Falcons’ flaws aren’t worse than any other NFL team
Mike Smith and Thomas Dimitroff will take their team's 8-1 record, flaws and all. (Curtis Compton/AJC)
FLOWERY BRANCH – This is the way the season has gone for the Falcons. They win games, and people find flaws. They finally lose a game, and people scream, “Aha!”
As if the struggles of the running game, or the instability of the run defense, or the fact that Ray Edwards too often seemed more passionate about conquering the art of modeling than the art of a tackle should come as any surprise.
The Falcons have flaws, but so does every team, and they’re not going away. This is the NFL. Rosters don’t morph significantly during the season. The league has a salary cap. There is little roster flexibility. Unlike baseball, there aren’t pyrotechnics at the trade deadline. Once a season starts, the best a team can hope for is that a backup evolves and contributes more than expected, or a player released by another team can fill a void, or that drop-kicking a high-profile veteran like Edwards gets everybody’s attention.
But from September to January (playoffs included), strengths, weaknesses and perceptions generally don’t change much. In the Falcons’ case, perceptions are that they’re not an overly physical team, they can’t even convert third-and-1’s, and therefore they’re not going to be a great team down the stretch or in the postseason.
So much for basking in 8-1.
“If the NFL had rankings like college football, we’d be last,” safety William Moore mused. “Because we don’t get the love. We can win a million games, but we’d be like Boise State. Maybe they’d give us a decent bowl game. … I like Shreveport.”
With their options limited, credit the Falcons for cutting Edwards. It was a bold decision, even if it meant admitting they goofed by signing him. It says a lot about the player (in terms of how far Edwards had fallen) and the team’s mindset (believing releasing him was addition by subtraction). There is no financial benefit to cutting Edwards now. He’ll still get his $11 million guaranteed. The Falcons merely came to the realization that he was dragging them down, whether in performance, attitude or both.
The damning analysis from coach Mike Smith: “We did it to make our football team better today and in the future.”
This about a player that the organization was going gaga over seemingly five minutes ago.
Edwards couldn’t rush the passer. He couldn’t defend the run. He wasn’t nearly as versatile or athletic as one might think for a guy who so proudly showed off his abs in his 2012 modeling calendar (12 months, 12 poses). Younger, cheaper, hungrier players with a pulse were better options.
Everybody realized the Falcons would not be a great power-running team this season, despite the team’s continuous, “We will be a power-running team” declarations. Michael Turner showed signs of slowing down last season. He’s not running behind an overly physical offensive line. The new offensive scheme clearly would maximize the team’s main talents.
At some point, one would think the Falcons will be able to figure out how to convert a third-and-1.
Offensive tackle Tyson Clabo said, “I still think we have a chance to be a good short-yardage team. It’s not that we aren’t blocking well, we’re just not blocking the right people.”
As flaws go, that would seem to be a correctable one.
Everybody has issues. New England ranks 29th in pass defense, and it lost at home to Arizona. Pittsburgh lost to Oakland and Tennessee. Also, Ben Roethlisberger feels like a piano just fell on him. Chicago has one of the worst offenses in the league (28th), punctuated by one of the worst passing attacks (30th). The mean, nasty, rip-your-head-off Baltimore Ravens? They rank 27th in total defense.
In Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers has been sacked more times (29) than any other quarterback. San Francisco’s offense is led by … Alex Smith. And they lost to Minnesota. Houston: Solid overall but not a great passing attack. Eli Manning has 11 interceptions — right between Cam Newton (10) and Brandon Weeden (12) — and has lost to three teams with losing records (Philadelphia, Dallas, Cincinnati).
None of this makes the Falcons better, it just illustrates that every team has to overcome something. We know the Falcons’ flaws. But 8-1 and flawed isn’t a bad place to be.
