3rd time watching the ATL v MIA game

[Falcon Fantom]

I have DVRed the game and I re-watch it to get my Falcon Fix. The Grimes interception was nasty. The guy has hops and great awareness. He also had great help from Moore. Moore was there to back him up on the play. As soon as Grimey jumps, Moore was there. Grimes did not have to worry about over the top bombs because Moore was in great position. If that is how the Cover 2 works then it is a thing of beauty. Why could not the back ups graps this concept? I hope it was first game jitters. The HD touchdown that Ryan threw was not because of the "Julio Effect". In fact I did not see Julio, Roddy, nor Gonzo on the field. I will have to shoot up again to make sure , but I did not see those guys on the field. This is a big statement. Everyone says how Rivers, Rodgers, and others QBs have rapport withe their 3rd and 4th WRs. Ryan does as well. He is gaining confidence in his other guys. Confidence that should boil over into the regular season.

Just a few observations that stood out to me, please post some of your hidden gems or thoughts about the game.

[Padawan Knight]

I was only able to watch the game once, but it looked like our corners (starters anyway) were lining up closer to the line of scrimmage than they were last year. Did anyone else notice that, or was I just imagining things? Maybe we're going to have more man coverage on the outside this year?

[Falcon Fantom]

I was only able to watch the game once, but it looked like our corners (starters anyway) were lining up closer to the line of scrimmage than they were last year. Did anyone else notice that, or was I just imagining things? Maybe we're going to have more man coverage on the outside this year?

Yes there were some plays where the CBs were lined up in man. They looked good too. I hope we mix in some more press coverage schemes. I do not recal seeing any 3-4 packages. They probably will not show those in the pre-season though. One thing that has me going crazy is Smith's excuse for why the backups got burned for 2 bombs. He stated that the secondary did not practice those route combos. What the #@%* does that mean??

O yeah. The game is on NFL Network now if you want to watch again.

Edited August 16, 2011 by Falcon Fantom

[AAllInFlynn]

+1 Just for watching a preseason game three times.

[Falcon Fantom]

+1 Just for watching a preseason game three times.

LOL! Hey man, I am pumped about the team this year! They look good!!! I am a die hard fan to. I have been jonesin!!!

[AAllInFlynn]

LOL! Hey man, I am pumped about the team this year! They look good!!! I am a die hard fan to. I have been jonesin!!!

I understand. Pre-season used to be so much more exciting when we had a GM that drafted horribly and there were so many battles for positions. It is so anti-climatic with the roster pretty much being determined save right guard and nickle back. I just hope we get through the pre-season without too many injuries because it appears the bug has reared it's ugly head at the branch the last few days.

[swift]

The throw to Harry Douglas was a tight zip throw..I hate when people compare arm strength to that throw its totally false. Yea we seen Ryan throw that throw before it was to Roddy in Eagles game of 08' its a deep slant..Its a very tight throw that needs to go into a window..Where Ryan struggles on his deep ball is the long down field throws that hang in the air.

Picture this ..Johnny Damon has one of the worst arms in baseball from the OF

You put Damon on the mound he can throw a 80mph fastball to catcher from 60 feet

Put him in OF and have him throw a ball to home plate ball rises gets air under it and flops.

Matt Ryan can make the 15-22 yard stop/slant/out throws..where Ryan struggles is the deep patterns and the timing and air under lobs..CASE IN POINT Julio beats corner off line and Ryan cant lob ball to him and missed

Edited August 16, 2011 by frankiecoffeecakes

[freebird310]

I have DVRed the game and I re-watch it to get my Falcon Fix. The Grimes interception was nasty. The guy has hops and great awareness. He also had great help from Moore. Moore was there to back him up on the play. As soon as Grimey jumps, Moore was there. Grimes did not have to worry about over the top bombs because Moore was in great position. If that is how the Cover 2 works then it is a thing of beauty. Why could not the back ups graps this concept? I hope it was first game jitters. The HD touchdown that Ryan threw was not because of the "Julio Effect". In fact I did not see Julio, Roddy, nor Gonzo on the field. I will have to shoot up again to make sure , but I did not see those guys on the field. This is a big statement. Everyone says how Rivers, Rodgers, and others QBs have rapport withe their 3rd and 4th WRs. Ryan does as well. He is gaining confidence in his other guys. Confidence that should boil over into the regular season.

