Atlanta Falcons: First Team Strong, Depth Concerning

The Atlanta Falcons showcased their strengths earlier on against the New York Jets with strong performances across the board from the first team. However since it is the preseason, it was mostly about the reserves last night and the Jets had the hot backup QB in Bryce Petty. The Dirty Birds fall 30-22 to Gang Green at MetLife Stadium Friday night.

So far this preseason when QB Matt Ryan is on the field, the Atlanta Falcons’ offense is almost unstoppable through the air. Matty Ice connected on a 59-yard pass to back up FB Colin Mooney to set the tone early. Even with the Top 3 RBs on the depth chart (Devonta Freeman, Tevin Coleman, and Antone Smith) all out with hamstring issues, the Falcons were able to punch their first drive in for a touchdown on a 4-yard scamper by RB Terron Ward, an undrafted rookie out of Oregon State.

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Ryan is starting to develop some sound chemistry with WR Leonard Hankerson who had a few nice catches early on, including a 2-yard pass that Hank outsmarted the Jets DB and scored a wide-open touch down. Through the first two preseason games, Hankerson is playing like a strong slot receiver for the Atlanta Falcons. Perhaps it is his familiarity with OC Kyle Shanahan’s system from their time together in DC, but I’ll certainly take it.

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Even with a ton of mixing and matching on the offensive line, Matt Ryan still methodically dissected a stout New York Jets defense in his two drives of action last night. I’m totally confident in Matt Ryan to lead this Atlanta Falcons offense on many, many strikes this season. He didn’t need Roddy White, Coleman or Freeman tonight as all three offensive weapons did not play yesterday evening.

Defensively, this can’t possibly be the same Atlanta Falcons’ front seven from last year, no way! The pass rush is night and day better and the linebackers are stopping ball carriers at the point of attack with authority. Jonathan Babineaux wreaked havoc in his snaps tonight in the Jets backfield. I feared for QB Ryan Fitzpatrick‘s safety as Babs and company took complete control of a good Jets Offensive Line that features C Nick Mangold and LT D’Brickashaw Ferguson.

One player that I want to point out who played a strong game defensively was MLB Paul Worrilow. He takes a ton of flack for playing slow and unable to defend the pass in his first two years in the league. Last night, this guy was a prime difference maker in the front-seven, stopping both the run and defending the pass. He seems to play better when he has NFL caliber talent around him in the linebacker group. Brooks Reed had a nice Atlanta Falcons debut and Justin Durant is playing like a captain out there for the Dirty Birds.

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On special teams, Devin Hester continues to prove that he is the best return man in the game, nearly taking one to the house on a punt return. I wanted to see him score but fell just inside the Jets 5-yard line. But if there was one player on the Atlanta Falcons who impressed me the most Friday night, it was Punter Matt Bosher. Every kick of his boomed through MetLife and the Jets couldn’t hardly return any of his punts. Most were around 60 yards with a ton of hangtime.

Then the reserves came in and the Atlanta Falcons lost their edge. A few reserves played well (S Kemal Ishmael, LB Allen Bradford, RB Jerome Smith, WR Nick Williams to name a few), but I came away disappoint at the lack of depth I saw from the Falcons last night.

Neither backup quarterback did anything to command the 2nd spot in the ongoing QB battle. TJ Yates and Sean Renfree each had one good drive, Yates’ went for a touchdown in the 4th quarter and Renfree’s looked promising before a fumble by the tight end sealed the Atlanta Falcons’ fate inside of one minute. Maybe it was the constant shuffling of the offensive line or lack of depth at running back, but Dan Quinn can’t feel good about what he saw from Matt Ryan’s backups in Friday night’s game.

The secondary dropped off big time when the backups came in. I realize that Phillip Adams had to start for Desmond Trufant and Kemal Ishmael played a bunch in William Moore‘s absence, but Bryce Petty looked like he was still playing for the Baylor Bears going against the Falcons’ backup secondary. I like Petty and think he could stand as the Jets future starting QB, but he looked too good in his second game of NFL action.

The sure-handed Justin Hardy continues to drop a few passes a game and Tyler Polumbus was a revolving door at offensive tackle tonight. Atlanta turned the ball over thrice last night, once on a bad pass by TJ Yates, the other two were costly fumbles. Ball security cost the Atlanta Falcons more than anything because Gang Green couldn’t go more than three snaps without a penalty flag.

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