This one was painful to watch live and even more painful to watch a second time. This was a game that was not only very winnable but given the injuries to the Broncos, should have been a win. I can’t help but wonder if we were caught napping a bit. Unfortunately, this one ended up as a 24-20 loss and dropped the team to 6-4.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Turner (25/81, 2 TD), Norwood (4/18), Ryan (5/18) and Snelling (1/-3). Effective Runs (4 yards or more or scores TD)-Turner, 7 ; Norwood, 1 and Ryan, 2. Outside of a few select runs, the Broncos really bottled up the running game. With Denver being in the bottom 5 or 6 of rushing defenses, this shouldn’t have happened.

Breakdown of passes:

Ryan: 20/33, 250 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 5 Bad passes, 5 Drops, 1 Pass Defended, 1 bad route and 1 thrown away. Outside of the INT, stat line would have been much better had Roddy had a better receiving game.

Drops (5): White, 4 and Peelle, 1.

YTD Drops (25):

White – 11
Douglas – 3
Jenkins – 3
Finneran – 3
Turner – 1
Peele – 2
Norwood – 1
Jennings – 1

Receiving: White (5/102) led the team in yards and catches. Jenkins also had 5 catches. Unfortunately, Roddy dropped almost as many as he caught.

Run blocking: Had trouble opening up holes for the most part against a banged up Denver defense.

Pass blocking: No sacks and not a ton of pressure on Ryan.

Sack responsibility (0): None

YTD Sacks (12):

Justin Blalock – 2.0
Todd Weiner – 1.5
Tyson Clabo – 1.0
Busted Play – 1.0
Matt Ryan – 3.0
Wayne Gandy – 1.0
Quinn Ojinnaka – 1.0
Jerious Norwood – 1.0
Jason Snelling – 0.5

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Allowed well over 100 yards to a bunch of backups.

Pass Defense: Very solid until the second half.

Sacks (1): The lone sack is credited to Jonathan Babineaux.

Special Teams:

Norwood had 4 kickoff returns:1-from the 0, 20 yards. 2-from the 5, 26 yards. 3-from the endzone, 17 yards. 4-from the 7, 17 yards.

Douglas had 1 kickoff return: 1. from the 1, 22 yards.

Mediocre kickoff return day.

Douglas had 2 punt return opportunities: 1. from the 20, 9 yards; 2. from the 40, fair catch. One fair catch by Finneran.

Koenen had 2 punts: 1-34 yards to the 40, no return. 2-28 yards to the 15, no return.

Koenen had 5 kickoffs: 1-to the -1, 20 yard return. 2-to the 4, 58 yard return. 3-to the 1, 40 yard return. 4-to the 2, 21 yard return. 5-to the -3, 20 yard return.

Field Goals: 2/2 Good from 46 and 36.

Special Teams coverage: Outside of 2 kickoff returns it was very good.

Things that really need improvement (no change):

1. Cover the middle of the field better in pass coverage (especially Tight Ends). Maybe move Brooking to SLB and Boley to WLB as well as nickel LB?
2. Eliminate 3rd and long conversions by opposition.
3. Defensive consistency in the second half.

Offensive MVP: Matt Ryan (250 yards)

Defensive MVP: Lawyer Milloy (8 tackles)

Special Teams MVP: Curtis Lofton (2 tackles)

Goat of the Week: Roddy White (dropped 4 passes including the game winner)

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: VS. Carolina Panthers, November 23rd!

This was an impressive win over a long-time division rival that was great to watch. The offense executed very well and the defense performed very well for the most part, especially in pass coverage. The game was not as close as the 34-20 final score would seem to indicate.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Turner (27/96, 1 TD), Norwood (6/17), Ryan (2/-2) and White (1/2). Effective Runs (4 yards or more or scores TD)-Turner, 12 and Norwood, 3. New Orleans keyed on the run and still the ground game was effective.

Breakdown of passes:

Ryan: 16/23, 248 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 4 Bad passes, 2 Passes Defended and 1 Drop. Virtually the same performance from last week. Great to see the consistency and development.

Drops (1): White.

YTD Drops (20):

White – 7
Douglas – 3
Jenkins – 3
Finneran – 3
Turner – 1
Peele – 1
Norwood – 1
Jennings – 1

Receiving: Norwood (2/88, 1 TD) led the team in yards. Jenkins had the most catches (6/72) and White turned in his normal solid day (5/68, 1 TD).

Run blocking: Very solid as is the norm.

Pass blocking: No sacks and moving Gandy, Clabo and Weiner around at the tackle spots seemed to help.

