Post Game: Falcons Defeat Green Bay 34-23

Had Packers 1-1 after 2 games so everything going on schedule. I just hope none of the injuries tonight are multi-week things. The list is piling up big time with important players having those dreaded hamstring/quad/groin injuries.

Bak, Bulaga, Spriggs, Jahri Evans(returned at least), Daniels, Jordy, Cobb, House, Brice. Think Lowry got banged up as well.
 
Just a brief note, rewatched the first half on DVR. The nitro package is garbage. For one thing there is now a blueprint for slicing and dicing it on video. For another while it's conceptual sound we don't have the horses to pull it off. More speed and better DL are needed.

Get back to base and or combo coverage concepts and stop fiddle farting around with exotic packages. Tackle and cover in base first then move on. tc(

Moving on to the Bungles
 
Well at the very least I think they need Daniels to play for it to have a chance, he's the only DL who can rush and stop the run. They may well scrap it at some point if it becomes an issue but I don't think they do until they give Jones a shot around the line.

My impression after the first half is that the D will ALWAYS be shredded until they find someone to effectively cover the slot, nitro package or not.
 
Just a brief note, rewatched the first half on DVR. The nitro package is garbage. For one thing there is now a blueprint for slicing and dicing it on video. For another while it's conceptual sound we don't have the horses to pull it off. More speed and better DL are needed.

Get back to base and or combo coverage concepts and stop fiddle farting around with exotic packages. Tackle and cover in base first then move on. tc(

Moving on to the Bungles

It is garbage. Any team capable of changing plays at the line of scrimmage can eat us up. You must have noticed the one on one coverage that happens, and how dragging a WR across the defense, you can totally clear out a side for a guy like we saw with Julio Jones. It's just not practical.

It's irritating, watching Capers use one gimmick after another that don't work, and they call it "creative."
 
Have not posted because it was a frustrating game to watch and on top of it I was not able to watch it very intently as other things were going on at my house. A few things stuck out to me.

1) As I was watching the game, it was obvious that Atlanta was better on both sides of the ball. That became more striking when Jordy left the game. MilwJS confirmed my thoughts at the time with a story this morning - basically the Falcons are better at the skill positions other than QB, and even that spot is close. Jones and Sanu are better than anything the Packers have other than Nelson. Adams and Cobb are quite a step down from the two of them. Adams seems at best to be a nice 3rd option. Time for TT to address the position in the next draft.

Same with RB. Montgomery is a nice option as a change of pace or 3rd down guy, but they need to draft a real running back earlier in the draft, but since they just took 3 guys, I'm not holding my breath for much improvement there next spring.

2) We "upgraded" the secondary to the point where the #1 guy from the playoff debacle isn't even on the team and they still look the same. Two things need to happen - new coaching and a new starter in King. The coaching change can't happen now, but it should. As others have noted, time for King to start.

3) They drafted Jones specifically for the nitro package, but instead of playing him there, they play Burnett in that spot. Why? Yes, he's a rookie, and might make some mistakes, but he's bigger and faster than anyone else you've got, why is he not starting and learning. Burnett is a more savvy player than Brice and should be back at safety.

Ultimately, I don't know if the nitro package can work or not. Other teams use something similar and make it work. To me it comes back to coaching. Part of me hopes another humiliating season of defense will get Capers fired, but MM's stubbornness and stupidity regarding Capers tells me it won't happen. The entire defensive staff needs to be let go. I'd even be OK with an in-season firing of Capers and I usually consider that a waste of time when other teams do it. Chances are the only way we see better defense is if we start with the head. I may be over-reacting after 1 game, but I just feel like I've now seen this story before and it always ends the same. Time for TT, MM and the whole coaching crew to move along.

In fairness to TT, I'm not sure anymore that he's responsible for the defensive problems. He's certainly made his share of drafting mistakes, but to me the coaching staff has backed him into a corner and he keeps drafting defense, in quantity, and has little to show for it. The defense is dominated by early round draft picks who I would say were drafted pretty much in the spots that most draft professionals thought they should be drafted. I submit that most GMs would have taken them about where they were taken, and most coaches would have made a better unit from these guys.

