Atlanta Falcons: The good, the bad and the ugly from Week 3
The Atlanta Falcons faced off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last night on Thursday Night Football. In this space, we will provide a breakdown of the things that the Falcons did well and not so well. Here we go:
The good – Defense – The Falcons forced 5 turnovers and returned their only interception for a walk-in touchdown. It is not a coincidence that during Atlanta’s two wins, they are +1 in turnover margin, and in the one game they got blown out, the team was -3 in the turnover column. This team does a great job of putting a hat on the ball. They have forced 5 fumbles in 3 games and one of those led directly to a game winning field goal by Matt Bryant against the Saints in week one.
They also got after the QB on Thursday night. They recorded their first three sacks of the season and continually put Josh McCown, and later Mike Glennon, under pressure. Corey Peters had a monster game, hitting the quarterback twice while also recording a sack and having four tackles in the backfield. Hopefully, Mike Nolan is getting a good feel for his personnel each week, and they can continue the momentum against the Vikings in week 4.
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The Bad – The running game – The Buccaneers were without one of the best defensive lineman in the NFL (Gerald McCoy), and yet, they still managed to hold the Falcons to 144 yards on the ground. Other than the misdirection play featuring Devin Hester and the Antone Smith 38-yard gallop, the rest of the team was terrible in being held to 86 yards on 34 carries (2.52 yards per carry).
Tampa Bay has a pretty solid run defense when fully healthy, but Steven Jackson already looks run down and it’s only week 3. I’ve been on the record as saying that Steven Jackson isn’t even the team’s 3rd-best running back. I’m not sure if Mike Smith and Dirk Koetter feel a since of loyalty to Jackson or actually think he more left in the tank. Whatever the case, it needs to get fixed as the Falcons get into the meat of their schedule.
The Ugly – Ball Security – As good the Falcons have been about taking the ball away, they are actually -1 on the season in the overall turnover margin. Atlanta turned the ball over 4 times yesterday, which in most cases would not lead to a 42-point smashing of a divisional foe. You can’t turn the ball over 8 times in 3 games and hope to be a Super Bowl contender.
Matt Ryan was certainly more efficient on Thursday night with only 3 incomplete passes. While that’s a nice change from the three INT’s he threw in Cincinnati, the rest of the team put the ball on the ground 3 times. Late in the season, you can usually tell where a team is headed by their turnover margin. The Falcons ended the 2013 campaign at -5 in the turnover margin, and we all know how well that turned out.
Check back next week for a full preview and breakdown of the Atlanta Falcons in advance of their Week 4 match-up with the Minnesota Vikings.