Sack responsibility (0): None

YTD Sacks (12):

Justin Blalock – 2.0
Todd Weiner – 1.5
Tyson Clabo – 1.0
Busted Play – 1.0
Matt Ryan – 3.0
Wayne Gandy – 1.0
Quinn Ojinnaka – 1.0
Jerious Norwood – 1.0
Jason Snelling – 0.5

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Really wasn’t all that good, fortunately Brees threw it 58 times.

Pass Defense: Despite giving up 422 yards, the defense came away with 3 INT’s (Jackson, Houston and Coleman) and 1 of the 2 TD’s was a jump ball garbage time TD at the end of the game.

Sacks (1): The lone sack is credited to John Abraham (what else is new!)

Special Teams:

Norwood had 2 kickoff returns (there was also 1 touchback and 1 onside kick gone horribly wrong out of bounds):1-from the 3, 18 yards. 2-from the 1, 55 yards. 1 solid return and 1 great return.

Douglas had 2 punt return opportunities (1 punt went out of bounds): 1. from the 25, 25 yards; 2. from the 12, 8 yards. You know, a 25 yard return and 2 consecutive weeks of no muffed punts just sounds excellent to me.

Koenen had 4 punts: 1-31 yards to the 10, downed. 2-33 yards to the 9, no return. 3-33 yards to the 10, no return. 4-44 yards to the 24, no return. 3 inside the 10 and no return yards. Excellent day.

Koenen had 7 kickoffs: 1-to the -2, 26 yard return. 2-to the 3, 20 yard return. 3-to the 3, 20 yard return. 4-to the endzone, touchback. 5-to the -4, 41 yard return. 6-to the endzone, touchback. 7-to the 11, 20 yard return. Kicks seem to be deeper now.

Field Goals: 2/2 Good from 22 and 27.

Special Teams coverage: Outside of 2 kickoff returns it was very good.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Cover the middle of the field better in pass coverage (especially Tight Ends). Maybe move Brooking to SLB and Boley to WLB as well as nickel LB?
2. Eliminate 3rd and long conversions by opposition.
3. Defensive consistency in the second half.

Offensive MVP: Matt Ryan (248 yards, 2 TDs)

Defensive MVP: Domonique Foxworth (5 tackles, 3 passes defended and just seemed to be all over the place)

Special Teams MVP: Kroy Biermann (3 tackles)

Goat of the Week: None, for consecutive weeks.

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: VS. Denver Broncos, November 16th!

Great to see the team rebound from the heartbreaker in Philly. Quite simply, this performance was nothing short of dominating. From first downs (ATL 30 to OAK 3), Total net yards (ATL 453 to OAK 77) to the 24-0 on the scoreboard, it was clear that the Falcons were in complete control from the very beginning.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Turner (30/139), Norwood (14/63, 1 TD), Snelling (8/47), Ryan (4/1) and Douglas (1/2). Effective Runs (4 yards or more or scores TD)-Turner, 19; Norwood, 7 and Snelling, 6. Dominating rushing performance outside of a few short yardage opportunities missed due to the line not getting a good push up front.

Breakdown of passes:

Ryan: 17/22, 220 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 2 Bad passes, 2 Thrown away and 1 Busted play. Very efficient play and really showing his development.

Drops (0): None

YTD Drops (19):

White – 6
Douglas – 3
Jenkins – 3
Finneran – 3
Turner – 1
Peele – 1
Norwood – 1
Jennings – 1

Run blocking: Very dominating except for several short yardage situations where they failed to get a push up front as mentioned above.

Pass blocking: No sacks until the 4th quarter. Not as good as it has been but with Baker out, that was expected.

Sack responsibility (3): First sack was on Norwood for missing a block. The second sack was on Ryan as he was untouched stepping up in the pocket and stripped by Warren. Final sack was on Gandy.

YTD Sacks (12):

Justin Blalock – 2.0
Todd Weiner – 1.5
Tyson Clabo – 1.0
Busted Play – 1.0
Matt Ryan – 3.0
Wayne Gandy – 1.0
Quinn Ojinnaka – 1.0
Jerious Norwood – 1.0
Jason Snelling – 0.5

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Outside of 2 QB runs, the Raiders got next to nothing on the ground.

Pass Defense: Allowed only 31 yards passing. It doesn’t get better than that.

Sacks (4): First 3 sacks go to Abraham and the final one was a “team” sack as Russell simply fumbled untouched.

Special Teams:
Norwood had 1 kickoff return: from the endzone, 47 yards nullified by holding penalty on Wire.

