Theory About the Lockout and Where I Was Wrong

[Old fan]

During preseason, I predicted we would see a lot of sloppy play around the league early on because the lockout had truncated training opportunities. I also predicted the Falcons would fare better than most teams because of the high number of returning players who already knew the scheme.

What I saw Sunday was more than a lack of scheme execution, there was a glaring lack of individual player execution. Maybe if there had been some OTAs, Spoon could have been coached up on his tackling, Hawley could have worked more on holding off defensive linemen and backers, and DeCoud could have benefited from some extra tip drills.

Other teams looked sharp Sunday, but there are always teams that start faster than others.

Don't get me wrong. There IS a problem with the scheme, either it's the execution by players who aren't disciplined enough yet to run the scheme or it's a scheme that needs to be tweaked because it doesn't fit the collective skill set of the players (i.e. Dunta.)

It's just I saw a lot of individual performance issues that need coaching up.