Concerns Going Into Post Season

[New Hope Eagle]

I am not saying we will lose but i do have some serious concerns about this team going into post season play and they are in no certain order.

1. If this is how we play when we "play to win" this is truly worrisome and against a division opponent that was decimated the last 2 weeks.

2. Not enough pressure by the D line

3. O line has breakdowns in pass protection.

4. O line can not block well enough to run the ball.

5. poor tackling.

6. We play poorly at home. We are much better on the road as far as consistently.

7. Receivers are never wide open. Always have someone within a yard or so.

8 Opposing receivers are almost always wide open.

9. Have trouble against the run at times. (getting better recently though)

10. Smitty seems sometimes not to be in the game. Doesnt manage clock real well.

11. Have trouble putting teams away when they are down.

12. We are way to soft on both sides of the ball.

13. We are going in with a bad loss. Confidence and momentum is now now at a lower level that it should have been.

I hope some of these things are corrected, but it is a lot of holes to get fixed in a short time. We will see what the coaches are made of

[falcndave]

Your not giving nearly enough credit to Tampa. Freeman was much more accurate than normal, and they made big plays (especially on 3rd down) throughout the game.

We got beat. This is not like the Carolina and Arizona game where we were totally flat.

This is the NFL. ANYONE can beat us no matter our effort when they but it all together. Just look as the 4th down play. Good call, good route, good pass, two hands of the ball to TG, great knock away by the defense.

This is reality. Every team in the NFL can play "pretty good" and lose.

[WiscoFalcon]

If we play a team who rushes the passer, we could be in trouble

[Dirtybird56]

I wouldn't give a f*ck if we just got beat in a meaningless game

But now we officially have no pass rush, and our offense's confidence wasn't helped at all and probably was diminished today

Play to win: 2 injuries and a loss

[falcons007]

It was a meaningless game and Play calling was worse than what Mm and BVG would have called. WR ran 1/10 of the routes after Roddy was hit in the first qtr. Just played it safed to avoid hits to WR.

[Sun Tzu 7]

If we play a team who rushes the passer, we could be in trouble

I think that covers every team in the playoffs except maybe the NFC East team...

[PokerSteve]

OP is correct in every point he made. This was a terrible game from every standpoint. A bottom-feeder team with nothing to play for was allowed to come in and push the Falcons around in their own house. How can a college coach take a mediocre team that is out of the play-offs and playing like garbage the last half of the season come in and out-coach and out-motivate Mike Smith, who has one of the gaudiest regular season won-loss records in the history of the league, coaching some of the best talent in the league on its home field? This is very troubling.

Once again, our OL stunk up the place. Once again, our defensive line got no sacks and very little pressure on Josh Freeman when they needed to, especially in the first half. Once again, our secondary played way off their receivers and left them wide open. This looked like BVG 2.0. Once again the defense couldn't get off the field on third down. We had a blocked punt on special teams. That should just never happen. And it's not the first block we've had this season either.

What did we learn from today's game? We learned the Falcons are not invincible in the Georgia Dome, even against a trash team like the pathetic Bucs. We learned that Mike Smith is a very poor motivator and game-time coach, but hey, we already knew that, didn't we? We learned what every other team in the league learned, this Falcon OL couldn't block the Wheeler Girls Softball team and the Falcons defensive line can't rush the passer. Period. Most of all, we learned that this team's weaknesses are definitely serious enough to completely cancel out its strengths.

All we can do is cross our fingers and hope this miserable, depressing effort and pathetic performance isn't a precursor to yet another quick exit from the play-offs.

[Culain_04]

Well we will know in 2 weeks which Falcons team decides to show up.

Hope for the Best but prepare the worst.

[theDIRTYcode]

Peter Konz.

[ProudFalcFan]

I am not saying we will lose but i do have some serious concerns about this team going into post season play and they are in no certain order.

1. If this is how we play when we "play to win" this is truly worrisome and against a division opponent that was decimated the last 2 weeks.

