Let's Be Clear: Yesterday Was A "training Race"

[HolyMoses]

As a competitive cyclist, Thomas Dimitroff understands that the best training is racing. He also know that peak performance is achieved by carefully balancing work and recovery.

Of course, Mike Smith is the head coach, but I am certain he was lying to us about playing to "win." He was playing to train, to give his players a final dose of effort before a two week taper so they are rested and sharp for the Divisional round in two weeks.

If they were playing to win, they would have WON. We KNOW that because, since the beginning of the DSR (Dimitroff, Smith, Ryan) era, THE FALCONS HAVE NEVER LOST AT HOME TO A TEAM WITH A LOSING RECORD.

So they did not game plan for the Bucs, and did not put anything on tape that could hurt them down the road in the playoffs.

A Tour de France competitor must balance the risk of crashing in a pre Tour race against the risk of being under trained or "stale" going into the the Tour itself. Smith had to balance TWO risks: Injury v playing flat and losing fitness by having three weeks between "live bullets" for the starters.

Sure, if we are hobbled when the playoffs start, it will be easy to point the finger at Smith's decision. But it would be WORSE if we had a repeat of the 2010 playoffs, right?

Edited December 31, 2012 by holymoses

[GTJeff1975]

I agree. Trolls & whiners will be here in a minute though.

[JayOzOne]

Yesterday's game/effort had little to do with what we will do in two weeks other than remind the fellas that it's now "win or go home" time and to practice like the world will end tomorrow.

[Sun Tzu 7]

Oh my goodness.

We just lost a game. End of story.

Can we focus on what's ahead instead of trying to justify the loss or make excuses about it?

[muskokas finest ©]

Tough spot yesterday. You don't want to throw the game in front of the home crowd, considering how good the home record has been and you don't want anybody hurt.

[NoMoreVick]

It still puts the players in a bad position, and I doubt they really enjoyed the approach. But, at the same time, I think they understand. Going into a bye week like that is best-case scenario. Players are sharp and pissed off.

[HolyMoses]

It still puts the players in a bad position, and I doubt they really enjoyed the approach. But, at the same time, I think they understand. Going into a bye week like that is best-case scenario. Players are sharp and pissed off.

That's a great point. As an athlete, you have to have faith in your coach. I remember a coach telling me to pick out 2 races from a 25 race schedule. He said "those two are your races, the rest are mine." It is mentally challenging to compete when you are not given every opportunity to win. But that is what goal setting and prioritizing are all about. Obviously, yesterday was not a priority.

Yes, we were playing "TO WIN" . . . the SUPERBOWL!

[vabchbirdlover]

As a competitive cyclist, Thomas Dimitroff understands that the best training is racing. He also know that peak performance is achieved by carefully balancing work and recovery.

Of course, Mike Smith is the head coach, but I am certain he was lying to us about playing to "win." He was playing to train, to give his players a final dose of effort before a two week taper so they are rested and sharp for the Divisional round in two weeks.

If they were playing to win, they would have WON. We KNOW that because, since the beginning of the DSR (Dimitroff, Smith, Ryan) era, THE FALCONS HAVE NEVER LOST AT HOME TO A TEAM WITH A LOSING RECORD.

So they did not game plan for the Bucs, and did not put anything on tape that could hurt them down the road in the playoffs.

A Tour de France competitor must balance the risk of crashing in a pre Tour race against the risk of being under trained or "stale" going into the the Tour itself. Smith had to balance TWO risks: Injury v playing flat and losing fitness by having three weeks between "live bullets" for the starters.

Sure, if we are hobbled when the playoffs start, it will be easy to point the finger at Smith's decision. But it would be WORSE if we had a repeat of the 2010 playoffs, right?

So let me get this straight, the Falcon coaching staff deliberently didn't game plan for this game, to hide some secret strategies for our PO opponent(s)? In other words, treated it like a PS game. My only argument would be why play your starters past the first qtr if that was the intent.

Too funny

[Peyton]

I don't understand why people always reference 2010. What does 2010 have to do with anything? If the performance of 2010 is an indication of anything, it is that the Falcons should have rested their players, because the Falcons didn't rest any players in 2010. I don't know why people think they did. They had to win that game against the Panthers.

[Supes™]

I think it was simply a case of being human. No way the Falcons could concentrate of the Bucs when the weight of the world is on them to win a playoff game. I doubt they actually realized the Bucs were in the Dome.

In any case, we lost 3 regular season games this year, all 3 to divisional opponents and 2 of those were on the road. That is nothing to hang your head about, regardless.

