A solid performance by the offense in the first half. I think Mularkey called a good game there, and the Falcons executed that game plan very well. I think things got a little too conservative at the outset of the third quarter and you could see a hint of the Falcons playing to protect a lead as opposed to a team that wanted to keep attacking and being aggressive.

A strong performance for Matt Ryan, the type of game that he had with regularity a season ago. But those games have come with far less frequency this year, but he seems over recent weeks to be getting back into that 2010 stride.

Roddy White had an excellent game, and both Douglas and Gonzalez had solid contributions. Jones was an afterthought for the most part, and it’s a shame because he was wide open on the TD pass to Michael Palmer, and it would have been a much easier throw for Ryan to make if he had spotted him. And he was also open deep on a play late in the game, that Ryan threw to Roddy instead for a 26-yard gain, but if he had taken the deep shot perhaps the Falcons score then rather than six plays later on the pass to Palmer. But I guess you could argue that the additional 3 minutes they were able to milk off the clock on those six plays helped them just as much.

The ground game was solid when the holes were there. A lot of missed blocks on the part of the Falcons. Svitek had a good game, shutting down Jared Allen in pass protection, but struggled at various times as a run blocker, missing 3 blocks. Everyone except Clabo missed a block or two, and everytime Turner was stopped for a minimal gain was due to the blocking. We saw a bit more of the Falcons mixing in Snelling and Rodgers into the rushing rotation, although there are still some instances where the Falcons call plays and I’m wondering why Turner is in the game rather than Quizz.

PLAYER	PASS	RUSH	REC	BLOCK	SPEC	PEN	TOTALS
Matt Ryan	$16	$0	$0	$0	$0	-$1	$15.00
Michael Turner	$0	$10	$0	$0	$0	$0	$10.00
Roddy White	$0	$0	$10	$0	$0	$0	$10.00
Tony Gonzalez	$0	$0	$4	$1	$0	$0	$5.00
Harry Douglas	$0	$1	$3	$0	$0	$0	$4.00
Jacquizz Rodgers	$0	$2	$2	$0	$0	$0	$4.00
Tyson Clabo	$0	$0	$0	$3.5	$0	-$1	$2.50
Michael Palmer	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$0	$2.00
Todd McClure	$0	$0	$0	$1.5	$0	$0	$1.50
Mike Cox	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Jason Snelling	$0	$1	$0	$0	$0	$0	$1.00
Eric Weems	$0	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$1.00
Antone Smith	$0	$0	$0	$0	$1	-$1	$0.00
Justin Blalock	$0	$0	$0	-$0.5	$0	$0	-$0.50
Julio Jones	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	-$1	-$1.00
Will Svitek	$0	$0	$0	-$1	$0	$0	-$1.00
Joe Hawley	$0	$0	$0	-$0.5	$0	-$1	-$1.50

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A solid performance for the offense, although there wasn’t anything great about. Matt Ryan had a solid game managing the offense, with only 1 poor throw on the day. Michael Turner had several nice runs and was his old powerful self, breaking tackles on some of them.

The Falcons were able to spread the ball around to different receivers with Julio Jones out of the lineup, with Michael Palmer and Eric Weems getting some action in the passing game. Roddy White had a nice bounce-back game from last week, although he still wasn’t perfect. But he made some nice grabs on the day. Tony Gonzalez and Harry Douglas also were solid.

The blocking was solid, with Ryan having good protection. Justin Blalock didn’t have a great day, missing 3 blocks, although it is worth noting most of them came when he was pulling or supposed to hit an assignment on the second level. Neither of those two things have ever really been his strength.

Overall, it was a solid performance for the offense. But nothing special. This is the type of game that is giong to be quickly forgotten because there really wasn’t anything notable to happen in it. The struggles the team had converting in the redzone are a chief concern, and it’s hopefully something that can be nipped in the bud.

PLAYER	PASS	RUSH	REC	BLOCK	SPEC	PEN	TOTALS
Matt Ryan	$13	$2	$0	$0	$0	$0	$15.00
Michael Turner	$0	$14	-$1	$0	$0	-$3	$10.00
Tony Gonzalez	$0	$0	$6	$1.5	$0	$0	$7.50
Roddy White	$0	$0	$5	$0	$0	-$1	$4.00
Harry Douglas	$0	$0	$4	$0	$0	-$0.5	$3.50
Todd McClure	$0	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$2.00
Will Svitek	$0	$0	$0	$2.5	$0	-$1	$1.50
Tyson Clabo	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Michael Palmer	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$0	$1.00
Antone Smith	$0	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$1.00
Jason Snelling	$0	-$1	$1	$0	$0	$0	$0.00
Eric Weems	$0	$0	$0	$0	$1	-$1.5	$0.50
Justin Blalock	$0	$0	$0	-$1	$0	$0	-$1.00
Joe Hawley	$0	$0	$0	-$1	$0	$0	-$1.00

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A really tough outing for the Falcons as they had multiple opportunities to win this game, but could not take advantage. This is traditionally how the Falcons have played the Saints over recent years, and why they have lost most of those games. A dropped ball here, a penalty there, a blown assignment there, and it all adds up to the Falcons coming up short at the end of the day.