2. Not enough pressure by the D line

3. O line has breakdowns in pass protection.

4. O line can not block well enough to run the ball.

5. poor tackling.

6. We play poorly at home. We are much better on the road as far as consistently.

7. Receivers are never wide open. Always have someone within a yard or so.

8 Opposing receivers are almost always wide open.

9. Have trouble against the run at times. (getting better recently though)

10. Smitty seems sometimes not to be in the game. Doesnt manage clock real well.

11. Have trouble putting teams away when they are down.

12. We are way to soft on both sides of the ball.

13. We are going in with a bad loss. Confidence and momentum is now now at a lower level that it should have been.

I hope some of these things are corrected, but it is a lot of holes to get fixed in a short time. We will see what the coaches are made of

14. Atlanta Falcon Message Board is imploding with FEAR!

[nomak]

None...all going as planned.

[falcon92]

I was frustrated during the game, but I'm not worried about anything I saw on the field today, except injuries.

[New Hope Eagle]

14. Atlanta Falcon Message Board is imploding with FEAR!

So we should not be concerned about these things?? These were not just from todays game but a pattern throughout the year.

[falcon90]

That RG spot got to get freaking fixed. Konz aint a guard. The D in my opinion played okay except for when Doug Martin had that drive where he broke Decoud's pathetic so called tackle.

[JSouthGeorgia]

Sit back and ask yourself , if the Falcons had to have this game, could they have taken it? I already know my answer.

[slamee101]

Injuries! Only thing about today that worries me which is why I'm so pissed.

[TheRealSwift]

You could have just put 1) Everything. That'd been more accurate.

[falconsb]

I actually think this was a good game to have and the best time to have it. If we would have won this game by a large margin we would have felt more complacent. This has to be used as a motivator during the bye week in the practices and we have all seen how good the Falcons can play with some extra motivation. We've done it the other way before and look where that's gotten us. They have to stay sharp mentally and that's another thing we can work on that we wouldn't have if we won.

I know some of you guys say will say that they should have been up for THIS game but in all honesty they knew they already had the one seed so they were basically playing to not get hurt. AND we were playing extremely vanilla football save for a screen or two.

BTW I think a fresh Michael Turner will help us out alot in the postseason.

[BigBird35]

The running game worries me beyond compare, and the offensive line. I think on defense we will be fine if we can get everyone back healthy.

[phattywankenobi]

Why does anybody breakdown a meaningless game? The offensive calls were vanilla, the defense basically was screwing around on the Dline giving someone some homework that won't be put into the gameplan for the playoffs. When your 2nd best receiver is Rogers you can't take this game seriously. I didn't going to the game today so why would they?

[caver50]

Your not giving nearly enough credit to Tampa. Freeman was much more accurate than normal, and they made big plays (especially on 3rd down) throughout the game.

We got beat. This is not like the Carolina and Arizona game where we were totally flat.

This is the NFL. ANYONE can beat us no matter our effort when they but it all together. Just look as the 4th down play. Good call, good route, good pass, two hands of the ball to TG, great knock away by the defense.

This is reality. Every team in the NFL can play "pretty good" and lose.

Freeman was more accurate because we put very little pressure on him. Second week in a row with no sacks.

[Ergo Proxy]

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/gametracker/recap/NFL_20121230_TB@ATL

It was difficult for the Falcons to carry through with Smith's stated plan to treat this like any other game. With nothing on the line, there were empty seats in the Georgia Dome and little atmosphere to greet the players out of the tunnel.

"It kind of had a little different feel to it," defensive end Kroy Biermann said. "But the bottom line, Tampa Bay came out ready to play and we came out a little flat."

So, the players knew they were out played.

[ProudFalcFan]

So we should not be concerned about these things?? These were not just from todays game but a pattern throughout the year.

On the contrary, you have every right to your opinion, but with all due respect, I'm also entitled to mine! And I believe that the only consistency i have observed is that this Message Board wilts even when good things happen and absolutely melts down when things don't go perfectly well.