By Jeff Schultz
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195 comments Add your comment
JSS
November 14th, 2012
8:17 pm
Nah, he’ll do like he always does and save it for the playoff game…
OldTimer
November 14th, 2012
8:18 pm
The Saints sux.
atlfalconsfan0125
November 14th, 2012
8:21 pm
Nah, he’ll do like he always does and save it for the playoff game…
____
I hope you are being sarcastic!
DawgNole
November 14th, 2012
8:22 pm
JSS
November 14th, 2012
6:01 pm
But here’s the difference Jeff Schultz, all of the teams that you mentioned do not have the Falcons psyche of doubt! Even Baltimore and San Francisco can call on a little thing called: “we’ve won in the playoffs before.”
JSS
November 14th, 2012
6:06 pm
Being realistic, their only hope is that they run into a team like Arizona which has absolutely no running game or a team like the Cowboys which just lacks an identity… Do that, and then possibly win your 1st playoff game, that will please the opium takers…
______________________
How long you been following this team? They’ve won in the playoffs before. It’s just been a few years.
burger brian
November 14th, 2012
8:24 pm
I think it peculiar that Clybo would say that “we are blocking people but not blocking the right people”. WHAT? That sounds like political speak to me. Isn’t blocking the right people “part and parcel” to blocking? Period? Its time for the Organization to stop making excuses for a under performing
O-Line. We WILL NOT win in the playoffs when you can’t gain one yard on third and fourth situations. Let’s face it – this is serious problem and Clybo and his pals need to “Man up” and take responsibility for their shortcomings. That is what those of us in business do (in the real world) in order to compete.
He claims that the O-Line studs are not the only ones that should be blamed for the inability to gain one yard on a run. Really? Waaaaaaaaahhhhh. Waaaaaaaaaahhhh. Someone please wipe his snotty nose and change his diaper. Man Up MOFO!!!
atlfalconsfan0125
November 14th, 2012
8:25 pm
Wait, let me get get the popcorn
JSS
November 14th, 2012
8:26 pm
Nope, he really didn’t post much last year until the week of the Giants game… But that is MCR… He’s been way more active this year…
That is why I laugh at 66, I haven’t been on a AJC blog between October 13 till last Friday when I got back from Mexico and working the election… But, I’m “incessant” of course!
JSS
November 14th, 2012
8:29 pm
DawgNole…
Sssssh, that is pre-Smith…
Mike "CHOKE" Dogs To Death
November 14th, 2012
8:30 pm
I think Matt “CHOKE” Ryan is actually Mike Vick himself.
He probably hasn’t blogged this week because his head is still ringing and he’s seeing double vision.
HA HA
Mora less Petrino
November 14th, 2012
8:30 pm
The Saints D is really bad! The Birds played flat most of the day Sunday and could have and should have won. Even if NO were to make the playoffs, they would open on the road. The team with the lily flower on their helmets has never won a playoff game on the road in their history.
The Saints ain’t going to the Super Bowl.
(J)ust (S)ome (S)ucka is a Troll
November 14th, 2012
8:30 pm
Wow…
… he hasn’t been around in awhile, but all it did was one loss for the Local Blog Troll to come out of hiding.
Seriously, isn’t everyone else happy to have The Blog Troll back to tell us how much better he is than us, how much smarter he is than us, how much more he knows about everything, and just how right he always is?
What kind of terrible failures create the kind of meaningless ego The Blog Troll vomits on the ‘net?
What kind of person must come here as he does, and do everything he can to try to bring everyone and anyone down, to harsh everyone’s buzz?
Seriously… The Blog Troll is a sad, pitiful waste of carbon.
JSS
November 14th, 2012
8:32 pm
“Few years?” It’s been nearly a decade!
atlfalconsfan0125
November 14th, 2012
8:32 pm
I saw MCR make an appearance at least once a week. But then it just stopped a few weeks ago. I figured he got banned.
