Falcons game thoughts

[Ozzy]

@JPatera76 wqs right, Murphy is an impact guy and I think will continue to get even better

Defense forced ATL into passing situations and this is where Macdonald can shine. People keep harping on his run defense last year but they were 1st in ppg and near the top in take aways. In today’s NFL it’s smart to make that aspect of offenses struggle and we saw some of that today.

Run defense wasn’t great but I think some of that was Bijan. He had multiple plays where I don’t think many NFL players do much better. He’s a special talent. I THINK the run defense is improved but we shall see

Geno played much better this week. A couple of plays we can nitpick him for but overall he had a very good game. Geno dropped a would be touchdown too for him.

Like Maelstrom pointed out the offense is getting more balanced and it’s paying off. Grubb is going to settle in and be one of the best OC’s in the league.

Jerrell(sp) played a fantastic game for his k first NFL start. I don’t care about their pass rush. Stone was getting beat almost every play and this game we he did well in the run game and the passing game. At worst you have a guy you can slide inside or move around.

Overall? This team is better than fans think. They were driving to win against the two top teams in the NFC last year in San Fran and Detroit. They beat a 4-2 Falcons team that came in scoring 100 pts in their last 3 and shut them down on the road. The Giants game is going to end up as the one odd loss of the year and most teams have them in a long NFL season. The Staff is doing some good things and they should continue to get better. I still think this is a team that has a shot to make the playoffs.

 

[Hawknight]

Where did Jobe come from..I thought he had a good game as well.

 

[Scout]

The Falcons WRs do not scare anyone so when Hawks went man up and pressure reached Cousins it was GG from there.

Also the Falcons previous opponents tried to stop the run and they did so to an extent. But the problem was you have to man up their WRs and not let them run free with zone beaters in obvious passing situations....

Bottom line if given time Mac will have this team ready to play every week. Mac is a defensive mastermind and he is still very young.

 

[Ozzy]

Where did Jobe come from..I thought he had a good game as well.

He did. I thought I remember a mistake early in the game but regardless he made some plays.

 

[hawkfan68]

I thought Jerrell played well at RT for his first game. I hope they continue to let him play RT and keep Stone Forsythe on the bench or inactive.

 

[OLYhawks]

He did. I thought I remember a mistake early in the game but regardless he made some plays.

I thought that flag would have been picked up. Ball wasn't catchable, and Jobe was a little handsy as any db is every play. He played a good game for sure!

 

[mistaowen]

Jerrell is the starting RT, he earned the job today.

Tre Brown (hopefully) lost his starting job at CB today. Falcons have good receivers and they were for the most part kept in check. Happy for Coby too, he should play a lot more at safety going forward.

Spoon is in the right spot all the time, the plays will come.

K9 is terrific and this offense needs him healthy. His lateral quickness is top 3 in the NFL.

DK dominated a very good CB in Terrell today, looks like he just hyperextended his knee on that out of bounds shove. Hopefully he's healthy, nice bounce back game for him.

IOL and LB must be upgraded this offseason. LB play, specifically against the run, is garbage.

Mafe and Hall are really stepping up this year. Even if they don't generate a 'pressure' they are pretty consistently beating their man. Something the DL has not been able to do in a long time outside of Nwosu.

Murphy was getting doubled all game per usual, he's a stud.

 

[Ozzy]

Jerrell is the starting RT, he earned the job today.

Tre Brown (hopefully) lost his starting job at CB today. Falcons have good receivers and they were for the most part kept in check. Happy for Coby too, he should play a lot more at safety going forward.

Spoon is in the right spot all the time, the plays will come.

K9 is terrific and this offense needs him healthy. His lateral quickness is top 3 in the NFL.

DK dominated a very good CB in Terrell today, looks like he just hyperextended his knee on that out of bounds shove. Hopefully he's healthy, nice bounce back game for him.

IOL and LB must be upgraded this offseason. LB play, specifically against the run, is garbage.

Mafe and Hall are really stepping up this year. Even if they don't generate a 'pressure' they are pretty consistently beating their man. Something the DL has not been able to do in a long time outside of Nwosu.

Murphy was getting doubled all game per usual, he's a stud.