Harry Douglas is our new punt returner and he had 2 opportunities with 4 others either being downed or out of bounds: 1. from the 24, 6 yards; 2. from the 21, 7 yards.

Koenen had 2 punts: 1-33 yards to the 19, no return. 2-Blocked.

Koenen had 5 kickoffs: 1-to the 5, 16 yard return. 2-to the 2, 21 yard return. 3-to the -4, 24 yard return. 4-to the -2, 23 yard return. 5-to the 3, 39 yard return (unnecessary roughness on Biermann tacked on 15). Good to see 2 of the kicks in the end zone.

Field Goals: 1/2 Good from 48 and missed from 51.

Special Teams coverage: Outside of the last kick return and the blocked punt, very solid.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Cover the middle of the field better in pass coverage (especially Tight Ends).
2. Eliminate 3rd and long conversions by opposition.
3. Defensive consistency in the second half.

Offensive MVP: Matt Ryan (220 yards, 2 TDs)

Defensive MVP: John Abraham (5 tackles, 3 sacks, 2 tackle for loss, 3 hurries, 1 fumble forced)

Special Teams MVP: Ovie Mughelli, 2 tackles.

Goat of the Week: None, which might be a first.

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: VS. New Orleans Saints, November 9th!

This was a very painful loss for the fans and the team as well. From what some would say is a bad call inside the 2 or simply a bad pass inside the 2, a phantom muffed punt call from the officials or just too little too late. Very tough ending to rewatch but it’s done and I’m certain the team will grow and learn from it.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Turner (17/58), Norwood (4/5), Ryan (1/4), Douglas (2/10). Effective Runs (4 yards or more or scores TD)-Turner, 4; Norwood, 1; Ryan, 1 and Douglas, 1. For the second week in a row, the running game just wasn’t much of a factor. The upside is that Norwood had 5 catches for 55 yards to increase the production from the backfield.

Breakdown of passes:

Ryan: 23/44, 277 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 11 Bad passes, 4 Dropped passes, 3 Thrown away and 3 Defended passes. Best outing of the year by far.

Drops (4): White, 1; Douglas, 1; Finneran, 1 and Jennings, 1.

YTD Drops (19):

White – 6
Douglas – 3
Jenkins – 3
Finneran – 3
Turner – 1
Peele – 1
Norwood – 1
Jennings – 1

Run blocking: Struggled with the Eagles defense and failed to open holes.

Pass blocking: No sacks until the 4th quarter. Not as good as it has been but with Baker out, that was expected.

Sack responsibility (2): First sack was on Ryan for not audiblizing out of the play. The blocking scheme called left Gocong completely unaccounted for. The second sack was on Ojinnaka on the left side.

YTD Sacks (9):

Justin Blalock – 2.0
Todd Weiner – 1.5
Tyson Clabo – 1.0
Busted Play – 1.0
Matt Ryan – 2.0
Quinn Ojinnaka – 1.0
Jason Snelling – 0.5

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Poor day vs. the run. Giving up 6 yards per carry is horrid.

Pass Defense: Was pretty decent. Gave up far too much to backs and tight ends which accounted for half of the Eagles passing yards.

Defense was visibly different without Jamaal Anderson on the field.

Sacks: First sack went to Jamaal Anderson and the second came from Curtis Lofton on the blitz (congrats on first sack!)

Special Teams:
Norwood had 4 kickoff returns: 1. from the 1, 21 yards; 2. from the 15,14 yards; 3. from the 5, 13 yards; 4. from the 11, 20 yards. Very substandard day.

Mughelli returned a short kick for 17 yards..

Jennings had 5 punt return opportunities: 1. from the 25, 16 yards; 2. from the 14, 4 yards; 3. from the 32, 2 yards; 4. from the 17, fair catch; 5. from the 40, muffed (or at least that’s what was called) and recovered by Philly. There were also two punts downed by the Eagles. While the call was horrible, Jennings should have been able to easily catch the punt or get far away from it. We desparately need a new punt returner.

Koenen had 7 punts: 1-29 yards to the 15, no return. 2-25 yards to the 16, no return. 3-41 yards to the 14, 5 yard return. 4-53 yards to the 40, no return. 5-34 yards to the 12, no return. 6-34 yards to the 14, -12 yard return. 7-48 yards to the 43, 2 yard return. Jackson was non-factor in the return game and Koenen pinned them inside the 20 5 times.

Koenen had 3 kickoffs: 1-to the 7, 17 yard return. 2-to the 17, 14 yard return. 3-to the 1, 16 yard return. Would still prefer touchbacks but the third kickoff was great.

Field Goals: None.

