Atlanta Falcons: Fast, Physical, Undisciplined

The Atlanta Falcons dropped their second consecutive road game, losing 24-27 at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts. There were a myriad of reasons the team was unable to win, chief among them was the lack of discipline.

The Atlanta Falcons suffered a devastating road defeat in week three, at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts. Both the offense and defense got off to horrible starts. However the most glaring and concerning issue was the Falcons lack of discipline.

Undisciplined and Unbalanced Play Calling

The Atlanta Falcons offense was undisciplined in many ways in their road loss against the Colts. First of all offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter was undisciplined when it came to running the football. The team ran the ball just 18 times, compared to 34 passing attempts.

For the 2019 season Atlanta has thrown the ball on 70.3 percent of their plays. That ranks as the sixth highest percent of pass plays in the NFL. The top ten teams in this statistic have combined for only five wins, with no team winning more than once.

Devonta Freeman had his best game in quite some time, carrying the ball 16 times for 88 yards. However with Ito Smith sustaining a concussion, no other ball carrier ran the ball more than once.

Part of the problem is Ito and Freeman are similar style running backs, that use speed and agility to gain yardage. The Atlanta Falcons have two more power oriented running backs in Qadree Ollison and Brian Hill.

Inexplicably the team has decided to deactivate both men for the first three games. That must change in week four, rather Smith can go or not. The Atlanta Falcons must be more disciplined when it come to committing to the run. They must establish it early, and not panic and go away from it, even if the team trails in the first half.