September 16, 2020
Article by Allison Smith
Photos courtesy of the Atlanta Falcons
An excellent question after week 1 of Atlanta Falcons football. While we could not attend the opening game of 2020 in person, after a while, you didn’t regret that. The long 4 + hour drive back to Charlotte, the exhaustion from being up at 5 a.m., the expensive of gas and snacks and game goodies. Glass half full.
Also, in the glass half full category, the good of the game. The Falcons have 3 leaders in the league after week one. Matt Ryan leads all quarterbacks with 450 passing yards, Julio Jones leads all receivers with 157 yards, and Takk McKinley lead the NFL with 6 quarterback hits. The Falcons also had 3 receivers with over 100 yards each. Calvin Ridley with 130 yards and Russell Gage with 114 yards, joining Julio. Early in the fourth quarter, Ryan passed John Elway to become the 9th all-time NFL passer.
TE Hayden Hurst had a good Falcons debut with 3 receptions for 38 yards, one, a stretching catch of 27 yards. His 2 additional targets were non-called PI’s, but we won’t get into that here.
Todd Gurley’s debut was successful as well, while he was in the game. Gurley had 14 carries of 56 yards, one blast for 15 yards. Brian Hill and Ito Smith combined for 4 carries of 16 yards, not what we want to see out of the additional running backs. Qadree Ollison was not on the active roster Sunday. It appears the Falcons will attempt a one running back team, with Gurley being limited and relieved by Hill and Smith, but not the tandem we are use to from the past few years. Hopefully he can hold up.
Once again, like the last few seasons, short yardage and red zone inefficiencies plagued the offense. The offense was 0-4 on 4th down conversions, and 50% on 3rd downs, especially the short yardage 3rd downs. And once the Falcons were having to play catch up, they had to abandon the run game and be a throwing only offense. Younghoe Koo had 2 field goals over 40 yards, Gurley a single yard touchdown, and Ridley’s 7 and 18-yard touchdown receptions, late in the game. Touchdowns on 3rd downs and a missed 2-point conversion added to the frustration of the day.
The offensive line held up well. With Ryan’s 54 pass attempts, he was only sacked twice, so the blocking was good most of the time. Jake Matthews completely missed a block. James Carpenter and rookie Matt Hennessy were swapped out at Guard all day, both playing well, but no stand out yet. Kaleb McGary’s play was good, but the Seattle pass rush is not the strongest the Falcons will see.
While the defense did give up 24 second half points, the offense did not help with 4 failed 4th down conversions that lead to Seattle scores, and other mistakes. While driving early, Gurley runs out of bounds instead of pushing for more yards, Matthews misses a block, the Gurley isn’t looking for the ball on the 4th down and the Seahawks get the ball at their own 40. The fake punt was executed perfectly, until the fumble. A pass to Julio for a 44-yard gain would have been a touchdown if placed properly. Little things along the way decide the game.
Of course, the referees did not help. On the Seahawks’ first possession, they were given 41 yards on a very questionable PI called on Ricardo Allen. Hello, it’s Rico! Two plays later, a touchdown. The defense kept Russell Wilson in the pocket, most of the day, but his arm still burned them. The front 7 were good overall, tallying 3 early sacks and holding running backs to 55 yards, only one rush over 12 yards. Of course, Wilson did get loose a few times, once or 28 yards himself, but since the Seahawks were limiting him, when he did take off, it was unexpected.
Deion Jones made a good comeback with 9 tackles, followed by Isaiah Oliver with 7 and rookie AJ Terrell with 6. Foye Oluokun and the returning Keanu Neal also tallied 6 a piece. Grady Jarrett had 5 tackles, 1 for loss, 2 sacks and 3 QB hits.
Takk had the 6 QB hits, a sack, 4 tackles, and a pass defended – in an opportune time. John Cominsky and Deadrin Senat both had limited playing time in 2019, but were active and aggressive on Sunday. Darqueze Dennard was in for Rico much of the game and was missing tackles or at least not playing close in man to man coverage. Rico was in for 25 snaps, Keke for 51 and Damontae Kazee for all 62, wrapping with 4 tackles and playing as aggressive as ever.
The defense only gave up 14 points in the first half, but also caused no takeaways, which will be needed this year if the offense continues to sputter and not help themselves in crucial situations. The first touchdown, after the 41-yard gift, was a good play that would fool many defenses. It was a loop pass, just when the defenders think the running back has the ball, you realize he doesn’t, change your attention and Wilson finds him anyway with the pass.
The defense only gave up a couple of big plays, but one was a 4th and short that went for a touchdown, Oliver was burned. Overall, they need to tighten up the man to man coverage. The pass rush was successful in the first half. Dante Fowler was taking on major guard blocks, allowing others to get to Wilson, and sniffed out the toss sweep for a big stop and loss. Overall, the tackling wasn’t bad, Seattle was very physical and Wilson nearly perfect.
Keke did look good, back to 100% after another season of being injured. Even with him on the field, Rico was playing in the box, which he did some last year, but may account for his lack of tackles on Sunday. The rookies did not have first outings. Terrell wasn’t picked on or challenged directly, but he held up well. Seattle was running over routes, which is hard for anyone to guard and stay glued to the man. Mykal Walker was in the box and had limited time, but was active, similar playing still to Keke, although he didn’t knock anyone’s head off.
Sterling Hofrichter has 2 punts, a 45 yarder and 55-yarder, with one return of 15 yards, on a missed tackle. Koo was good on both a 44 and 49-yard field goal, but missed an extra point.
On the plus side, the Falcons continued to fight on both sides of the ball. They were just out matched and out coached in some aspects. The offense had missed opportunities on good field position and the defense had no take-aways and only two 3 and outs in the game, the second with 8 minutes to go in the game.
The turnover ratio wasn’t all together bad. The fumble on the fake punt was crushing, but the other was an interception at the end of the game in the end zone, so technically 0-1 in the turnover margin. But the Falcons do need to force some turnovers to give the offense a short field, or score themselves.
Only 6 penalties on Falcons all day, one of which was the PI early in the game, which was questionable for big yards. So that was cleaned up
Injury Update
DNP Weds: Jake Matthews – knee; Kendall Sheffield – foot; Charles Harris – ankle
Limited Weds: Julio Jones – hamstring; Marlon Davidson – knee
The Golden Talon
Grady Jarrett and Takk McKinley for making their presence known early and often, early sacks and many quarterback hits.
Calvin Ridley for 130 yards and 2 touchdowns; and Russell Gage with 114 yards. Combined being legit receivers.
#RiseUp
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