[Sleepy27]

The ole' we're not showing our hand excuse

[Steampunk]

As a competitive cyclist, Thomas Dimitroff understands that the best training is racing. He also know that peak performance is achieved by carefully balancing work and recovery.

Of course, Mike Smith is the head coach, but I am certain he was lying to us about playing to "win." He was playing to train, to give his players a final dose of effort before a two week taper so they are rested and sharp for the Divisional round in two weeks.

If they were playing to win, they would have WON. We KNOW that because, since the beginning of the DSR (Dimitroff, Smith, Ryan) era, THE FALCONS HAVE NEVER LOST AT HOME TO A TEAM WITH A LOSING RECORD.

So they did not game plan for the Bucs, and did not put anything on tape that could hurt them down the road in the playoffs.

A Tour de France competitor must balance the risk of crashing in a pre Tour race against the risk of being under trained or "stale" going into the the Tour itself. Smith had to balance TWO risks: Injury v playing flat and losing fitness by having three weeks between "live bullets" for the starters.

Sure, if we are hobbled when the playoffs start, it will be easy to point the finger at Smith's decision. But it would be WORSE if we had a repeat of the 2010 playoffs, right?

I think it was simply a case of being human. No way the Falcons could concentrate of the Bucs when the weight of the world is on them to win a playoff game. I doubt they actually realized the Bucs were in the Dome.

In any case, we lost 3 regular season games this year, all 3 to divisional opponents and 2 of those were on the road. That is nothing to hang your head about, regardless.

Really?

[Butudontseeme™]

Ryan didn't look like he wasn't trying to win yesterday. The o line however......

[vabchbirdlover]

I think it was simply a case of being human. No way the Falcons could concentrate of the Bucs when the weight of the world is on them to win a playoff game. I doubt they actually realized the Bucs were in the Dome.

In any case, we lost 3 regular season games this year, all 3 to divisional opponents and 2 of those were on the road. That is nothing to hang your head about.

Not that I'm not estatic after being 13-3, 1st round bye and all,but no offense to anyone, but I just don't agree with anyone saying that we didn't game plan for yesterday's game, (might have done a poor job of it), but it wasn't deliberate solely to mask any current tendencies/stragegies for playoff opponents.

[Supes™]

Not that I'm not estatic after being 13-3, 1st round bye and all,but no offense to anyone, but I just don't agree with anyone saying that we didn't game plan for yesterday's game, (might have done a poor job of it), but it wasn't deliberate solely to mask any current tendencies/stragegies for playoff opponents.

Oh I agree with ya. I'm sure they did game plan. But were their hearts in it? I don't think so because I didn't see it on the field yesterday.

[Falcons_own_nfc_south]

Guys, what did you expect Coach Smith to say? We will play Not to Win...coach always say they play to win....

But when your team has already secured the playoff and HFA, its so hard to play with the same intensity as you would play to get in the playoff or win the division...

The game is over and time to move on because our goal was to get in the playoff and make some noise....and I know that we would see the same intensity as we saw in the Giants game.

[Karst41]

The loss did not bother me in the least.

The play that were chosen for the game did not

bother me at all, in fact I thought that the plays were

a perfect choice.

What bothered the heII out of me was the

way the game was Managed, and the cake of stupidity

was topped with multiple cherries.

Over use of starters.

4&10 on the 30.

The list goes on.

Nothing good came out of this game other than it concluded the

regular season.

[Psychic Gibbon]

This is what I thought going in. Teams with playoff byes tend to rest their starters, they get rusty, and then they lose. McCarthy said his biggest mistake last year was that he rested his starters in Week 17 and that he wouldn't make that mistake again and it seems like Smith came to the same conclusion. They didn't exert themselves very much, in fact the entire effort reminded me of that Panthers loss, but I don't really care about that since it was a meaningless game. They just needed to stay tuned up for the real season that is coming up.

[Peyton]

This is what I thought going in. Teams with playoff byes tend to rest their starters, they get rusty, and then they lose. McCarthy said his biggest mistake last year was that he rested his starters in Week 17 and that he wouldn't make that mistake again and it seems like Smith came to the same conclusion. They didn't exert themselves very much, in fact the entire effort reminded me of that Panthers loss, but I don't really care about that since it was a meaningless game. They just needed to stay tuned up for the real season that is coming up.

McCarthy was just trying to rationalize his loss. It was hogwash. They just played bad. It happens sometimes.

[The O.D.B]

Either way, it's good to get it out of our system before the playoffs. Now maybe we can be the Falcon's team we all want for 3 games. Maybe if we can do this we'll learn to be that Falcon's team more consistently.