Just a few observations that stood out to me, please post some of your hidden gems or thoughts about the game.

HD gonna be huge this year ..man that throw feom Ryan on the TD was epic .....

[Falcon Fantom]

The throw to Harry Douglas was a tight zip throw..I hate when people compare arm strength to that throw its totally false. Yea we seen Ryan throw that throw before it was to Roddy in Eagles game of 08' its a deep slant..Its a very tight throw that needs to go into a window..Where Ryan struggles on his deep ball is the long down field throws that hang in the air.

Picture this ..Johnny Damon has one of the worst arms in baseball from the OF

You put Damon on the mound he can throw a 80mph fastball to catcher from 60 feet

Put him in OF and have him throw a ball to home plate ball rises gets air under it and flops.

Matt Ryan can make the 15-22 yard stop/slant/out throws..where Ryan struggles is the deep patterns and the timing and air under lobs..CASE IN POINT Julio beats corner off line and Ryan cant lob ball to him and missed taciturnity

We all knew Ryan did not have a cannon. Joe Montana did not either. Ryan will get better at the deep throws. Also, the pass to Julio that sailed away was due to pressure from the defense. I think they thought Turner was gonna run because I seen a few stacked boxes in the game from MIA. We will make defenses pay for doing that this year. Matty even knew they were going to blitzed because he pointed it out to a O-lineman. Just the first game. Trying to knock off some rust. Ryan is a timing QB. He has a great combination of timing and arm strength. Not worried about his arm.

[kschreck]

Yes there were some plays where the CBs were lined up in man. They looked good too. I hope we mix in some more press coverage schemes. I do not recal seeing any 3-4 packages. They probably will not show those in the pre-season though. One thing that has me going crazy is Smith's excuse for why the backups got burned for 2 bombs. He stated that the secondary did not practice those route combos. What the #@%* does that mean??

O yeah. The game is on NFL Network now if you want to watch again.

He said they hadn't seen them before. How do you prepare for a team to do something they've never shown?

[Falcon Fantom]

He said they hadn't seen them before. How do you prepare for a team to do something they've never shown?

I understand that if one is not used to something then there will be needed time to adjust to that. I understand that if an offense shows a look that a defense has not seen before then there is potential for a big play. We will no doubtly see formations or route combos by teams throughout the season that we have not seen before. Will that excuse be enough for you though? If you had heard that excuse from the coach after our playoff loss would that be a good enough excuse? I think that the secondary should be good enough to adjust to what the other team is doing, regardless of knowledge of a route combo or not. At least be in the vicinity. They were no where near the WRs. I could feel better if they were close enough to make a play and just got beat, but they were not even close.

[BadMoonRising]

Whats really great on that play is Ryan stared the safety out of position by following Peel into the flats, when the saftey bit for a breif step the pass was gone.

Ryan knew the coverage and played it perfect.

[falconidae]

The throw to Harry Douglas was a tight zip throw..I hate when people compare arm strength to that throw its totally false. Yea we seen Ryan throw that throw before it was to Roddy in Eagles game of 08' its a deep slant..Its a very tight throw that needs to go into a window..Where Ryan struggles on his deep ball is the long down field throws that hang in the air.

Picture this ..Johnny Damon has one of the worst arms in baseball from the OF

You put Damon on the mound he can throw a 80mph fastball to catcher from 60 feet

Put him in OF and have him throw a ball to home plate ball rises gets air under it and flops.

