The Atlanta Falcons Need Clean Game To Win Against Titans

Once again, the Atlanta Falcons struggled on the road and would go on to lose a hard-fought, close game against the Indianapolis Colts to fall to 1-2 on the season. The Falcons will return to Atlanta to face off with another AFC South opponent, the Tennessee Titans. Can the Falcons right the ship?

The Atlanta Falcons struggle mightily in the first half of Sunday’s game against the Colts, going down 20-3 at halftime. After being in such a big hole, the team was unable to dig themselves out it even with an outstanding second-half performance from the offense. This has become the standard for the Falcons, after having the same thing happen in Minnesota in week 1.

Now, sitting at 1-2, the Falcons will return home for a game with the Tennessee Titans, a team who looked like an automatic playoff team after drubbing the Browns in week 1 but have fallen to 1-2 with back-to-back losses to the Colts and Jaguars. Like the Colts, the Titans are a beatable team, especially at home, but also a team that could beat the Falcons if they were to play another sloppy game. The Falcons will have to play a cleaner game for the entirety of the game if they want to avoid a 1-3 start.

Following the loss against the Colts, the chatter engulfing the city of Atlanta has been the penalties the Falcons accumulated. After being flagged 16 times for 128 yards, the talk has been justified. Through three weeks, the Falcons are tied with the Browns for the most penalties in the NFL with 35 on the season. Penalties have been a major issue for the Falcons up to this point. Can it be corrected?

Dan Quinn, as the head coach/defensive coordinator, has gotten the brunt of the blame when it comes to all the flags. Vaughn McClure, of ESPN, has reported the Falcons will have a full officiating crew at practice this week to work on some of the issues. This should help the Falcons as a team practice with more discipline which, hopefully, will translate to the game on Sunday with the Titans.

It’s going to take a complete effort, from the coaches and players, to fix this problem that has plagued the Falcons early this season. Yes, to avoid holding or pass interference, the players will need to execute better in the game to cut down on those problems. It’s the pre-snap penalties that have everyone looking at Dan Quinn. Nine of the thirty-five penalties have been pre-snap which falls on Dan Quinn and his coaching staff. If the team wants to win on Sunday, the Falcons will have to do a better job of executing and trusting their ability to avoid the same problems the team had in Indy.