The need to keep adding defensive talent has not yet taken it's toll on the offense but hints are there. Nelson and Cobb keep getting older and have still not been replaced. Adams is not as good as either were in their prime and the guys after Adams are just guys. The WR group is no longer among the top units in the NFL. They don't have a real running back, though Monty is a nice find and nice piece. They haven't drafted a good TE in a over a decade. They are OK on OL but again this past year, failed to draft a quality option for depth. (I think Amichia is a huge mistake but maybe I'll be proved wrong.)
 
I don't agree with the greatness of Sanu. Hes not better then Adams. It might be close but Sanu is a pawn that benefits from the system and the talents of Jones. Jones is a top 2 wr.

Also Monty was doing fine until MM scrapped the running game. Its more play calling then Monty. The line hasn't done anyone any favors either. I don't care who the back is, if there is no blocking your run game will struggle.

We will bounce back against cincy
 
You're probably right about Sanu and I agree it's probably closer than I made it out to be. Sanu does benefit from Jones, but I think the same might be said of Adams as he was not particularly stellar when thrust into the #1 role when Jordy went down. (Maybe it's just our CB's that make Sanu look good.)

Agree that Monty was doing fine and I acknowledged that he's a good piece. I believe however that he'd be better as part of a duo with another guy who's more of a true RB. It would be interesting to find out, but I'd bet if given a choice more NFL GMs would take Freeman over Monty as their starting RB.

I agree we will bounce back against Cincy. They are so bad right now that you can't help but look better. I think we can beat the Bears as well since they don't look much better. That stretch against the Cowboys/Vikings/Saints might tell us a lot more about the team and this defense. Hopefully they make me eat crow, but until this team and the defense in particular stops laying eggs in the playoffs I'll continue to believe the coaches need to be replaced, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
 
Montgomery ran for 35 yards on 10 carries. That's 3.5 yards per carry. Not great. But he also caught 6 passes for 75 yards. Combine the two and you have 110 yards on 16 touches. That's nearly 7 yards per touch, out of the backfield. He scored TDs both ways. I'd call that successful. The last score of the game was the 1 yd TD pass from Rodgers.

I like those stats, but I also agree that we need a real power RB. I don't honestly see that in any of the three we have in house. There were a couple of times I thought Ripkowski should have been given the ball, because he's stronger, but that didn't happen, because we didn't have anyone they felt capable of playing his role at FB, with our weakened offensive line.

As the season wears on, even when our entire offensive line is healthy, I think we'll have problems with an effective running game. I don't see anyone who could put up 100 running yards a game for a two or three game run, so we're still pretty much one dimensional in our offense. That could be our downfall before the season is over. No matter how good Montgomery is as a multiple threat back, you still need that bruiser for the tough yards tackle to tackle.
 
We had a power back and didn't use him to max capacity. I don't care who the back is, the problem is MM's playcalling/short leash for the running game/ compulsions mixed with AR and his RPOs. Backs are wasted in GB because MM will never ever commit to their trade on the field. You get 2-3 chances as a back to impact a game. If you get a good run in MM will let you keep doing it. Get stymied and MM pulls the plug and goes pass wacky.

EDIT: to add, MM goes pass wacky until he gets a lead late in the game. Then he expects his backs to come in cold and ice the game away with a dominant performance. Just sets them up for failure.
 
We had a power back and didn't use him to max capacity. I don't care who the back is, the problem is MM's playcalling/short leash for the running game/ compulsions mixed with AR and his RPOs. Backs are wasted in GB because MM will never ever commit to their trade on the field. You get 2-3 chances as a back to impact a game. If you get a good run in MM will let you keep doing it. Get stymied and MM pulls the plug and goes pass wacky.

EDIT: to add, MM goes pass wacky until he gets a lead late in the game. Then he expects his backs to come in cold and ice the game away with a dominant performance. Just sets them up for failure.

Totally agreed. MM never commits to the run game.
 
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