Special Teams coverage: Very good coverage.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Cover the middle of the field better in pass coverage (especially Tight Ends).
2. Eliminate 3rd and long conversions by opposition.
3. Defensive consistency in the second half.

Offensive MVP: Roddy White (8 catches, 113 yards, 2 TD’s)

Defensive MVP: Jamaal Anderson (2 tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss, 1 hurry) Main reason is how noticeably different the defense was without him.

Special Teams MVP: Michael Koenen.

Goat of the Week: Adam Jennings and the ref making the phantom muffed punt call.

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: AT Oakland Raiders November 2nd!

Not many games can live up to the excitement that this one delivered. The defense really held up well except for 2 drives. Fortunately, the offense did just enough to make up for it.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Turner (25/54), Norwood (3/31), Ryan (1/1), Douglas (1/-11). Effective Runs (4 yards or more or scores TD)-Turner, 4; Norwood, 3. The Bears really did a good job of bottling up Turner. With Norwood’s success, it’s hard not to wonder why he didn’t get more carries but there were only 8 real drives so opportunities were limited to start with.

Breakdown of passes:

Ryan: 22/30, 301 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 2 Bad passes, 2 Dropped passes, 2 Thrown away and 2 Defended passes. Best outing of the year by far.

Drops (2): Jenkins, 1 and Finneran, 1.

YTD Drops (15):

White – 5
Douglas – 2
Jenkins – 3
Finneran – 2
Turner – 1
Peele – 1
Norwood – 1

Run blocking: With Turner getting shut down, the line didn’t adjust to what the Bears were bringing on defense

Pass blocking: Outstanding job keeping Ryan off the ground. Superb effort.

Sack responsibility (0): None

YTD Sacks (7):

Justin Blalock – 2.0
Todd Weiner – 1.5
Tyson Clabo – 1.0
Busted Play – 1.0
Matt Ryan – 1.0
Jason Snelling – 0.5

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: The trend continues, only 20 yards allowed in the first half but 56 allowed in the second half including a touchdown.

Pass Defense: Did it’s job except for two drives including the late touchdown drive.

Sacks: One sack and it goes to Jamaal Anderson, the first of his career. Congrats JA98!

Special Teams:
Norwood had 4 kickoff returns: 1. from the 2, 39 yards; 2. from the -3, 30 yards; 3. from the 0, 24 yards; 4. from the -2, 85 yards. Great day for Norwood.

Douglas returned the short kick for 10 yards to help set up the last second field goal attempt.

Jennings had 3 punt return opportunities: 1. from the 21, fair catch; 2. from the 19, fair catch and aided by a interference penalty; 3. from the 15, 6 yards. Another poor return day and at this point, not sure why he hasn’t been replaced.

Koenen had 2 punts: 1-37 yards, touchback. 2-45 yards to the 46, fair catch. No big returns by Hester means a great day.

Koenen had 6 kickoffs: 1-to the 21, 9 yard return. 2-to the 11, 25 yard return. 3-to the 10, 21 yard return. 4-to the 4, 19 yard return (nullified by holding penalty). 5-to the 4, 14 yard return. 6-from the 17, 33 yard return. Seems the strategy was to kick fairly short at the beginning, changed it and went back to it late. Not a proponent of kicking it short and the last kickoff showed why. Koenen did what was asked of him.

Field Goals: Elam was 5/6 from 29, 48, 32, 41 and 48. Lone miss was the 33 yarder that almost cost us the game.

Special Teams coverage: Very good on punts, not as good on kickoffs as it has been.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Cover the middle of the field better in pass coverage (especially Tight Ends).
2. Eliminate 3rd and long conversions by opposition.
3. Defensive consistency in the second half.

Offensive MVP: Matt Ryan (Couldn’t ask for much more)

Defensive MVP: Jamaal Anderson (4 tackles, 1 sack, 2 tackles for losses, 1 hurry, 2 passes defended)

Special Teams MVP: Jason Elam (accounted for 16 of the 22 points).

Goat of the Week: I’d say the entire defense on the last touchdown drive but specifically Chris Houston for allowing the receiver to get behind him.

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: AT Philadelphia Eagles October 26th!

The first half was about as good as anyone can play. The second half almost became a disaster. It seems that the defense had no answers over the middle in pass coverage. Grimes was targeted again and the run defense seemed to soften in the second half. Fortunately, Boley came up with a huge INT and Turner punched it in to give us much needed breathing room and a 27-24 win.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Turner (26/121, 1 TD), Norwood (4/12), Ryan (4/16), Douglas (1/18), and Mughelli (1/9). Effective Runs (4 yards or more or scores TD)-Turner, 13; Norwood, 1; Douglas, 1; Mughelli, 1 and Ryan, 1. Turner was outstanding today.