Matt Ryan can make the 15-22 yard stop/slant/out throws..where Ryan struggles is the deep patterns and the timing and air under lobs..CASE IN POINT Julio beats corner off line and Ryan cant lob ball to him and missed taciturnity

There's no such word as taciturnity, and definition of taciturn has no bearing on that play. Ryan can be taciturn in a press conference, not on the field.

Don't know if you noticed, but on the play you referenced , both Baker and Johnson got beat by their man- the pocket was collapsing, Ryan couldn't step up, or, for that matter , back up. Blaming Ryan for that pass is just silly and you know it.

About 90% of all NFL throws are 30 yards or less, having the arm strength to zip a ball into tight spaces at 30 yards is a significant part of arm strength.

Once again, it's not arm strength that's Ryan's problem, but mechanics. Ryan threw the ball 62 yards in a skills competition before his rookie season, he was top ten in 20+ & 40+ yard passes in 08 and has a career passing rating of over 100 on passes that travel 40+ yards in the air. None of those things are possible without good arm strength.

He definitely needs to work of his deep ball- he does put too much air under his long throws and he frequently rushes them so he doesn't get his legs into the throw. He'll never have a cannon, but he can make the throws to stretch the field.

[swift]

There's no such word as taciturnity, and definition of taciturn has no bearing on that play. Ryan can be taciturn in a press conference, not on the field.

Don't know if you noticed, but on the play you referenced , both Baker and Johnson got beat by their man- the pocket was collapsing, Ryan couldn't step up, or, for that matter , back up. Blaming Ryan for that pass is just silly and you know it.

About 90% of all NFL throws are 30 yards or less, having the arm strength to zip a ball into tight spaces at 30 yards is a significant part of arm strength.

Once again, it's not arm strength that's Ryan's problem, but mechanics. Ryan threw the ball 62 yards in a skills competition before his rookie season, he was top ten in 20+ & 40+ yard passes in 08 and has a career passing rating of over 100 on passes that travel 40+ yards in the air. None of those things are possible without good arm strength.

He definitely needs to work of his deep ball- he does put too much air under his long throws and he frequently rushes them so he doesn't get his legs into the throw. He'll never have a cannon, but he can make the throws to stretch the field.

I have no clue how that word got there maybe auto speller .

I do agree with most of this he does need to work on his mechanics but case in point last years playoff game the throw in back of end zone where he was late on read ball hung..That was a 25+ yard throw

[FalconFanSince1970]

I read a recent article that said something like Ryan had a high passer rating on 30+ yard passes last year but low passer rating on passes between 20-30 yards. This could have been because he threw more passes between 20-30 yards but whatever happened he needs to fix this.

[BadMoonRising]

So much of a deep passing game is effected by much time the qb has in the pocket for proper mechanics and how long it takes for receviers to get seperation and do the continue at the same rate of speed.

The deep ball everyone has to be on the same page, not just the QB.

[paulitik]

I've watched it twice, I loved that Abe got a pick, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why we put him in coverage.

[falconidae]

I read a recent article that said something like Ryan had a high passer rating on 30+ yard passes last year but low passer rating on passes between 20-30 yards. This could have been because he threw more passes between 20-30 yards but whatever happened he needs to fix this.

Main thing that happened is that Ryan and HD missed connections on several passes in that range. If HD and Ryan start connecting, that number goes way up.

[bighurt]

There's no such word as taciturnity, and definition of taciturn has no bearing on that play. Ryan can be taciturn in a press conference, not on the field.

Don't know if you noticed, but on the play you referenced , both Baker and Johnson got beat by their man- the pocket was collapsing, Ryan couldn't step up, or, for that matter , back up. Blaming Ryan for that pass is just silly and you know it.

About 90% of all NFL throws are 30 yards or less, having the arm strength to zip a ball into tight spaces at 30 yards is a significant part of arm strength.

Once again, it's not arm strength that's Ryan's problem, but mechanics. Ryan threw the ball 62 yards in a skills competition before his rookie season, he was top ten in 20+ & 40+ yard passes in 08 and has a career passing rating of over 100 on passes that travel 40+ yards in the air. None of those things are possible without good arm strength.