D man
November 14th, 2012
8:33 pm
Flaws are on every team. I like our teams chances to win it all this year. The odds are certainly in our favor.
gg
November 14th, 2012
8:34 pm
The pundits couldn’t wait for us to lose but let me tell you the bias media is so quick to pick us apart. WE HAVE NOT WON A PLAYOFF YET WITH THIS GROUP. Once we win a couple of playoff games, we start to earn the respect. Right now, 8-1 means nothing. 9-0 would have meant nothing. That’s why there is a not a whole lot of picking apart of the struggling Giants,BECAUSE THEY WIN WHEN IT COUNTS!!!
JSS
November 14th, 2012
8:34 pm
Hiding?
Sorry, I posted on Friday, don’t let the Julian Calendar get in the way of you displaying all of that “civility!”
DawgNole
November 14th, 2012
8:35 pm
Athens Tider
November 14th, 2012
7:22 pm
The Falcons have won in the playoffs before, just not in the last three years. The Falcons have won 0 Super Bowls and the Saints have won 1. It’s amazing that this difference of 1 game in 46 years somehow makes the Saints winners and the Falcons losers.
___________________
It’s been considerably longer than three years, unfortunately.
JSS
November 14th, 2012
8:37 pm
Funny, where’s 66 to tell me I’m being cruel?
Call me Pappy
November 14th, 2012
8:39 pm
Fan since 66 – Me too! Remember when we cheered 1st downs; serously – not wins… First downs! Cannonball Butler… the year Dave Hampton went over 1000 yards, only to lose on his next (last) carry of the Season. Ah yes, the bags-over-the-heads Saints fans… hope to live see that trend again… We have a LOT to cheer about with this regime (Blank, Dimitroff and Coach Smith). Classy.
DaddyIce
November 14th, 2012
8:39 pm
None of this noise matters. Winning the NFC South doesn’t matter. Winning a playoff game would be nice. Winning the NFC would be nicer. Winning the Super Bowl is all that matters.
DawgNole
November 14th, 2012
8:39 pm
JSS
November 14th, 2012
8:32 pm
“Few years?” It’s been nearly a decade!
____________________
It’s all relative. Compared to 46 years, “nearly a decade” is in fact “a few years.” Although, granted, it feels like a century.
atlfalconsfan0125
November 14th, 2012
8:43 pm
I hope these Falcons win in the postseason, so we can finally erase Vick as the last playoff winner.
D man
November 14th, 2012
8:46 pm
There are 32 teams in the NFL, out of the 32, only 16 advance to the playoffs where 4 of them will lose in the first round. Every year, 1 or two of the 4 teams with a first round bye loses in the second round without a playoff win, so what is my point? Only 10 or 11 teams actually win a playoff game every year and 22 teams don’t win a playoff game every year.
I don’t base my happiness on playoff wins. Instead, I enjoy each and every game by celebrating wins and mourning loses. if we win in the playoffs, even better but it certainly doesn’t mean the season was a failure. I’ve seen horrible losing seasons and I will take this great season over all of them…
D man
November 14th, 2012
8:47 pm
My bad, only 12 advance in the playoffs…
BravesFan79
November 14th, 2012
8:50 pm
If we only loose 1 more game for the season were in great shape! #1 playoff seed in NFC. Even with 3 losses we should be #1.
atlfalconsfan0125
November 14th, 2012
8:50 pm
@ D man after 4 going on 5 straight winning seasons in a row, you want to see some sort of advancement to the championship….
D man
November 14th, 2012
8:54 pm
Sure I would like to se advancement but if they don’t after finishing first in the South, I’ll celebrate the fact that we won the South and the Saints didn’t. There will always be next year if we dont win it all this year. I’ll never give up hope for the Superbowl but I won’t put all of my happiness on whether that happens or not.
atlfalconsfan0125
November 14th, 2012
9:00 pm
@ D man
You dont think its a failure when team of this talent level fails to win in the postseason after the 4th try?
JSS
November 14th, 2012
9:11 pm
“Only 10 or 11 teams actually win a playoff game every year and 22 teams don’t win a playoff game every year.”