Breakdown of passes:

Ryan: 16/26, 194 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 2 Bad passes, 3 Dropped passes, 2 Thrown away, 1 Clock Play, 1 Mental Error (Jenkins) and 1 Defended pass. Other than the bad pass on the INT, a very good day for Ryan but that INT was definitely a game-changer.

Drops (3): Norwood, 1 and White, 2.

YTD Drops (13):

White – 5
Douglas – 2
Jenkins – 2
Finneran – 1
Turner – 1
Peele – 1
Norwood – 1

Run blocking: With half of Turner’s runs going for 4 yards or more or a score, no complaints at all.

Pass blocking: Outstanding job keeping Ryan off the ground. Superb effort.

Sack responsibility (0): None

YTD Sacks (7):

Justin Blalock – 2.0
Todd Weiner – 1.5
Tyson Clabo – 1.0
Busted Play – 1.0
Matt Ryan – 1.0
Jason Snelling – 0.5

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: 40 yards allowed in the 1st half and then 64 yards in the 2nd half. Not sure why the run defense tends to soften in the 2nd half but this is the 3rd week in a row it’s happened.

Pass Defense: Green Bay picked the middle of the field all day and occasionally went to Grimes’ side. Noticeably, teams are going away from Houston.

Sacks: Two sacks on the day, Grady Jackson got the first and Abraham got the second. Abraham also caused an intentional grounding penalty on Rodgers. That should count as a sack in my opinion but officially just a “good job of pressure”.

Special Teams:
Norwood had 3 kickoff returns and 1 touchback: 1. from the 2, 17 yards; 2. from the -4, 14 yards; 3. from the -2, 54 yards. A bad day until that last return.

Coleman handled an onside kick by Crosby with no problems.

Jennings had 3 punt return opportunities: 1. from the 36, 3 yards; 2. from the 26, muffed and recovered at the 29; 3. fair catch at the 10. Can anyone say Brandon James in the 3rd round next year?

Koenen had 3 punts: 1-29 yards to the 12, fair catch. 2-43 yards to the 2, downed. 3-53 yards to the 1, downed. Excellent day punting.

Koenen had 6 kickoffs: 1-to the 2, 19 yard return. 2-to the 5, 21 yard return. 3-to the 5, 45 yard return. 4-to the 17, 9 yard return (nullified by holding penalty). 5-Touchback. Fairly deep on all but I’d still prefer more touchbacks.

Field Goals: Elam was 2/2 from 41 and 42.

Special Teams coverage: Very good on punts, not as good on kickoffs as it has been.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Cover the middle of the field better in pass coverage (especially Tight Ends).
2. Eliminate 3rd and long conversions by opposition.
3. Grimes looks more like a nickel back at times and the league may be catching on.

Offensive MVP: Roddy White 8 catches, 132 yards, 1 TD

Defensive MVP: John Abraham (6 tackles, 1 sack, 2 tackles for losses, 3 hurries)

Special Teams MVP: Michael Koenen for all 3 punts inside the 20 and 2 inside the 2.

Goat of the Week: Pass coverage in the middle of the field.

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: VS Chicago Bears October 12th!

Second consecutive disappointing road performance. As much as Carolina abused Brent Grimes, we really shot ourselves in the foot. The game could have gone entirely different with a few things here or there but that wasn’t the case unfortunately.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Turner (18/56), Norwood (3/51), and Ryan (2/11). Effective Runs (4 yards or more or scores TD)-Turner, 6; Norwood, 3 and Ryan, 1. We didn’t get Turner going early and didn’t use Norwood near enough as he was much more effective.

Breakdown of passes:

Ryan: 21/41, 158 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 8 Bad passes, 6 Dropped passes, 1 Busted Play and 5 Defended passes. Ryan got very little help from his receivers today. A couple of the drops were tough but should have been made and would have extended two drives for certain.

Drops (6): Finneran, 1; Douglas, 2; Turner, 1; White, 2.

YTD Drops (10):

White – 3
Douglas – 2
Jenkins – 2
Finneran – 1
Turner – 1
Peele – 1

Run blocking: Carolina consistently stopped Turner but did have trouble with Norwood. The no-huddle seemed to be effective but standard formations were not.

Pass blocking: The middle of the line held up well but Weiner and Clabo gave up far too many pressures.