He definitely needs to work of his deep ball- he does put too much air under his long throws and he frequently rushes them so he doesn't get his legs into the throw. He'll never have a cannon, but he can make the throws to stretch the field.

Speaking of mechanics, Ryan's mechanics look better this year. Ryan in the past would throw off of his back leg, especially on a quick throw, so much so his front leg would be in the air, like a baseball pitcher. This year I am not seeing that, his front leg is on the ground, and his deep throws seem to be better because of it. I think this is a benefit of the new QB coach, who has had successful passing games in Cincy. I looked at the Vikings 1st team offense and they looked like our offense last year, a lot of short throws. I think our new QB coach, who is a former OC, is having a positive impact so far on our passing game. From the deep route combinations to Ryan's mechanics.

Edited August 16, 2011 by bighurt

[I MUS WRITE]

Peria jerry looked average against 2/3rd stringers

Gartrell Johnson shows me nothing.

Owens...no comment

JPW has a storng arm

D Walls seems advanced for a UDFA

Matthews looks alot better than i thought...7th round?? really

[Falcon Fantom]

Peria jerry looked average against 2/3rd stringers

Gartrell Johnson shows me nothing.

Owens...no comment

JPW has a storng arm

D Walls seems advanced for a UDFA

Matthews looks alot better than i thought...7th round?? really

Totally agree.

[JDaveG]

I do not recal seeing any 3-4 packages.

I didn't notice if it was a 3-4 or something else, but we did have at least one third down play in the 1st half where we had 3 down linemen.

[Mid-Nite-Toker]

Matthews looks alot better than i thought...7th round?? really

I watched the replay on NFLN and was impressed by Matthews's bull-rush for a sack. He did look better than a 7th rd pick...need to see him go against a 1st team offense in pre-season.

[blizzard_falcon]

The HD touchdown that Ryan threw was not because of the "Julio Effect". In fact I did not see Julio, Roddy, nor Gonzo on the field. I will have to shoot up again to make sure , but I did not see those guys on the field. This is a big statement. Everyone says how Rivers, Rodgers, and others QBs have rapport withe their 3rd and 4th WRs. Ryan does as well. He is gaining confidence in his other guys. Confidence that should boil over into the regular season.

Pretty sure the receivers on the field for HD's touchdown were Douglas, Weems, Peele and Meier. So you're right in saying that Julio (nor Roddy nor Tony) had anything to do with getting him open. I really hope Matt and Harry have re-kindled the chemistry that they seemed to be developing at the end of 2008, because it was simply not there last season.

I've watched it twice, I loved that Abe got a pick, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why we put him in coverage.

Yeah, I really wish we would drop that zone blitz package where Abe drops back into coverage.

Speaking of mechanics, Ryan's mechanics look better this year. Ryan in the past would throw off of his back leg, especially on a quick throw, so much so his front leg would be in the air, like a baseball pitcher. This year I am not seeing that, his front leg is on the ground, and his deep throws seem to be better because of it. I think this is a benefit of the new QB coach, who has had successful passing games in Cincy. I looked at the Vikings 1st team offense and they looked like our offense last year, a lot of short throws. I think our new QB coach, who is a former OC, is having a positive impact so far on our passing game. From the deep route combinations to Ryan's mechanics.

I'm really excited to see Bratkowski's influence on the passing game, because I think Cincinnati always had a really nice aerial attack (when Carson Palmer was healthy enough to run the offense). I also hope Mularkey continues to open the playbook up and be a little more creative now that we have some additional weapons on offense.

[Caddieman]

Arm Strength is very over rated. Byron Leftwitch has one of the strongest arms in the NFL. And I have seen him in an ATL uniform let loose first and goal from the 9 yard line to a WR wide open at the back of the end-zone. Where did the ball end up? Second row in the stands!!!! I much rather have a QB that can hit a WR at 20 yards with a very tight window!(Que HD's TD rec)