Personally, I think the decision to go for it on fourth down in overtime was the right call. If you can’t get 8 inches, then you probably don’t deserve to win. I didn’t agree with the play call on that play though, with less than a foot to go I think you just sneak it up the middle rather than handing it off to Turner.

For the most part, Matt Ryan had a really good game. He continues to struggle with throwing the ball downfield, as 6 of his 8 poor throws were deep (20+ yard) passes. He does a good job on the majority of his throws from 15-20 yards, but once you start pushing his throws to 25 yards or more, he tends to struggle. I’m still not in love with the Falcons overall play-calling and design of their passing plays, although there were several calls during this game that I think are good ones from Mularkey. I just want to see the Falcons use those plays more. Getting 4 or 5 options on the field at the same time, and running more vertical routes with clear outs worked very well for this team in the fourth quarter. We should be doing more of those plays earlier in the game, and particularly on first downs rather than running the ball into the pile for 1 or 2 yards.

Michael Turner had a strong start to this game, earning $7 of his $13 on the first series. But after that, he was pretty non-descript. Had a few more nice runs, but he didn’t do much. Part of that was because of the blocking. The blocking was solid early on, but as the game wore on the Falcons could not get any push.

Cameron Jordan was punking Tyson Clabo throughout this game. Will Svitek doesn’t really seem to be an improvement over Sam Baker in pass protection, although his run blocking is much better. But Ryan’s interception is probably just as much on him giving up the pressure to Will Smith as it is on Roddy White for dropping the ball. Joe Hawley is probably our meanest offensive linemen, but he’s miscast as a guard because of his inability to get consistent push. McClure is clearly starting to slow down, and Blalock is solid, but that doesn’t bode well for your offensive line when he’s your best blocker. He’s the type of player that should be your third best blocker.

Roddy White really struggled in this game, and without even checking I’m sure this is by far his worst earning since I started doing Moneyball in 2009, and probably is one of his worst games since his rookie year. One of his penalties was a ticky tack call (the offensive P.I.), but his blocking was bad in this game, and he just didn’t really seem to have his head in the game. Speaking of officiating, this game was pretty sloppy in that realm. The Falcons got some calls, the Saints got some calls, but I feel like the refs missed some calls. There was a hold on Jonathan Babineaux late in the game, that I felt they missed. There was a block in the back on Martez Wilson that I thought they missed on Sproles one good punt return. And the pass to Roddy in the endzone at the end of the game that could have won it, I thought it was certainly debatable if Greer got there too early for a pass interference. But I tend to cut the refs some slack, but I’m not sure this is going to get a lot of positive grades for Terry McAulay & Co. when it comes time to picking who officiates in the playoffs and Super Bowl.

Tony Gonzalez was money in this game, but the Falcons just didn’t get him the ball enough. Harry Douglas had an outstanding game, and when the Falcons spread the field, that’s where most of his plays were made. It was also nice to see the Falcons get Eric Weems involved as well. And this is another knock on Mularkey, but why can’t either of these two players get involved in the offense unless Julio Jones is out of the game. They combined for 11 catches, and I would say probably on 9 or 10 those plays, they were good play calls and designs. Yet, they never seem to run those same plays when Jones is on the field, and thus both players essentially disappear whenever Jones is in the lineup.

PLAYER	PASS	RUSH	REC	BLOCK	SPEC	PEN	TOTALS
Michael Turner	$0	$13	$1	$0	$0	-$1	$13.00
Matt Ryan	$12	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$12.00
Harry Douglas	$0	$0	$8	$0	$0	$0	$8.00
Tony Gonzalez	$0	$0	$4	$1	$0	$0	$5.00
Jason Snelling	$0	$1	$4	$0	$0	$0	$5.00
Joe Hawley	$0	$0	$0	$3	$0	$0	$3.00
Jacquizz Rodgers	$0	$4	-$1	$0	$0	$0	$3.00
Todd McClure	$0	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$2.00
Mike Cox	$0	$0	$0	$2	$0	-$1	$1.00
Will Svitek	$0	$0	$0	$2	$0	-$1	$1.00
Justin Blalock	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Julio Jones	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$0	$1.00
Tyson Clabo	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0.00
Reggie Kelly	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	-$1	-$1.00
Eric Weems	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	-$4	-$3.00
Roddy White	$0	$0	$3	-$3	$0	-$4	-$4.00

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Here are the accumulated stats from the first 8 games of this year based on Moneyball rules. Here is a link to the glossary. Also you can check out the stats from the first quarter of the season by clicking here. The numbers in the parentheses () indicate the totals accumulated in the last four games.