Sack responsibility (2): The first was on Ryan for holding on to it too long and missing Norwood wide open in the flat. The second was on Weiner being beaten by Peppers.

YTD Sacks (7):

Justin Blalock – 2.0
Todd Weiner – 1.5
Tyson Clabo – 1.0
Busted Play – 1.0
Matt Ryan – 1.0
Jason Snelling – 0.5

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: For the second consecutive week, the run defense was great in the first half and seemed to give up ground in the second half.

Pass Defense: Grimes was abused all day long. While he did come back in the third quarter with a few good plays, they worked him again afterwards.

Sacks: None. There was very little pressure.

Special Teams:
Norwood had 2 kickoff returns and 3 touchbacks: 1. from the 0, 17 yards; 2. from the 3, 20 yards. Subpar return day and an excellent job on the part of Rhys Lloyd for the Panthers.

Jennings had 2 punt return opportunities (1 punt downed and 2 touchbacks): 1. from the 23, 9 yards; 2. from the 19, 16 yards. 1 average and 1 good return.

Koenen had 6 punts: 1-46 yards to the end zone, touchback (could have been downed). 2-60 yards to the end zone, touchback. 3-53 yards to the C 20, 5 yard return. 4-29 yards to the C 14, fair catch. 5-32 yards to the C 44, downed. 6-34 yards to the C 20, 19 yard return nullified by holding penalty. First 4 punts were very good, the last 2 were not so good.

Koenen had 4 kickoffs: 1-to the 4, 18 yard return. 2-to the goal line, 23 yard return. 3-to the end zone, touchback. 4-to the goal line, 21 yard return. Very long kicks.

Field Goals: Elam was 3/3 from 33, 44 and 44.

Special Teams coverage: Very good outside of Jennings not downing the first punt.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Figure out a way to run on the road.
2. Eliminate 3rd and long conversions by opposition.
3. Grimes looks more like a nickel back at times and the league may be catching on.

Offensive MVP: Roddy White 7 catches, 90 yards.

Defensive MVP: Curtis Lofton (8 tackles)

Special Teams MVP: Jason Elam (accounted for all points scored)

Goat of the Week: Brent Grimes

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: AT Green Bay October 5th!

This was a very good rebound performance after the loss to Tampa. There was a moment in the third quarter when Jennings muffed the punt that you got that queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach of “here we go again, the Falcons finding a way to blow a lead” but they recovered nicely and put it away.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Turner (23/104, 3 TD), Norwood (11/75), Douglas (1/-8) and Ryan (1/15). Effective Runs (4 yards or more or scores TD)-Turner, 12; Norwood, 6 and Ryan, 1. Slow-starting but once it got going, it didn’t stop. Half of Norwood’s effective runs came on the last drive effectively killing clock.

Breakdown of passes:

Ryan: 12/18, 192 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 3 Bad passes, 1 Dropped passes, 1 Throw away and 1 Defended pass.

Drops (1): Jenkins, 1. Looked like he just misjudged his jump and missed the ball completely.

YTD Drops (4):

Peele – 1
White – 1
Jenkins – 2

Run blocking: Not sure if the running game was due to superior blocking as it was Turner making people miss and running them over but nothing less than a solid effort for sure.

Pass blocking: Probably one of the better performances from the o-line that I’ve seen in a while. The lone negative that stood out was a false start penalty on Blalock.

Sack responsibility (0): None. Very little pressure at that and none that were overly notable.

YTD Sacks (5):

Blalock – 2
Clabo – 1
Busted Play – 1.0
Jason Snelling – 0.5
Todd Weiner – 0.5

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Was stout in the first half but wilted some in the second half, especially the 3rd quarter.

Pass Defense: Houston had Bowe on lockdown. So much so that Bowe switched sides of the field to get 3 of his 4 catches. The lone catch on Houston went for 6 yards. Grimes was decent but did get burned several times.

Sacks: There were two and both were Abraham’s including one in the second half causing a fumble.

Special Teams:
Norwood had 2 kickoff returns: 1. from the 14, 8 yards; 2. from the 4, 36 yards. 1 very good, 1 not so good.

Douglas handled the 1 squib kick just before half with no return.

Jennings had 6 punt return opportunities: 1. from the 10, 18 yards; 2. from the 19, no gain; 3. from the 15, 16 yards (illegal block on Grimes); 4. from the 21, 10 yards; 5. from the 29, 9 yards; 6. from the 43, muffed and recovered by KC. Was having a very solid day until the botched return happened.

