses.

[madman88]

Here's the thing though...when you say more balls will be thrown behind the CB's, I don't know if we're going to see much of an increase there. To me the more telling sign of success will be what will the Falcons be able to do with YAC when the ball is thrown in front of the CB's? When you threw the ball, to Jenkins, there was absolutely NO suddeness to his game and even when it came to fighting for extra yardage, for a guy of his size...he didn't offer much of a physical presence. To me, a component to YAC is a guy who gets 2-3 YAC with a guy draped all over him consistently. Jenkins was an catch and down guy and his YAC has never been above 3.8 since ESPN started measuring this stat in 2006. Jones projects as a physical weapon in the passing game. Defenses never had to account for Jenkins. At some point, the projection is that defenses WILL have to account for Julio. If they don't he has the game to burn them. Jenkins never could do that...it was sort of like leaving the guy open behind the arc who was a 20% 3-point shooter and had no penetration game. If my defense is funneling the offense through that guy and he's taking those shots or holding the ball, I can live with that. Now while I'm more inclined to put the onus on Jenkins for the bogged down nature of the Falcons offense in the seasons second half, Mularkey has to show that he can maximize the talent he now has at his disposal. He doesn;t have the black sheep to point to anymore.

i made a thread not too far bakck saying TD has put pressure on both MM and ryan to make this work...every piece in the offense has talent... no excuse to not have this offense dangerous..