PASSING	1st	3rd	20+	40+	TD	PT	INT	Skd	TOTALS
Matt Ryan	40 (12)	33 (16)	14 (6)	5 (3)	12 (6)	48 (23)	9 (5)	0.5 (0)	$63.50 ($24)
Chris Redman	0	0	0	0	0	1 (1)	0	0	-$1.00 (-$1)

RUSHING	5+ yd	10+	1st	3rd	YAC (5+)	TD	MH	TOTALS
Michael Turner	30 (17)	15 (10)	6 (5)	3 (1)	6 (5)	7 (4)	2 (1)	$87.00 ($53)
Jacquizz Rodgers	5 (2)	5 (3)	2 (2)	3 (2)	3 (2)	0	0	$23.00 ($14)
Matt Ryan	3 (0)	2 (0)	1 (0)	2 (2)	0	2 (2)	0	$14.00 ($6)
Jason Snelling	3 (3)	0	2 (1)	0	3 (2)	0	0	$8.00 ($6)
Julio Jones	0	3 (3)	0	0	0	0	0	$6.00 ($6)
Ovie Mughelli	0	0	0	0	1 (1)	0	0	$1.00 ($1)

RECEIVING	1st	3rd	20+	40+	YAC	TD	Drop	TOTALS
Tony Gonzalez	9 (4)	9 (5)	5 (3)	0	2 (1)	5 (1)	2 (2)	$33.00 ($13)
Roddy White	14 (3)	12 (6)	5 (2)	0	3 (0)	3 (2)	8 (1)	$32.00 ($14)
Julio Jones	7 (1)	5 (0)	3 (0)	4 (2)	5 (1)	2 (2)	3 (1)	$29.00 ($9)
Harry Douglas	3 (1)	4 (3)	1 (1)	1 (1)	2 (2)	0	1 (1)	$11.00 ($8)
Jacquizz Rodgers	2 (0)	2 (1)	0	0	3 (1)	0	0	$7.00 ($2)
Michael Turner	3 (1)	0	2 (0)	0	2 (0)	0	3 (2)	$4.00 (-$1)
Jason Snelling	2 (2)	1 (1)	0	0	2 (2)	0	2 (0)	$3.00 ($5)
Ovie Mughelli	0	0	0	0	1 (1)	2 (1)	2 (0)	$3.00 ($3)
Michael Palmer	0	1 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	$1.00 ($1)

BLOCKING	KB Run	KB Rec	KB 1st	KB 3rd	KB TD	KB PP	SA	MB	QBPA	TOTALS
Justin Blalock	6 (4)	0	3 (2)	0	1 (1)	0	1.5 (0)	6 (4)	4 (2)	$13.50 ($9)
Will Svitek	2 (2)	0	1 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	3.5 (3.5)	$5.00 ($5)
Garrett Reynolds	3 (0)	0	0	4 (2)	0	0	3.5 (1)	6.5 (4)	7 (2)	$4.00 ($0)
Todd McClure	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.5 (0)	3 (2)	0	$3.50 ($4)
Ovie Mughelli	5 (4)	0	1 (1)	0	0	0	0	3 (1)	0	$3.00 ($4)
Joe Hawley	3 (1)	0	1 (0)	0	0	0	2 (1)	4.5 (1.5)	0.5 (0.5)	$2.50 ($0.5)
Harry Douglas	1 (1)	0	0	1 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	$2.00 ($2)
Jason Snelling	0	0	1 (1)	1 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	$2.00 ($2)
Eric Weems	1 (1)	0	1 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	$2.00 ($2)
Julio Jones	0	0	1 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	$1.00 ($1)
Mike Cox	1 (1)	0	1 (1)	0	1 (1)	0	0	2.5 (2.5)	0	$0.50 ($0.5)
Tony Gonzalez	3 (2)	0	0.5 (0)	0	0	0	0	3 (3)	0	$0.50 (-$1)
Tyson Clabo	3 (1)	0	0.5 (0)	1 (0)	2 (2)	0	4.5 (2)	7 (3)	6 (3)	$0.00 ($1)
Michael Palmer	0	0	1 (1)	0	1 (0)	0	0	2 (0)	0	$0.00 ($1)
Michael Turner	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	$0.00 ($0)
Reggie Kelly	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2 (1)	1 (1)	-$2.00 (-$1)
Roddy White	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2 (1)	0	-$2.00 (-$1)
Sam Baker	1 (1)	0	0	0	1 (0)	0	2.5 (1)	5.5 (1)	10 (2)	-$3.00 ($0)

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This was a solid execution of the Falcons signature game plan. They wanted to run the ball well, and they did. They minimized penalties and mental mistakes, with Svitek’s holding call being the lone play that stood out in the negative. Big earnings for Turner, Rodgers, and even Snelling and Jones got into the act. The offensive line graded out its best this week collectively mainly because of their ability to beat the Colts in the trenches.

