Pass Rush:

[FalconsIn2012]

All season I've been ready to address Offensive Line and Running Back along with Tight End in the first three rounds of the draft...and then last week happened and I changed my tune. Seeing Wilson with upwards of six seconds to throw the ball, our secondary had no chance. We would have easily had 4-5 coverage sacks if we had any semblance of a pass rush. I shudder to think what it would be like if JA was our for any extended period. Unfortunately, we got a sneak peak as to what it would be like last weekend and it was not pretty.

That being said, Im down with taking the best pass rusher available at pick 32 in the draft.

Edited January 18, 2013 by Falconsin2012

[Kaptain Krazy]

DL pass rush is by far the weakest part of the team right now. The ONLY DL who is able to get anything resembling real pressure from the edge is the oldest DE who is nearing the end of his (very good) career. there are other areas of need, but pass rush from the DE spot is the glaring weakness that has to be addressed.

[WiscoFalcon]

Hopefully Sam Montgomery, but I know I there's not much of a chance

[Guest Negatorris]

Alex Okafor will be the successor to Abe.

[DonOfThemBirds]

Alex Okafor will be the successor to Abe.

I think that Okafor will be a Falcon as well.

I would not be surprised if Nolan picks up a 2nd pass rusher in the draft too.

[Sui_Generis]

Hopefully Sam Montgomery, but I know I there's not much of a chance

Sam Montgomery will not be a Falcon. It is well documented that he has no drive and a poor work ethic.

[falcons007]

I agree that we need pass rush and have been saying we need to pick BPA for DE/DT, but I am not going to take Wilson as bench mark. He made even the best DE look silly in last 5 or 6 games. The guy scrambles around the pocket to throw the ball not run. Hopefully Kaep just takes off after first read is not there.

[OC]

I don't think it was that bad for a couple reasons:

1) The DE's weren't getting a rush on the edge because that wasn't the strategy. Because it would've been a bad one. If the end shoot up the field, it creates a lot of real estate for a mobile QB like Wilson to take advantage of. They probably were mostly playing contain.

2) I don't think you can blame the D-Line for Wilson. He's elusive and mobile, which means he's gonna have extra time on some plays no matter how much you execute for him. Case in point, the 4th Quarter blitz with Spoon. Spoon is no slouch, but that .32 seconds that Wilson used to get away from him can be dangerous.

But to your point, I think we do need to, at the very least find a suitable replacement for Abe in the draft.

[DonOfThemBirds]

I don't think it was that bad for a couple reasons:

1) The DE's weren't getting a rush on the edge because that wasn't the strategy. Because it would've been a bad one. If the end shoot up the field, it creates a lot of real estate for a mobile QB like Wilson to take advantage of. They probably were mostly playing contain.

2) I don't think you can blame the D-Line for Wilson. He's elusive and mobile, which means he's gonna have extra time on some plays no matter how much you execute for him. Case in point, the 4th Quarter blitz with Spoon. Spoon is no slouch, but that .32 seconds that Wilson used to get away from him can be dangerous.

But to your point, I think we do need to, at the very least find a suitable replacement for Abe in the draft.

Yea but the pass rush has been a problem all season. the Falcons are one of the last teams in sacks. Just imagine how good Nolan's defense would be if he could get to the QB with just the front 4.

[papachaz]

definitely agree we need to be looking for Abe's replacement. No question about that. But I do disagree about last weeks game. It looked more like they were playing to contain and not to sack. and from watching the replays, the only reason Spoon didn't get him on the one play was he got tripped up over his own guy right before he got to wilson.

too many plays it looked like our guys stopped pushing up the field, to keep him from having a chance to break through them and do more damage. The flaw was in the thoughts that he couldn't beat them with his arm, and the no coverage on the TE

[OC]

Yea but the pass rush has been a problem all season. the Falcons are one of the last teams in sacks. Just imagine how good Nolan's defense would be if he could get to the QB with just the front 4.

sacks are an overrated way to measure how good our D-Line is at affecting the quarterback though. I'm not saying we can't improve, or that a lethal pass rush wouldn't put us over the top. But I don't think it's fair to say that based on sacks.

[Knight of God]

I've been saying all of 7yrs now, that you need a block eater in the middle and a good athletic RE. At the left you need a guy who can make life unhappy for a RT. Then switch the two DE's up a few times.

Until something similar happens we will struggle in the middle and off the edges. Its not stacking the deck as Smith likes to call it, its chess. We can do that in this draft. Get those pieces along with an OG, RB, and TE. Not to mention a couple of other pieces.

[Knight of God]

Hunt, Lemonier, and Geathers would be sufficient.

[Dharma Initiative]

We have done just such a bad job of finding another good DE. Anderson, Davis, Biermann, Sidbury, Massquoi, Edwards.....

[DonOfThemBirds]

sacks are an overrated way to measure how good our D-Line is at affecting the quarterback though. I'm not saying we can't improve, or that a lethal pass rush wouldn't put us over the top. But I don't think it's fair to say that based on sacks.

I know

Sacks are overrated when it comes to statistics about pressuring the QB but sometimes sacks are very critical to a game.

For instance, if Spoon was able to sack and not over-pursue getting to Wilson on two or three of those plays last Sunday it could have helped prevented the Seahawks from either getting a 1st down or a touchdown in their route to trying to comeback in the 2nd half.

[Knight of God]

I know

Sacks are overrated when it comes to statistics about pressuring the QB but sometimes sacks are very critical to a game.