And since Smith, it has been a recurring theme: “22 teams don’t win a playoff game every year (see Falcons).”
Fan since 66
November 14th, 2012
9:13 pm
Pappy…yeah, most people can’t appreciate the dedication it took to be a Falcon fan over the years. I remember almost crying all the way home after the ‘80 Danny White debacle to knock us out of the playoffs. Yes…we lost the first round game that year too. Maybe there is something to this no playoff win jinx! lol! However, I do seem to remember beating the ‘Aints 60 something to 3 or 7, in the early ’80’s also. That almost makes up for the loss to the Cowgirls. I’m amazed at the fans nowadays who flip and flop week to week based on the ‘Birds performance that week. They don’t realize how good we Falcon Fans have it nowadays.
btw, JSS…done with cha! I’ll just enjoy your posts from now on as something humorous to read between the postings of true football fans.
Go Falcons!
Answer This
November 14th, 2012
9:20 pm
Wow……got to say I did not miss someone……but roaches never die they have been around since gosh knows when! Anyway good article JS. Spot on about EVERY team has issues in the NFL….regardless if they have “won in the playoffs before”…..how did they work out for Green Bay last year @ 15-1….they had won before and lost at home with home field advantage. My point is that some just blurt stuff out because they think it sounds good…just like you called out these people who waited for 9 weeks for us to lose…if we had won we beat another bad team….Every year is different and in 9 more weeks we will see how things play out! Is Mexico still open by chance did they close the border? We will win in the playoffs this year and win more than one game…..bet on it.
Answer This
November 14th, 2012
9:20 pm
Wow……got to say I did not miss someone……but roaches never die they have been around since gosh knows when! Anyway good article JS. Spot on about EVERY team has issues in the NFL….regardless if they have “won in the playoffs before”…..how did they work out for Green Bay last year @ 15-1….they had won before and lost at home with home field advantage. My point is that some just blurt stuff out because they think it sounds good…just like you called out these people who waited for 9 weeks for us to lose…if we had won we beat another bad team….Every year is different and in 9 more weeks we will see how things play out! Is Mexico still open by chance did they close the border? We will win in the playoffs this year and win more than one game…..bet on it.
Answer This
November 14th, 2012
9:20 pm
Wow……got to say I did not miss someone……but roaches never die they have been around since gosh knows when! Anyway good article JS. Spot on about EVERY team has issues in the NFL….regardless if they have “won in the playoffs before”…..how did they work out for Green Bay last year @ 15-1….they had won before and lost at home with home field advantage. My point is that some just blurt stuff out because they think it sounds good…just like you called out these people who waited for 9 weeks for us to lose…if we had won we beat another bad team….Every year is different and in 9 more weeks we will see how things play out! Is Mexico still open by chance did they close the border? We will win in the playoffs this year and win more than one game…..bet on it.
Answer This
November 14th, 2012
9:21 pm
Wow……got to say I did not miss someone……but roaches never die they have been around since gosh knows when! Anyway good article JS. Spot on about EVERY team has issues in the NFL….regardless if they have “won in the playoffs before”…..how did they work out for Green Bay last year @ 15-1….they had won before and lost at home with home field advantage…guess they could not call on that theory?. My point is that some just blurt stuff out because they think it sounds good…just like you called out these people who waited for 9 weeks for us to lose…if we had won we beat another bad team….Every year is different and in 9 more weeks we will see how things play out! Is Mexico still open by chance did they close the border? We will win in the playoffs this year and win more than one game…..bet on it.
Answer This
November 14th, 2012
9:24 pm
Apologies for the duplicate post…dont know how that happened?
DawgNole
November 14th, 2012
9:26 pm
Answer This
November 14th, 2012
9:21 pm
Wow……got to say I did not miss someone……but roaches never die they have been around since gosh knows when!
_____________________
Wow…….got to say four indentical posts is a little much.