Great post!

 

[White Devil]

Murph is gonna be a solid player in the middle hopefully for the next 14 years. His presence is essential in the rotation.

Offensive line played well. Jerrell has sweet feet and can move for a RT, something that Stone just can't do.

But the real key was the offense didn't come out and crap the bed right of the gate like they have the last 3 games. This defense isn't where it eventually will be, but they can get after the QB in obvious passing situations. They need that lead, and there's no reason the offense shouldn't be able to do that. They have some great weapons.

The sky isn't falling, the team had a rough stretch playing 3 games in 11 days. It kicked their butts. But with time and rest, and players on the field, the team can compete with almost anyone. I firmly believe that.

The future is bright

 

[Ozzy]

Run defense

1st half 15 for 117
2nd half 11 for 22 yards!

 

[OLYhawks]

Run defense

1st half 15 for 117
2nd half 11 for 22 yards!

That's an awesome stat of adjustments. It'll be interesting over the next few days to figure out those adjustments and see what they did. Hopefully they'll build off the second half success.

 

[Ozzy]

That's an awesome stat of adjustments. It'll be interesting over the next few days to figure out those adjustments and see what they did. Hopefully they'll build off the second half success.

I didn’t realize they tightened up that much.

 

[knownone]

I'm still not sold on our run defense. Giving up 155 yards is still terrible, and the Falcons played from behind for most of the game.

I don't think there's much to project from this win. It's a great win. Don't get me wrong. But we know Seattle's defense is good when they play with a lead, and the offense is great when the opposing team can't get pressure. Both of those showed up this week. We played a team that didn't exploit our weaknesses.

 

[Ozzy]

The run defense has some work to do for sure but they’ll get better. They don’t need to be great. Baltimore had the #1 scoring defense even with bad run defense. It’s coming together I think.

 

[toffee]

Run defense in the second half wasn't bad.

 

[Hawkpower]

I'm still not sold on our run defense. Giving up 155 yards is still terrible, and the Falcons played from behind for most of the game.

I don't think there's much to project from this win. It's a great win. Don't get me wrong. But we know Seattle's defense is good when they play with a lead, and the offense is great when the opposing team can't get pressure. Both of those showed up this week. We played a team that didn't exploit our weaknesses.

We played at team that was 4-2 across the country in their stadium and kicked their tail

There is much to build on there

After giving away the Giants game at home, we needed to steal one that was slated for a L and we did

 

[MORGULON]

I don't know this for a fact but I think MM defense is ok with the opposition busting a few runs , it's not the end of the world . What they want to do is at some point catch you in a 3rd and long then unleash the demon seed .

Even with a bunch of backups, if they can get a lead they can play their style of ball.

 

[knownone]

We played at team that was 4-2 across the country in their stadium and kicked their tail

There is much to build on there

After giving away the Giants game at home, we needed to steal one that was slated for a L and we did

Sure. Did we really steal one, though? We're a better team than Atlanta.

My point is more that I don't know if we can take much away from this win. It's certainly something for them to build upon, though. But I feel no more confident about our pass-blocking or run defense than I did going into this one.

 

[Ozzy]

What could they do that would make you feel better? This isn’t snarky but a genuine question.

 

[olyfan63]

I'm still not sold on our run defense. Giving up 155 yards is still terrible, and the Falcons played from behind for most of the game.

I don't think there's much to project from this win. It's a great win. Don't get me wrong. But we know Seattle's defense is good when they play with a lead, and the offense is great when the opposing team can't get pressure. Both of those showed up this week. We played a team that didn't exploit our weaknesses.

Bijian Robinson is a top-five RB talent. Give the man his flowers. You can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him. Tyler Allgeier is a very good RB also. Our offense went and got a lead and took the Falcons out of what they wanted to do. They wanted to Carolina us. (Remember that Carrol-era game where losing-record Carolina ran roughshod over our crappy run defense and won?) But Atlanta couldn't today because our offense was scoring. So it wasn't that Atlanta DIDN'T exploit our run defense weakness, it was that they COULDN'T because we turned it into a catch-up passing game. This led to our pass defense and pass rush rattling Cousins and Atlanta.