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"Falcons must start stretching field"


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Analysis from Jimmy Johnson

Link: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Jimmy-Johnson-NFL-Week-1-Atlanta-Falcons-passing-game-lacks-big-plays-091111

The expectations are pretty high for the Atlanta Falcons this season. Now, Atlanta’s loss did surprise me — Baltimore whipping Pittsburgh was a bigger surprise — but the Bears were playing at home and they did win the NFC North last season. I know all the experts have been picking Chicago for third in the division, but that never sounded right.

After the Bears demolished the Falcons, I guess we can say the North looks better than the South because I know Green Bay is the class of the league.

But the Falcons have to find a way to stretch the field with their passing game. When they traded for Julio Jones in the draft, people said he was the missing piece. Well, either he or somebody has to open up this offense. Atlanta had a great season last year at 13-3 but it carried the same problem into this campaign: not enough big plays.

I don’t think the Falcons can keep throwing the ball underneath like they did against the Bears and expect to win in the long run. They have to find a way to get Roddy White deep and find more ways to create something big.

Chicago’s defense played well. They forced takeaways and Brian Urlacher even scored a touchdown. Statistically, the Falcons also played well, but their three turnovers killed them. Again, this is only one game, but I expected a lot more out of the Falcons and I’m sure they did, too.

I was impressed with Jay Cutler, too. This was his first outing since last season’s NFC Championship Game, when too many people were questioning his leadership and toughness. Well, he showed the hometown fans and everyone else how good he can be. He made a statement by throwing for 312 yards and two touchdowns. And he showed his toughness by being sacked five times and still getting back up for more. All I can say is the Bears won’t be fading into the background.

I think the one thing that can be taken away from the Bears game is this: unless the offensive line can hold up their blocks, there won't be enough time to stretch the field. I think Ryan & company wanted to go down field more, but couldn't due to inconsistencies moving the ball. Simple as that.

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How many superbowls did we win with the run and gun/ run n shoot offense? Yes it was exciting as the saints, colts etc etc without the wins though.

Our team is closer to the 98 team in the way we play.

Every single team out there, wants to be more explosive. Every team wants to be the best D that can lock down everything. Its gonna take time for us to get our new players performing like seasoned vets. Its gonna take time to add in plays. Yesterday was a tough team and had a chip to prove as well (after the way their season ended).

Its easy in hind sight to sit and say we need to stretch the field. No doubt, we need to. But its not always gonna be easy doing it. Just like going deep yesterday would have probably ended badly.

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Analysis from Jimmy Johnson

Link: http://msn.foxsports...ig-plays-091111

I think the one thing that can be taken away from the Bears game is this: unless the offensive line can hold up their blocks, there won't be enough time to stretch the field. I think Ryan & company wanted to go down field more, but couldn't due to inconsistencies moving the ball. Simple as that.

bingo.......and this is a 3yr problem - not just a yesterday/Bears problem - falcons have never given Matt the time he needs to throw downfield.

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We looked bad on both sides of the ball outside of run-d. The reason we got Jones was so we can score points and impose our will on the scoreboard w/ explosive plays. We dont have that luxury now. We cannot say that the O will bail out the D or that the D will bail out the O. They were equally pathetic w/ the tiebreaker going to the ST's... Uhh, never mind...

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How many superbowls did we win with the run and gun/ run n shoot offense? Yes it was exciting as the saints, colts etc etc without the wins though.

Our team is closer to the 98 team in the way we play.

Nah, not even close.

The Falcons pass the ball a ton now. The 98 team passed it the fewest times in Falcons history, but that offense was hella explosive. It bombed away more often than any Falcons team...when they threw it.

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Nah, not even close.

The Falcons pass the ball a ton now. The 98 team passed it the fewest times in Falcons history, but that offense was hella explosive. It bombed away more often than any Falcons team...when they threw it.

My point was more than when we ran the R&G O it was exciting and it was fun to watch. But in the end we lost. Its unrealistic to think the way this team is built that they can just transform into a high powered pass first team. We sure arent gonna go to a new system, if nothing at all is working.