For instance, if Spoon was able to sack and not over-pursue getting to Wilson on two or three of those plays last Sunday it could have helped prevented the Seahawks from either getting a 1st down or a touchdown in their route to trying to comeback in the 2nd half.

No part of winning a football game is overrated. I don't know where that crap came from. Its like saying RB's and LB's are overrated and YES I have heard this type of talk.

[delaigle]

So far on these boards --- I've heard "We need a--"

DE to replace Abe

DE opposite Abe

NT a big honkiing NT

MLB

another Corner

TE to replace TG

#2 TE

RB to replace Turner

real slot receiver

RG

Center

replacement for Mike Smith

replacement for TD

Sounds like a very big re-building year coming up

Edited January 18, 2013 by delaigle

[Knight of God]

So far on these boards --- I've heard "We need a--"

DE to replace Abe

DE opposite Abe

NT a big honkiing NT

MLB

another Corner

TE to replace TG

#2 TE

RB to replace Turner

real slot receiver

RG

Center

replacement for Mike Smith

replacement for TD

Sounds like a very big re-building year coming up

By the board's standards...but I actually doubt we get that NT, Center, and probably TE. This is MS and TD we are talking about. They are very secretive and most likely made up their minds on this draft back in Sept.

[OC]

No part of winning a football game is overrated. I don't know where that crap came from. Its like saying RB's and LB's are overrated and YES I have heard this type of talk.

It's not that I think that they are overrated as far as their benefit to the team. But I think they're overrated as a metric for measuring a particular part's effectiveness.

But anybody saying LBs/RBs are overrated is misinformed.

[north falcon]

That being said, Im down with taking the best pass rusher available at pick 32 in the draft.

Agree 100%.

You need to do 3 things in the league to win.

- Have a QB (we have that)

- Protect the QB (we're good enough)

- Put pressure on the opposing QB (we're among the worst in the league)

If we solidified our DL to average or above average, we'll be a dominant team for a long time.

[north falcon]

Its like saying RB's are overrated and YES I have heard this type of talk.

Maybe not overrated, but less important. RB's may be overrated compared to the way they were viewed in the past. The RB position has decreased in value drastically in the last few decades. Look at the drafts from the 90's till now. Many teams consider it a waste to pick a RB in the first round. It's just simple math. Look at the run/pass ratio in the 80's and look at it now.

[PokerSteve]

All season I've been ready to address Offensive Line and Running Back along with Tight End in the first three rounds of the draft...and then last week happened and I changed my tune. Seeing Wilson with upwards of six seconds to throw the ball, our secondary had no chance. We would have easily had 4-5 coverage sacks if we had any semblance of a pass rush. I shudder to think what it would be like if JA was our for any extended period. Unfortunately, we got a sneak peak as to what it would be like last weekend and it was not pretty.

That being said, Im down with taking the best pass rusher available at pick 32 in the draft.

After the chit I saw in the second half, I'd be down with picking the best pass rusher for our first three picks in this draft. Something radical has to be done and the present group of imposters and pretenders we have on defense need to be put on the first bus out of town. No more of this trying to put freeking band-aids on a sucking chest wound.

[kiwifalcon]

I've been saying all of 7yrs now, that you need a block eater in the middle and a good athletic RE. At the left you need a guy who can make life unhappy for a RT. Then switch the two DE's up a few times.

Until something similar happens we will struggle in the middle and off the edges. Its not stacking the deck as Smith likes to call it, its chess. We can do that in this draft. Get those pieces along with an OG, RB, and TE. Not to mention a couple of other pieces.

I no Mario would have cost us the farm to get but about now in Nolan's scheme how good would it have been to have those 2 manning both sides about now.

I'd go pretty close to annointing us SB champs if we had those 2 at DE with Biermann rotating in.

3 down guys is what you need now as with the league trending to hurry-up offenses and mobile QB's you gotta have athletic 3 down guys upfront on your D-Line.

So I'm not so sure a 320 pound + NT is what we may be wanting.

Edited January 18, 2013 by kiwifalcon

[gazoo]

I don't think it was that bad for a couple reasons:

1) The DE's weren't getting a rush on the edge because that wasn't the strategy. Because it would've been a bad one. If the end shoot up the field, it creates a lot of real estate for a mobile QB like Wilson to take advantage of. They probably were mostly playing contain.

2) I don't think you can blame the D-Line for Wilson. He's elusive and mobile, which means he's gonna have extra time on some plays no matter how much you execute for him. Case in point, the 4th Quarter blitz with Spoon. Spoon is no slouch, but that .32 seconds that Wilson used to get away from him can be dangerous.

But to your point, I think we do need to, at the very least find a suitable replacement for Abe in the draft.

exactly what he said

it was OBVIOUS we were not rushing into the backfield last week by design. There was a play in the second quarter where 4 defenders rushed toward the LOS in front of Wilson and all stopped as they felt getting him to lose 5 yards was not worth the risk of allowing him to run for 40. It was obvious, yet so many fans keep complaining about our lack of pass rush that game.

I feel strongly it was an excellent design and we will probablhy see more of it this week. Make Keop beat us with his arm with his primary receiver only look and nail his @$$ when he tries to tuck it and run. Whatever you do, DO NOT let him get by your rushing defenders for a 60 yard gain.

[Guest Negatorris]

It's obvious we need defensive talent, especially in our front seven. I think Nolan is going to get together with TD and pick up some great defensive players for us.