Dago 3.0 Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Atlanta at Jersey/A Analysis: On the surface this game seemed to be about fourth-and-1. Atlanta failed twice on fourth-and-1, Jersey/A succeeded once on fourth-and-1, and the Giants won. Spoiler alert: Obviously, I am going to say the game was really about something else. But let's take short yardage first. Game scoreless, Atlanta faced fourth-and-1 on the Jersey/A 24 in the first quarter. Going for it here makes eminent sense: As Jimmy Johnson (the coach, not Jimmie the driver) once said, if you can't gain one single yard then you don't deserve to win. Tuesday Morning Quarterback maintains that the essence of the short-yardage play is misdirection. Boy, did Atlanta offer misdirection. First the Falcons shifted to an unbalanced line; then a back shifted; then a player simulated man-in-motion; then another back shifted; then Matt Ryan barked a hard count; then a man went in motion. TMQ has no idea why this play did not draw an illegal procedure penalty. TMQ preaches, Do a Little Dance If You Want to Gain That Yard. The Falcons did the . At the conclusion of the waltz, Ryan tried a sneak and was stuffed. Atlanta got a safety a couple of snaps later. Any coach would rather have two points and the ball than three points and kick away. So the first fourth-and-1 was not the problem. Now it's the third quarter, Jersey/A leads 10-2 and Atlanta faces fourth-and-1 on the Giants 21. This time Ryan just sneaks, no theatrics, and again is stuffed. Combined with Atlanta's failed fourth-and-1 in overtime versus New Orleans, the Falcons seem to have become Exhibit A for sending in the kicking unit. Yet the tactics were correct; it was the play designs that were bad. Here, Bill Pennington reports that Jersey/A coaches broke down tape of Atlanta fourth-and-1 attempts and found that Ryan simply sneaking was the usual outcome; Giants defenders were coached to ignore everything except Ryan, which they did. On the second fourth-and-1 try, Jersey/A lined up with eight defenders inside the Atlanta tackles, five of them in the submarine stance. No five-man offensive line can push eight defenders backward. Yet Ryan just plowed ahead. Why didn't he audible to a pass? With eight defenders in the box and Atlanta having three men split wide, the home run pass should have been open -- a touchdown for Atlanta here would have changed the game. But Ryan just plowed ahead, doing exactly what the Giants expected.Arguably, Atlanta did not go for it enough! On the possession after the first fourth-and-1 failure, the Falcons punted on fourth-and-1 from the Jersey/A 42. Sure the last fourth-and-1 failed, but just because a coin came up heads on the last 10 flips tells nothing about what will happen on the next flip. Punting on fourth-and-1 in opposition territory is a punk move. It took the Giants just four snaps to pass the point where the ball would have been, had the Falcons gone for it and missed; Jersey/A scored a touchdown on this possession. Then, trailing 24-2 in the fourth quarter, Atlanta punted on fourth-and-10. Punk, punk, punk. It's a playoff game, why are you punting? That move came after Atlanta also punted on fourth-and-2 when trailing 17-2.A punt on fourth-and-short when trailing big in the second half of a postseason contest meant Mike Smith and the rest of the Falcons coaching staff had quit on the game -- exactly as they quit on the game in the third quarter of last season's playoff collapse.Seeing their coaches quit, Falcons players quit. In the third quarter, Jersey/A faced third-and-7. Megabucks corner Dunta Robinson, one of the highest-paid defenders in the NFL -- paid much more than Atlanta corner Brent Grimes, a better player -- simply ignored Hakeem Nicks, letting Nicks run past as Robinson covered no one. When Nicks caught the ball and started upfield, Robinson only jogged in his general direction, not starting to sprint until Nicks had broken into the clear. (Later Robinson would be way out of position, showing no effort, on the icing Mario Manningham touchdown catch.) As Nicks went the final 20 yards, only defensive end Kory Biermann was chasing him -- Atlanta's speed players were just standing around watching. It's one thing to lose, quite another to quit. For the second consecutive season, Atlanta quit on a playoff game.Now the real story of the contest; Jersey/A defense. Not only did the G-Persons shut out Atlanta's offense, they did it with a conventional four-man-rush Cover 2. In a year of gimmick defenses -- two linemen, zone rushes, safety blitzes -- the Giants just sent their front four, had their corners in press position and their outside linebackers dropping wide, the traditional Tampa Two version of the Cover 2. Occasionally the Giants showed their TCU-inspired 4-2-2-3 look with three safeties, but blitzed only twice. Jersey/A's defensive tactics were Football 101. And this season, traditional defense seemed to take Atlanta by surprise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintRay Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 That hurt.Coaches quit...team quit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dago 3.0 Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 ouchhttp://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/kerry_byrne/01/10/julio.jones.trade/index.html?sct=nfl_wr_a3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuq u Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 ouchhttp://sportsillustr...l?sct=nfl_wr_a3Sounds like this dude was sun bathing on a nude beach and a Falcon mistook him for a mid-day snack! Although I do agree with most of what he said. It seemed like he took a couple personal shots, so I took mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enlightened32 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Wow...from that I get that the Falcons wont be contenders for a long time. The Giants knew exactly where the Falcons were going on 4th down and the Falcons didnt do anything to change it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dago 3.0 Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 Wow...from that I get that the Falcons wont be contenders for a long time. The Giants knew exactly where the Falcons were going on 4th down and the Falcons didnt do anything to change it.you never know....new coaching can really help. lack of draft picks is a ***** tho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serge Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I was saying this right after the first Saints game. The problem wasn't the philosophy of going for it, the problem was an awful play called for the situation and the epitome of a coaching staff that was a step behind the other sideline. After the game we heard that the coaching staff was attempting to compensate for New York's pass rush, but all of the traditional ways to do that, like play-action, getting the quarterback out of the pocket, using slot receivers and the screen pass, not only didn't happen but weren't really part of the playbook all season.Our offense was modeled to be a lot like Alabama's. Then you look at Alabama playing LSU and you see an offense that started off with the play-action passing until the defense didn't let them have it any more, then worked the running game until the defense was committed to the run, and attacked single coverage downfield in favorable down-and-distance scenarios. Our offense starts with some gimmicks, runs it up the gut for a yard on second down, then tries to convert with a couple curl routes down the field and a checkdown option that will never get to the sticks against an entire defense looking at him.The biggest joke about Roddy's "greatest show on turf" comment was that we never really played like that type of offense. We threw the deep ball and killed some lesser teams with it but we rarely saw more than three guys on the field that were threats to catch a ball at any given time. While that sort of offense is built on the idea that the goal of every drive is to get points and the best way to get guys open is to spread a defense out, we have fullbacks and blocking tight ends in the game and receivers running curl routes against a cover-2, not just against the Giants but practically every game. We use third and fourth receivers so rarely that Harry Douglas is the only guy outside of Roddy, Gonzo, and Julio to put up over 200 receiving yards, and that was mostly during the stretches that Julio was hurt. I believe we didn't throw an easy pass out to Harry on that 4th and 1 with an empty backfield because the coaches weren't sure that somewhere between Ryan and Douglas there wouldn't be a miscommunication or another dropped ball. It's a shame it had to end like this, but there had to be a change in offensive philosophy, because we really and truly did get outsmarted by a simple defense and a strong defensive line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuq u Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) Wow...from that I get that the Falcons wont be contenders for a long time. The Giants knew exactly where the Falcons were going on 4th down and the Falcons didnt do anything to change it.Yeah, I think the Falcons are going to be on the outside looking in for the next couple of years. I honestly don't feel like they should have been in the playoffs this year. I know "duh' right? I'd be happy if our new coaching staff can take us to a .500 season. Gonna be rough for the next couple of seasons. Time to start drinking again! Edited January 12, 2012 by 1st&420 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbendon Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 That's a very spot on write up. Hopefully this team can learn from this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderCookie Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 What? The Falcons trying to run plays the other team already know is coming? I don't believe it!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuq u Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) What? The Falcons trying to run plays the other team already know is coming? I don't believe it!!!!!!!!Wouldn't doubt if they didn't draw their x's and o's up on the big screen every game. Edited January 12, 2012 by 1st&420 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Do Itch Big Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 I will say this watching Kory chase Nicks made me a fan of him. He doesn't quit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Stalin Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 (edited) Gutless performance. Edited January 14, 2012 by Joseph Stalin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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