RichardCNile Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 I have a friend who's an Eagles fan and he has a whole series of stories he tells titled "The other time I didn't get laid." His stories are hilariously funny because in each story he seems to have found a new way to screw up a sure thing. As Falcon's fans, we are used to disappointment and I feel like maybe I relate to his stories a little too much... at least from a sports fan perspective. It was such a bizarre season to see our Falcon's play pretty well in several games and so horrible in many other games. Normally I look back at a season and you can identify a few key things. HBO does this weekly with their show "turning point." What was our turning point this season? I'm not talking about what turned us toward a 6-2 finish, what I want to know is what was the turning point that turned us toward a 1-7 start? Tell me what you think it was that turned us toward a 1-7 first half of the season. I'll start with: TD cannot build an o-line. MR2 always struggles in the first year with a new OC. DK may not be the solution, but because of number 2 above, it will be hard to change. Falcon's still cannot line up and pound the rock. (see item 1 above) Falcon's cannot show up week in and week out for 4 qtrs of football. This pre-dates MR2, DQ & TD. In fact the last time I saw this happen on a Falcons' team was when Dan Reeves took us to 14-2 and we made it to the SB... But that game was again kinda like my friend's stories titled "The other time I didn't get laid." Happy New Year Falcon Fans PapaJoe, PokerSteve, MilleniumFalcon and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spts1 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 The atlanta falcons suck... N3onD3on and MoFalconsFan56 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiler11 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 It's hard not to point to the lackadaisical preseason as the root cause of our slow start. Charles Wright, papachaz and PokerSteve 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinalScore2.0 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Point #4 maybe valid but this may not point entirely on the O-line or RB. This can be the scheme, the play call of the RB in the situation. If a defense strength is two cinder blocks in the middle, that's not where you should run. When the Falcons go to the edges they seem to have more success. Final point, this team is built to pass. The Carpenter/Brown experiment was a failure so it was back to square one. RichardCNile 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lethal Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 28 minutes ago, Smiler11 said: It's hard not to point to the lackadaisical preseason as the root cause of our slow start. Right? It sure catapulted the 4-0, top scoring team in preseason New York Giants into regular season success! PokerSteve 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiler11 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 2 minutes ago, athell said: Right? It sure catapulted the 4-0, top scoring team in preseason New York Giants into regular season success! I wasn't talking about the Giants nor was I talking about the Falcons overall win/loss record in preseason, but carry on. Charles Wright 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lethal Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Just now, Smiler11 said: I wasn't talking about the Giants nor was I talking about the Falcons overall win/loss record in preseason, but carry on. You were beating the dead horse false narrative about the import of preseason. I can't wait until they go down to 2 preseason games here shortly and this is no longer a thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roguebeaver Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Personally, my feeling is that Dan Quinn bought into the narrative that he was the best at building, directing, managing, and being the end all as a defensive guru! So, feeling the greatness of the accolades that the media bestowed upon him, took that belief and epically crashed and burned. While doing his thing as a defensive guru, allowed the team to trash the whole season in the first 8 games... After the crash and burn, he said to himself OMG, gotta find me a Escape Goat (Lol), and fired himself as the “also ran” defensive guru, thus saving himself for one more, one more. Dan did it all by himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDirtyWordII Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 My thoughts... 1) I remember sometime over the off-season when 2019 prognostication was in full swing, DeVondre Campbell tweeted something to the effect of ‘I guess people forgot that we’re pretty good when we’re healthy’. Looking back, there may have been ‘the bands back together’ vibe that affected focus and preparation. Both from a seasonal and week-to-week perspective. 2) All 3 coordinators being replaced...that’s a pretty significant management changeover. It’s one thing to do it as a start-up/everything is new arrangement (i.e; GB in 2019, CHI in 2018). But as a resulting move from the same HC (who also assumed DC responsibilities)...it may have been too much. 3) We may hate to admit it, but our defense doesn’t really get after the QB that well or force TO’s. In 2017-2018, the Falcons forced 35 TO’s...that’s generally what the league leader does in one season. Quite frankly there isn’t really one thing the Falcons defense can hang their hat on. PapaJoe and DriveHomeSafelyAtlantaWins 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malachore Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 I learned what I already knew. That it sucks to be a Falcons fan. RING OF HONOR and Lethal 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalconFanSince1970 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Firing all three coordinators then trying to switch to a 3-4. DriveHomeSafelyAtlantaWins and papachaz 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerSteve Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 1 hour ago, athell said: Right? It sure catapulted the 4-0, top scoring team in preseason New York Giants into regular season success! Don't think it's ever about how many preseason games you win, it's how prepared you are to start the regular season when it's over and we haven't been ready. RING OF HONOR, Lethal, Smiler11 and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lethal Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Just now, PokerSteve said: Don't think it's ever about how many preseason games you win, it's how prepared you are to start the regular season when it's over and we haven't been ready. Not saying it's about wins and losses (even though several people are VERY concerned about wins and losses), but...ya know, I don't really want to rehash the whole preseason thing so I'll just leave it be. My feelings on the subject are known, no use re-digging them up. One thing is for sure, this team needs to do much better at getting out of the gates. The first half of the season we were behind way way way too