Koenen had 6 punts: 1-51 yards to the K 26, 10 yard return. 2-44 yards to the K 22, -1 yard return. 3-47 yards to the K 28, 5 yard return. 4-44 yards to the K 13, fair catch. 5-37 yards to the K 7, fair catch. 6-36 yards to the K 7, fair catch. 2 punts inside the 10 and 1 very long one. Very solid day for Koenen.

Koenen had 7 kickoffs: 1-to the 8, 16 yard return. 2-to the 10, 12 yard return. 3-to the 5, 17 yard return. 4-to the 5, 21 yard return. 5- to the 2, 16 yard return. 6-to the 6, 36 yard return. 7. to the 2, 12 yard return. I’m not sure that Koenen is supposed to go for touchbacks. It seems that the kickoff unit is coached to pin them inside the 20 based on how the ball is kicked and pursued. Only 1 returned beyond the 30 and 2 pinned inside the 20. Very good day kicking.

Field Goals: Elam was 1/1 from 27.

Special Teams coverage: Outside of the Grimes penalty and the 1 long kickoff return, it was very solid.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Cover the Tight End.
2. Eliminate 3rd and long conversions by opposition.
3. Grimes looks more like a nickel back at times and the league may be catching on.

Offensive MVP: Michael Turner (104 yards, 3 TDs).

Defensive MVP: Chris Houston (1 tackle, 1 INT for TD, 4 passes defended)

Special Teams MVP: Michael Koenen based on field position

Goat of the Week: Brent Grimes based on special teams penalty and getting beat several times.

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: AT Carolina September 28th!

A tough loss on the road 24-9. There were several factors with the turnovers being the major culprit but also the defense gave up quite a few long 3rd down conversions that could have changed the complexion of the game as well as not being able to punch it in when in the red zone.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Turner (14/42), Norwood (6/18), Douglas (1/33), White (1/2) and Ryan (6/10). Effective Runs (4 yards or more)-Turner, 3; Norwood, 3 and Douglas, 1.

Breakdown of passes:

Ryan: 13/33, 158 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 10 Bad passes, 2 Dropped passes, 1 Busted Play, 6 Throw aways and 1 Defended pass.

Drops (2): White, 1 and Jenkins, 1.

YTD Drops (3):

Peele – 1
White – 1
Jenkins – 1

Run blocking: Not as good of a job as week 1. Tampa got quite a bit of penetration, there were several missed blocks that could have sprung big runs and the opportunity to establish a rhythm never presented itself.

Pass blocking: Was okay for the most part. Before getting hurt, Baker had no negatives. Blalock did get beat on a stunt and looks to have problems with those. McClure had a missed block on an early run and a holding penalty that was declined due to Jenkins’ drop. Dahl had a rather rough day as he tripped over McClure’s feet blowing up a running play in addition to several pressures and a false start penalty. Weiner and Clabo also struggled specifically in the second half.

Sack responsibility (4): First sack came on the 7th drive with Clabo and Snelling responsible. Second sack came on the 10th drive and was a result of a busted play (miscommunication with the running back). Third sack came on the 11th drive with Weiner and Clabo responsible. Final sack was also on the 11th drive and on Blalock (on the stunt previously mentioned).

YTD Sacks (5):

Blalock – 2
Clabo – 1
Busted Play – 1.0
Jason Snelling – 0.5
Todd Weiner – 0.5

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Was very good until allowing the 68 yard TD to Graham.

Pass Defense: Allowed way too many 3rd and long situations and also Tampa’s tight ends were often wide open.

Sacks: Jonathan Babineaux and John Abraham each had one.

Special Teams:
Norwood had 4 kickoff returns and 1 touchback: 1. from the 1, 22 yards; 2. from the -2, 24 yards; 3. from the 1, 39 yards (nullified by illegal block on Snelling); 4. from the 8, 18 yards (fumbled and recovered by Snelling). Very average day.

Jennings had 5 punt return opportunities: 1. from the 24, 6 yards; 2. from the 13, fair catch; 3. from the 40, 37 yards; 4. from the 19, downed (improved by Tampa holding penalty); 5. from the 26, 0 yards (illegal block on DeCoud). 1 excellent return, otherwise very average.

Koenen had 5 punts: 1-26 yards to the T 10, fair catch. 2-35 yards to the T 34, downed. 3-35 yards to A 49, no gain. 4-30 yards to the T 8, fair catch. 5-55 yards to the T 33, no gain (improved by illegal block penalty on Tampa). 2 punts inside the 10 and 1 very long one. Solid day for Koenen.

Koenen had 4 kickoffs: 1-Touchback. 2-to the -2, 17 yard return. 3-to the -1, 32 yard return. 4-to the 9, 12 yard return. Plenty of length on the kicks and enough hang time for coverage teams to cover.