We have to play good before the playbook starts to expand and we get to see those going deep plays. Its gonna take practice working on that and the oline isnt giving time to even consider it. Yes we could have went to a 4 wr set yesterday and tried to start gun slinging it. But likely result would have been a pick or Ryan getting hurt. Jones is still a rookie and 1 without a offseason,

We are closer to a dan reeves style team (play it safe and take your shots) than we are to a glandville style (all in, when it works it wins when it doesn't we lost).

The other example is high octane teams wish they had a solid running game to rely on. But very few teams can pull off both. We arent 1 of those teams. It might be a goal to work towards. But its gonna take work.

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If you go back and watch the game again, which was very ugly.....you will notice that we went "deep" maybe 15 plays with one player in the entire game. That is no difference then when we had Jenkins....in fact, nothing at all was different from last years offense and this year offense.....that is why we lost. MM is NOT going to change his play calling....dink and dunk is all we have until we remove MM.

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Last 2 SB Champs - Saints & Packers - stretch you down the field, big explosive plays... that's what wins in the NFL right now, and the Falcons need that element to their offense to compete.

But as soon as the saints secondary starts getting hurt, the entire team falls down. They have to shoot it out because they cant stop anything. This isnt like the packers and saints have been the colts or pats the last 6 years. But even the steelers and Giants etc... The colts are as high powered as any team in the NFL yet they didnt win the SB every year.

The saints rolled last year and look who knocked them out the playoffs last season.

Its not just 1 style of play = wins regardless. But none of those teams had to go through the train wreck the falcons went through with Vick. Well the saints had the Katrina thing so yeah id say they had their train wreck as well.

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But as soon as the saints secondary starts getting hurt, the entire team falls down. They have to shoot it out because they cant stop anything. This isnt like the packers and saints have been the colts or pats the last 6 years. But even the steelers and Giants etc... The colts are as high powered as any team in the NFL yet they didnt win the SB every year.

The saints rolled last year and look who knocked them out the playoffs last season.

Its not just 1 style of play = wins regardless. But none of those teams had to go through the train wreck the falcons went through with Vick. Well the saints had the Katrina thing so yeah id say they had their train wreck as well.

All of those teams still had big play ability and the element of explosive plays over the top. You never see that with this team and when we get down (like we did yesterday), it's almost impossible to comeback with simple dink & dunks.

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All of those teams still had big play ability and the element of explosive plays over the top. You never see that with this team and when we get down (like we did yesterday), it's almost impossible to comeback with simple dink & dunks.

Yes we are a play from ahead team, by design. But if the oline cant protect. Dink and dunks is all you get. Their D is way to good to throw reckless down field. Dont get me wrong. Ild love to see us go deep more. But yesterday we fell apart because basic stuff wasnt happening.

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Haven't we been discussing the same two issues--pass protection and secondary issues on third and longs--oh, for about a decade now?

We have two former Defensive Coordinators at the College and Pro level yet we still looked completely lost against the pass the last two meaningful games! :huh:

they had the perfect answer to our soft zone we ran, if we played off with our CBs they ran qucik screens and WR screens to get the balll out quick...quite fustrating how they attacked us, looked very similar to the way the eagles did us last year....

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Yes we are a play from ahead team, by design. But if the oline cant protect. Dink and dunks is all you get. Their D is way to good to throw reckless down field. Dont get me wrong. Ild love to see us go deep more. But yesterday we fell apart because basic stuff wasnt happening.

If that's the philosophy, why was everyone in the organization using the word "explosive" all off-season when describing this offense? We traded the house for Julio Jones for that very reason.

Yesterday, they had 7 to cover our receivers b/c they had great pressure with just their front four. Throw a screen to take advantage of their pass rush. Even in the preseason against Jacksonville, Moose was mentioning where are the so-called explosive plays? Next week, we're going against the loaded secondary of the Eagles so it might be another week or two before we see this explosiveness.

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Even if RYAN (Mr. NOODLES) doesn't connect on the deep pass he has to show that he will throw the ball. The safety is cheating up and making th field much smaller. This is the same issue we had in 2010. Either the play calling doesn't call for deep pass or RYAN is scared.

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F*ck all of this blame on the OLine. Vick can go deep with that pieceofshit line he has in Philly. Ryan had plenty of instances where he looked deep and had time to look deep for a couple of seconds then check down. So the time is there. His balls weren't.

Edited by vel
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