much going into half. RING OF HONOR, papachaz and PokerSteve 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerSteve Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 1 minute ago, athell said: Not saying it's about wins and losses (even though several people are VERY concerned about wins and losses), but...ya know, I don't really want to rehash the whole preseason thing so I'll just leave it be. My feelings on the subject are known, no use re-digging them up. One thing is for sure, this team needs to do much better at getting out of the gates. The first half of the season we were behind way way way too much going into half. Yep, whatever the source of the early-season constipation, they gotta get to the root of that **** and resolve it. Charles Wright, Lethal, papachaz and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiler11 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 1 hour ago, athell said: You were beating the dead horse false narrative about the import of preseason. I can't wait until they go down to 2 preseason games here shortly and this is no longer a thing. Now you're just putting words in my mouth. DQ has already come out and said he's looking at changing his preseason plans, including the possibility of joint practices. Lethal, Charles Wright and PokerSteve 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lethal Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Just now, Smiler11 said: Now you're just putting words in my mouth. DQ has already come out and said he's looking at changing his preseason plans, including the possibility of joint practices. Good. I have said there is more value in joint practices than preseason games so this is good news. PokerSteve 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
octoslash Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 My opinion is that the culture surrounding a team, in any sport, has as much to do with success and failure as does any coaching, player talent, and front office decisions. To me, there seems to be a culture draped over this team (beginning with the 2016 super bowl run), and it is this: Everyone from the owner on down seems to think they're a lot more qualified than they really are. We keep hearing about all this 'talent' we have, and all this 'experience' on staff, but the only barometer for a football team is the record, and face it...this is a .500 team and has been for years. Ever since SB LI. The record since that awful night is 25-25, including playoffs. I'm no mathematician but I know the definition of .500 is...AVERAGE. And next season we're rolling with the same group we just saw put up an excruciatingly confusing and disgusting 7-9. If anyone could tell me why I should expect anything better than another near-.500 in 2020, I would love to hear it. After 47 years my fandom is weakening. RichardCNile, PapaJoe and DriveHomeSafelyAtlantaWins 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DriveHomeSafelyAtlantaWins Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 (edited) 4 hours ago, RichardCNile said: Falcon's cannot show up week in and week out for 4 qtrs of football. This is it, right here! All the things you named are true and relevant, but this is the key factor. And under Quinn, they also cannot stay consistent for 16 games. Edited January 2, 2020 by DriveHomeSafelyAtlantaWins PapaJoe and octoslash 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papachaz Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 2 hours ago, PokerSteve said: Yep, whatever the source of the early-season constipation, they gotta get to the root of that **** and resolve it. yeah Dirk definitely needs more roughage in his game plans because several this year were definitely full of **** octoslash and PokerSteve 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowndesfalc Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Perhaps the reason that we didn’t see Senat more than we did. VTCrunkler 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falconfansince66 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Before the BYE, a very weak offensive line unit allowed Ryan to be under siege and could not open a can of beans for a running game. Offense averaged 20 points a game to our defense allowing 31 points a game. Not something anyone wants to see considering a tough opening schedule playing five teams that are in this year's playoffs as well as a Super Bowl team from last season. As well as there was a huge transformation on defense during the BYE, a lot of people fail to see that the offense actually improved to scoring 27 points/game as we saw the offensive line actually start playing better, although a long way from what we'd like to eventually see. Those defensive adjustments cut 11 points/game on average so you can say a turnaround of an average of 17 points per game in our favor overall. What will we see in 2020? I see no reason to think that the offense cannot start out putting 24-28 points/game on the scoreboard but I don't expect our defense can come out allowing less than around the same amount at first as we know we're going to see a lot of changes potentially made on the DL again and it usually takes a few games for that to gel. Of course a lot depends on the early half of our schedule so we must do everything we can to get the offense in total sync before the season starts and make sure ALL starters get plenty of reps in preseason. Offense really needs to put up 30 points/game while we incorporate new/different players onto our defense, which will likely be another early season liability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTCrunkler Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 10 minutes ago, Lowndesfalc said: Senat glad that everything went well for him...any guesses? Lowndesfalc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RING OF HONOR Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 2 hours ago, Malachore said: I learned what I already knew. That it sucks to be a Falcons fan. Dude...what?? Falcons are beautiful and majestic...how could you not like Falcons.. Ohhhhh...you said Falcons fans....Yeah that sucks pretty much.. Malachore and RichardCNile 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falconfansince66 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 7 minutes ago, VTCrunkler said: glad that everything went well for him...any guesses? I remember he had shoulder/neck injury in 2018. Wondering if there could've been something lingering there. VTCrunkler and Lowndesfalc 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Realsurfin Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 (edited) 4 hours ago, athell said: Right? It sure catapulted the 4-0, top scoring team in preseason New York Giants into regular season success! Yeah the Ravens had a horrible season too. What's yer point since I am feeling real snarky after this piss poor season and the actions of our elite coaching staff. Edited January 2, 2020 by Realsurfin Cause our coaches suck so bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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