September 24, 2019
Article by Allison Smith
Pictures courtesy of the Atlanta Falcons
After a great Sunday Night Football win, the Falcons seemed to be soaring up. Then, they traveled to Indianapolis where their wings were clipped.
With the good play and weapons that the Falcons have, this game should not have gone this way. You cannot win in the NFL with 16 penalties for 128 yards and turnovers in the red zone. While there was only one Falcon turnover this week, instead of 7 points, the Colts scored 3 their way, after a long 97-yard drive. Indianapolis is a good team that did what they needed to do, but this was definitely a winnable game for this Falcons. And now we wait for the fallout with all the injuries and what happens to clean up the penalties and unpreparedness….AGAIN.
Matt Ryan’s interception may have been only one play, but it is consistent within all 3 games so far and took points off the board. Remember when complaining about one hold by a lineman and one PI by a defender, every bad, bad play is impactful. This was definitely a team loss.
There was bad play calling and bad decisions. On a 2nd and 11, Ryan throws out of the end zone over Austin Hooper on the left side. Meanwhile, Julio Jones was uncharacteristically wide open on the other side of the end zone. On the ensuing 3rd and 11, Ryan is under great pressure and he throws out of bounds and the Falcons settle for a Matt Bryant 34-yard field goal. With just over two minutes to go in the half, the Colts lead 13/3.
The Falcons offense took too much time on the 2nd half drives, causing them to use all of their timeouts around the 2-minute warning in hopes of getting a defensive stop and the all back. Clearly, the defense couldn’t get the stop and the Colts were able to run out the clock.
Devonta Freeman finally looked the Free of Old and made some good breaks, other times lost in the backfield when the offensive line didn’t hold up. Free had 16 carries for 88 yards, with a breakout of 28 yards. Julio Jones was near perfection again with 8 receptions on 9 targets for 128 yards and another touchdown, one nice 34-yard reception. Mohamed Sanu was his usual dependable self on several 3rd down conversions, as well as blocking, taking direct snaps, finishing the game with 1 rush for 2 yards (and a first down), and caught all 6 balls thrown his way for 75 yards and several on 3rd down. And of course, Austin Hooper caught 6 of the 7 balls thrown his way, 2 for touchdowns, and forced extra yards, and was doing his job at blocking again.
With Keanu Neal’s Achilles injury taking him out for the season, Damontae Kazee will likely move back to the Safety spot. Kemal Ishmael and rookie Kendall Sheffield should get time at nickel. The Falcons will be evaluating their current team members and practice squad, then possibly looking outside for another safety.
Isaiah Oliver is really struggling so far. With Desmond Trufant being a shut down corner so far, offenses will continue to target 2nd year corner Oliver. The defense is not tackling or containing well. This was one of the worst tackling games since early 2018. The defense played soft coverage, making it difficult to get interceptions as there are no real contested receptions. While they were efficient stopping the run game, the short passes were open and easy most of the day. Add in missed tackles and yards after the catch, and it was a rough day for the defense. The defense provided 7 free first downs with their penalties, while the offense continued to create re-work for themselves with theirs.
The Colts offense took what the defense gave them, the Falcons didn’t tackle well on runs and played soft on passes. Small runs after catch became more efficient. There were too many missed tackles. A late 3rd and 5 had Jacoby Brissett off his spot, and the defense still couldn’t sack him and he ran for the first down, and extra yard.
Vic Beasley, Jr. had an overall good game, including a ½ sack shared with Takk McKinley. Jack Crawford had two uncharacteristic off-sides penalties and a missed sack. Deion Jones led the team in tackles with 9 and 1 pass defended. Oliver did get his man down with 7 tackles and 2 passes defended. Ricardo Allen had 7 tackles and a head to head penalty, which I feel was due to the speed he was closing. Rico is not a dirty player. Ish and Kazee had 6 tackles a piece. As a note, Vic had 2 quarterback hits, while Allen Bailey, Adrian Clayborn, and Takk all had 1 a piece. That is not enough to really affect the quarterback. And there were only 6 tackles for loss in the game. Brissett was 16 of 16 before the defense finally got some pressure and started to affect him. Heck, Grady Jarrett was barely affective with 1 tackle for loss and a penalty of his own, which was for 12th man on the field as he was on the edge trying to get out….but that has more to do with too much changing of the D too far on the ends of the field.
Overall, the whole game was a hot mess and repeat of week 1. In 3 games, the Falcons have committed 35 penalties for 264 yards. Head Coach Dan Quinn is bringing in officials for practice this week to ensure everyone understands the penalties…what officials look for and are going to call. There are numerous repeat offenders, then several random unusual offenders this week.
This is the second slow start on the road, but the Falcons have put themselves too far in the hole both games. Making adjustments at half time, coming out almost like a different team, but again, too little too late. Changing to man to man late in the game, but not able to wrap up. Offensively near perfection, but too much time and too much of a deficit to overcome.
Injury Report:
· Keanu Neal – out for the season with Achilles
· Ito Smith – concussion protocol
· Kenjon Barner – concussion protocol
· Grady Jarrett – toe, expected to be back by the end of the week
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