capologist Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Vaughn McClureWhen he addressed the media after the regular season, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank made it clear how he felt about his team's toughness -- or lack of it."I think, at the end of the day, if I asked you ... give me a brief definition of what toughness is, I think you might say something else, but you might say to me it's how you control the line of scrimmage,'' Blank said. "Can you run the ball? Can you stop the run? ... And I don't think we did either one of those things very well this year. So I would say, if you looked at toughness from that perspective, I don't think we were as tough as we needed to be.''Defensive tackle Corey Peters, who signed a one-year contract on Tuesday, understands Blank's point. He takes it as a personal challenge going into the 2014 season."I can't speak for anyone else but for me, and I'd say that's a fair criticism,'' Peters said. "When teams are having success running the ball like they had last year against us, I do take it personal. There's a few things that we need to do better, and being tougher is one of them."I think at times, we just didn't tackle well. That's a part of toughness. A missed tackle and a missed assignment here and there leads to big plays. I think that's what hurt us. In several games, I think we played decent run defense and gave up two long runs. And that translates to a terrible game. Like I said, we need to do a better job of tackling and that plays into toughness. That's why I would agree with [blank's] statement.''The Falcons finished last season second to last against the run while yielding 135.8 yards per game. They made unheralded running backs such as Arizona's Andre Ellington and Tampa Bay's Bobby Rainey look like All-Pros.In terms of Peters' role in toughening up the defense, it all depends on how he recovers from an Achilles tear. He remains on crutches and in a walking boot but hopes to shed the crutches by the end of the month. His surgery was performed by Dr. Robert Anderson in Charlotte, the same surgeon who repaired Julio Jones' foot."There's no reason to believe that I won't be ready to go for the start of the season,'' Peters said. "I'm fully expecting myself to be able to return to form.''When healthy, the talented Peters can be a disrupting force up front. Plus, he has the desire to improve all areas of his game. He's been studying film of J.J. Watt and teammate Jonathan Babineaux this offseason."I'm trying to keep an eye out for different moves,'' Peters said. "It's a tough situation because I can actually go out and get physical reps. But a lot of it is trying to get a pure understanding of how things work and proper technique.''http://espn.go.com/blog/atlanta-falcons/post/_/id/4190/peters-agrees-falcons-need-to-get-tougher-up-front Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronHead34 Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Part of toughness is simply starting and finishing plays, bro. I mean, I like Peters a lot, but new moves, etc. does not equal toughness. You need to work your assignment through the whistle. On top of that, you cannot give up when you feel you are being manhandled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theDIRTYcode Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Our overall team toughness will increase by 20% when Decoud is cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Tzu 7 Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Our overall team toughness will increase by 20% when Decoud is cut.Tackling is a team wide issue.DeCoud seems to be the poster boy for if but he wasn't the only one with bad technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falcons Rage Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Blah blah bah. Show me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falcons Rage Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Two years ago blank called the line play unacceptable. Look how far that got us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ki46dinah Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Tackling is a team wide issue.DeCoud seems to be the poster boy for if but he wasn't the only one with bad technique.Asante, Spoon were 2 obvious culprits as well.Nicholas, although not coming back, was usually decent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apl2g Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Our overall team toughness will increase by 20% when Decoud is cut.Hahahaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capologist Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Part of toughness is simply starting and finishing plays, bro. I mean, I like Peters a lot, but new moves, etc. does not equal toughness. You need to work your assignment through the whistle. On top of that, you cannot give up when you feel you are being manhandled.That's pretty much what he said prior to the last sentence... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roman42 Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 can't run the ball, can't stop the run, no toughness on either side, but the biggest disappointment to me was letting a rookie cheap shot your QB in the first game of the year against our most hated rivals and they do nothing about it but watch, that showed me all I needed to know about their toughness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronHead34 Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 That's pretty much what he said prior to the last sentence...I do what I can to state the obvious... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnasty Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Our overall team toughness will increase by 20% when Decoud is cut.I gotta be honest, when an entire team's toughness is called into question, I'm blaming the coaches. All of them, at every level. When it's the entire team, that's a systemic problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falcons_Frenzy Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Our overall team toughness will increase by 20% when Decoud is cut.LOL. I agree Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reginald VelJohnson Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Speaking of tough peters, did we cut our mannish cheerleaders yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falconidae Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Hate to disagree with Blank, but it's not toughness so much as talent on the Lines, put some younger, bigger players on the line, the question of toughness disappears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Flare Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Bye, Corey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Flare Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Speaking of tough peters, did we cut our mannish cheerleaders yet?I just laughed out loud during a meeting. You may have just gotten me fired! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great American Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Falcons need to get Tebow tough!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Dog Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Two years ago blank called the line play unacceptable. Look how far that got us.Nothing got better. Next season better change or Blank will change Smitty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwifalcon Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 If we are talking TACKLING why in gods name do we pretend to believe that anyone on the coaching staff know's how to teach it.I don't buy it.For me its a league wide issue tackling for the most part is an after thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1989Fan Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Tackling is a team wide issue.DeCoud seems to be the poster boy for if but he wasn't the only one with bad technique.technique was only part of his issue. turning away from contact was the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFatboi Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Part of toughness is simply starting and finishing plays, bro. I mean, I like Peters a lot, but new moves, etc. does not equal toughness. You need to work your assignment through the whistle. On top of that, you cannot give up when you feel you are being manhandled.I think peters is plenty tough. I think moves may be something he needs to work on to get off blocks. Warran Sapp was super tough be he had moves like a mf. Reggie White was tough as nails but he had crazy moves. You can't muscle your way thru every guy in front of you in the nfl. Moves is part of every hof'ers game. Wether it's a deadly spin, or an off balance move, that Reggie White used to get his man off balance and use his weight against him, or a chuck move. They all have to have nice moves. I do think peters needs to add moves to his toughness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falconcheff Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 I think peters is plenty tough. I think moves may be something he needs to work on to get off blocks. Warran Sapp was super tough be he had moves like a mf. Reggie White was tough as nails but he had crazy moves. You can't muscle your way thru every guy in front of you in the nfl. Moves is part of every hof'ers game. Wether it's a deadly spin, or an off balance move, that Reggie White used to get his man off balance and use his weight against him, or a chuck move. They all have to have nice moves. I do think peters needs to add moves to his toughness.Unfortunately probably won't happen this first year coming off an Achilles injury. That poor tendon has enough to deal with just holding up against a 300 pound man. Adding an inhuman amount of torque to the equation doesn't bode well for the first season back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFatboi Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 Unfortunately probably won't happen this first year coming off an Achilles injury. That poor tendon has enough to deal with just holding up against a 300 pound man. Adding an inhuman amount of torque to the equation doesn't bode well for the first season back.Yea you may be right. That's a lot to ask and Achilles to do coming off an injury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Dog Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 This whole team needs to start next season a bit tougher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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