Now, I'm not saying that they win the play-off game but i would respectfully offer the following to supplement your 13 points:

1. If this is how we play when we "play to win" this is truly worrisome and against a division opponent that was decimated the last 2 weeks.

I believe this may have been one of the more challenging games, from a mental and emotional perspective, for our players and staff all year. The game was meaningless from a standings stand point. And I suspect Coach Smith is trying to approach matters differently than two years ago (when we were also 13-3) and lost two Green Bay. That year he rested players during the bye week and this year he wanted to stay sharp and keep the momentum going. Give some credit to the Bucs, some of whom were playing to keep their jobs. We go on and they go home!\\

With Houston losing today so badly today to Indy, the Falcons finish the year 13-3, THE BEST RECORD IN THE NFL FOR 2012!

2. Not enough pressure by the D line

Agreed but we weren't using any blitz packages or trying to show anything that Coach Nolan will unveil in the playoff. On both defense and offense, today was a practice game with vanilla stuff. Whatever is the result in the playoffs, i bet Nolan and Koetter are going to be throwing some great stuff at them.

3. O line has breakdowns in pass protection

The O-line get the blame for everything on this Board. Take away the Caroling game and they are one of the best protecting lines in the league. Sometimes it's picking up the blitz. Sometimes it's that receivers aren't open.

Matt and our receivers have had a GREAT year! The o-line deserves some credit when things go right as well as wrong.

4. O line can not block well enough to run the ball

But our screen game has become one of the best in the league.

5. poor tackling.

Agreed, but Smitty will have them ready with great fundamentals.

6. We play poorly at home. We are much better on the road as far as consistently.

We were 7-1 at home this year, which has to be the best or among the best. Going back to the beginning of the Smith/Ryan Era, over five years, the Falcons are something like 35-5 at home and are right there with the New England Patriots for the most home wins in the NFL during that period.

7. Receivers are never wide open. Always have someone within a yard or so.

I'm not sure how this even matters. Matt has tied the record today for most touchdown catches. He has throw to a wide variety of receivers and to with 1,000 yards.

8 Opposing receivers are almost always wide open.

Sorry, but i think our pass defense has been substantially upgraded and we've faced some spectacular competition (Peyton, Eli, Drew Brees, Phillip Rivers (at least previously), RGIII)

9. Have trouble against the run at times. (getting better recently though

Agreed, but there have also been times, like the last TB game, where Nolan has shut down the run.

10. Smitty seems sometimes not to be in the game. Doesnt manage clock real well.

Really, in five years, Smitty has not only become the winningest Coach in Falcon history but one of the fastest Coaches to 50 wins in NFL history. During the last 5 years, he has more come from behind wins than any other Coach. Doesn't that mean that he's into it and managing the clock pretty darn well?

11. Have trouble putting teams away when they are down.

Sorry, but I have more respect for the NFL. There is no team in the NFL this year, that, on any given Sunday, could not beat our Falcons. But what's different this year, is there is no team we can't beat either. Smitty's first couple of years, the only way we could win was score early and control the game by running the ball and playing prevent defense. This year's Falcons have proven consistently that they can score quick, are never out of it, and can win with defense, offense or special teams.

12. We are way to soft on both sides of the ball.

13-3

13. We are going in with a bad loss. Confidence and momentum is now now at a lower level that it should have been.

We are going into the Play-offs as the #1 seed and completed the regular season with THE BEST RECORD IN ALL THE NFL!

We have a bye week to get healthy and for extra preparation. And Mike Smith has also been pretty good after bye weeks.

Our Falcons have consistently shown as much or more character and class than any team in the league.

I JUST HOPE OUR COACHES AND PLAYERS DON'T READ THIS MESSAGE BOARD!

[JSouthGeorgia]

and the team got to get on the field and get some game speed time - otherwise your looking at 3 weeks until the next game. We got in , got out, and didnt tip our hands . As much as I would have liked a win, the only wins that matter start now.

[Guest Negatorris]

People tend to forget the games before losses.