JSS
November 14th, 2012
9:29 pm
“but roaches never die they have been around since gosh knows when! (?)”
How did you forget? You were there, the identical biological missing link has been found! Who knew?
I didn’t miss your Zombie posting either…
bigbobbles
November 14th, 2012
9:29 pm
JSS is MCR’s Boyfriend…Yes? Or the same ??????
JSS
November 14th, 2012
9:35 pm
Always laugh when folks bring up Green Bay (2011 version)… When was the last time Coughlin lost to GB in the post-season? Coughlin and Gilbride have been Packers and Patriots kryptonite, but somehow you missed that trend? Pssst, if they see you once in the regular season, they generally adjust… Ask the Pats, ask the Niners, and you don’t have to ask the Packers…
JSS
November 14th, 2012
9:38 pm
More of that genius “civility,” and “boyfriend” jokes too! Don’t let the White House petition page close while you’re coming up with such witty stuff!
Matty Bicep
November 14th, 2012
9:44 pm
Pssst, sorry but the Texans have won a playoff game (recently)…Yea, they beat the perennial losers Cincinnati and HOF bound Dalton. If we were in the AFC, we would have been to a few Super Bowls by now. The Ravens and Joe Flatulence, LOL, what a weak little team, we handled them with ease.
JASon
November 14th, 2012
9:44 pm
“They finally lose a game, and people scream, “Aha!””
Jeff, you are responding to national media criticisms of our team. Unfortunately, there is no public stage in which the media can be criticized.
Just because the falcons are not the cowboys, steelers, giants, eagles, lakers, yankees, or any other team that the media openly and agressively supports, we get scorned. Don’t underestimate the reaches of this just because it is an entertainment industry: this is a crisis in society in which the people of Atlanta are being struck down intellectually by an organization who answers to nobody.
Matty Bicep
November 14th, 2012
9:46 pm
Yep, Green Bay, Giants, 9ers, all NFC teams. Hell, if the Eagles were in the AFC, they might even get into the playoffs with MV7.
Matty Bicep
November 14th, 2012
9:48 pm
What ever happened to the Dream team? They finally figure out they can’t win we a QB how is 224 years old, in dog years.
JSS
November 14th, 2012
9:49 pm
Ha ha, is he cracking on the AFCs version of Matt Ryan? Pssst, that same team (Houston) took you guys to the woodshed too last year… Insert T.J. Yates jokes here… Glass houses everywhere!!!
JSS
November 14th, 2012
9:51 pm
Dennis Dixon…
JSS
November 14th, 2012
9:53 pm
Y’all need to stick to the Jets and or the AFC West, at least Gonzalez would feel at home then… No. 1 seeds sent packing, he knows that one well…
bigbobbles
November 14th, 2012
9:54 pm
This is not a civility blog of the White House page, but rather intelligent comments on how you, JSS, is an intelligent wannabe East Coast Harvard Grad with liberal views helping the world with your insightful thoughts. We are all impressed. We love to follow our team and we make intelligent comments, (most do, not all) about the current Falcons. But you just want to comment on playoff loses. All teams have those. So keep up your bAnal drivel and we will all applaud you. Mommy I juss got an A in falcon blogs being a dikhed. Yippee!!
techmule
November 14th, 2012
9:56 pm
WE are not talking about other teams dummy.were talking (FALCON)football only get it —–good .HEAR WE GO AGAIN< IF THIS PLAY OR THAT PLAY WE WOULD HAVE HAD BETTER CHANCE OF WINNING .IF IF, IF, IF, IF, IF, IF. gIVE US A BREAK MAN.fACE IT MAN YALL JUST DON"T DO YOUR JOB.
Matty Bicep
November 14th, 2012
9:57 pm
JSS, well, every team goes home a loser except 1 each year, going home a loser a week later than the next guy means nothing. There is 1 winner, and 31 losers.
Matty is like every QB not named Brees, Manning, Rogers, Brady, or Rothisburger.