Field Goals: Elam was 3/3 from 27,24 and 32.

Special Teams coverage: Outside of two penalties and one kickoff return, very good job.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Cover the Tight End.
2. Eliminate 3rd and long conversions by opposition.
3. Blalock must learn to transition on stunts.

Offensive MVP: Laurent Robinson (4 catches, 45 yards) – 2 really nice catches that turned the momentum and gave us a chance.

Defensive MVP: Jonathan Babineaux (3 tackles, 1 sack, 2 hurries, 3 tackles for losses)

Special Teams MVP: Jason Elam, 3/3 on Field Goals

Goat of the Week: Matt Ryan – 2 Interceptions were horrible throws and couldn’t get it in the end zone. Positive note – didn’t give up and played much better in the 2nd half.

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: VS Kansas City Chiefs September 21st!

You can’t ask for a much better start than what we received this past Sunday. Great running game, pretty solid defense and a nice win 34-21.

Here’s what I saw:

Offense:

Running game: Turner (22/220, 2 TD), Norwood (14/93, 1 TD), Douglas (1/7) and Ryan (5/-2). Effective Runs (4 yards or more)-Turner, 13; Norwood, 9 and Douglas, 1.

Breakdown of passes:

Ryan: 9/13, 161 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. Breakdown of incompletions: 1 Bad pass, 1 Dropped pass, 1 Throw away and 1 Defended pass.

Drops (1): Peele, 1.

YTD Drops (1):

Peele – 1

Run blocking: 318 rushing yards, need I say more? Outstanding job.

Pass blocking: Was very good for the most part. Blalock allowed a solo pressure, Blalock/McClure combined for 1 pressure; Norwood/McClure combined for another and Dahl/Clabo combined for 1 final pressure. Blalock was also penalized twice (false start and illegal block in the back).

Sack responsibility (1): The lone sack was on Blalock.

YTD Sacks (1):

Blalock – 1

Note: QB responsible sacks are those that he has at least 3 seconds and either chose to try to scramble or stayed in the pocket when the better decision would be to throw it away. Also includes those rushing attempts that go for 0 or negative yardage that for some reason are counted as a sack.

Defense:

Run defense: Allowing only 62 yards rushing, fantastic effort overall.

Pass Defense: Coverage was a bit soft in the secondary. Houston had two huge penalties that directly resulted in 14 points. Milloy had a very nice athletic interception.

Sacks: Abraham credited with 3. I’ll note that Anderson had a hand in one of them and also Bierrman made an alert play on the bad exchange between Kitna and Smith that almost resulted in a fumble recovery and Davis was there to get the tackle.

Special Teams:
Norwood had 2 kickoff returns and 1 touchback: 1. from the -5, 31 yards; 2. from the 4, 34 yards. Very good returns.

Wilkerson had 1 kickoff return: From the 24, 10 yards.

Jennings had 6 punt returns: 1. from the 10, 10 yards; 2. from the 31, 2 yards; 3. from the 9, fair catch; 4. from the 16, -4 yards; 5. from the 27, 5 yards; 6. from the 26, 2 yards. Not a lot there.

Koenen had 3 punts: 1-28 yards to the D 41, out of bounds. 2-36 yards to the D 31, fair catch. 3-51 yards to D 33, fair catch. 1 great punt, 2 bad ones. Not a good day.

Koenen had 7 kickoffs: 1. to the 2, 14 yard return; 2. to the 7, 16 yard return; 3. to the 3, 23 yard return; 4. to the endzone, 27 yard return (and penalty on Jennings); 5. Touchback; 6. to the 5, 20 yard return; 7. to the endzone, 23 yard return. Not a bad day kicking off but I’d like to see more touchbacks.

Field Goals: Elam was 2/2 from 50 and 25.

Special Teams coverage: Very nice job outside of the Jennings penalty which gave the Lions great field position.

Things that really need improvement:

1. Blalock primarily in pass protection and o-line can eliminate pressures by finding someone to hit.
2. Houston needs to look back for the ball and that should eliminate penalties.
3. Brooking struggled in pass coverage.

Offensive MVP: Michael Turner (Franchise single-game rushing record!)

Defensive MVP: John Abraham (4 tackles, 3 sacks, 3 hurries)

Special Teams MVP: Jerious Norwood (2 good returns and 2 tackles on special teams)

Goat of the Week: Justin Blalock and Chris Houston

Let me know your thoughts and questions otherwise:

Next up: AT Tampa Bay Buccaneers September 14th!