But this game was really a tale of the potential of the Falcons two rookies in Jacquizz Rodgers and Julio Jones. Rodgers had a solid game and the Falcons need to get him more touches on offense. Most of his touches in this game came in garbage time and they need to find more ways to get him the ball earlier in the games. Good things just tend to happen when he touches the ball.

But of course the star of this game was Julio Jones who made a lot of great things happen despite only a handful of touches in this game. His two big plays in the passing game and his two rushing attempts were big plays for this team.

Matt Ryan was up and down in this game. He looked particularly bad at the end of the first half with three poor passes on the final series. Most of his earnings ($8) came off the two big plays by Jones, and most would agree that Jones did the brunt of the work there. But he had some nice throws in the second half of the game, but overall it was a nondescript performance for him despite the high earnings. Which is probably similar to what you could describe Ryan’s overall season as.

Up front, Svitek was the highest earner mainly because I don’t subtract for pressures given up. Considering he was facing Dwight Freeney, some of his struggles were expected as Freeney’s spin move killed him a couple of times. Overall, the best game goes to Justin Blalock. Blalock’s two missed blocks came on the Falcons final two offensive series when the game was pretty much over and they were trying to run out the clock. Hawley was serviceable at right guard, but from this performance it should not be seen as a permanent option.

Mike Cox had a nice debut as a Falcon. He missed a couple of blocks, but he also a couple of impressive blocks early on. Snelling even contributed once on a Rodgers as a lead blocker. Going forward, until Cox works out some of the kinks, the Falcons should probably platoon the pair of them in Ovie’s vacant spot.

PLAYER	PASS	RUSH	REC	BLOCK	SPEC	PEN	TOTALS
Julio Jones	$0	$4	$8	$1	$0	$0	$13.00
Matt Ryan	$11	$1	$0	$0	$0	$0	$12.00
Michael Turner	$0	$11	$1	$0	$0	$0	$12.00
Jacquizz Rodgers	$0	$8	$1	$0	$0	$0	$9.00
Jason Snelling	$0	$4	$0	$1	$0	$0	$5.00
Roddy White	$0	$0	$4	$0	$0	$0	$4.00
Will Svitek	$0	$0	$0	$4	$0	-$1	$3.00
Tony Gonzalez	$0	$0	$3	$0	$0	$0	$3.00
Justin Blalock	$0	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$2.00
Eric Weems	$0	$0	$0	$0	$1.5	$0	$1.50
Tyson Clabo	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Todd McClure	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Mike Cox	$0	$0	$0	$0.5	$0	$0	$0.50
Joe Hawley	$0	$0	$0	-$0.5	$0	$0	-$0.50

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The Falcons were effective with their ball control attack in this game. The secret to their success was mainly their defense, but more on that later. It was a good day and a good win, and we might look back at it later this season and might say this one salvaged our 2011 season. That is of course, if the Falcons can build off this win after the bye and have some momentum going into the second half of the season.

Michael Turner had a solid day rushing, and Jacquizz Rodgers had a nice run to finish the game. I know I sound like a broken record, but I still wonder why the Falcons don’t use him more. Every time he touches the ball, good things seem to happen.

Matt Ryan did not have a great game. He did well early on third downs, but in the second half his accuracy, touch, and timing started to deteriorate, which is why he had the high number of poor throws (10). It’s been a while since Ryan had that many off throws in a game. He had some nice throws and plays (notably his TD pass to White), but overall it was a very hot and cold, inconsistent performance. I’m sure the ankle injury didn’t really help matters in the second half.

And the Falcons did a fairly good job handling the Lions pass rush. Their problem was the amount of missed blocks in the ground game. Garrett Reynolds really struggled in this game with a bunch of missed blocks and his penalties. Part of it was blocking Suh, part of it was his bum ankle, but most of it was just him not being that good. Outside the play where he stepped on Ryan’s ankle, Svitek had a solid game filling in for Sam Baker.

Congratulations are due to Tony Gonzalez for his his accomplishment as the game’s second leading all-time receiver. He had a solid game. Both White and Douglas also had solid games as well.

PLAYER	PASS	RUSH	REC	BLOCK	SPEC	PEN	TOTALS
Michael Turner	$0	$10	-$1	$0	$0	$0	$9.00
Jason Snelling	$0	$1	$2	$1	$1	$0	$5.00
Roddy White	$0	$0	$5	-$1	$0	$0	$4.00
Harry Douglas	$0	$0	$4	$0	$0	-$1	$3.00
Tony Gonzalez	$0	$0	$4	-$1	$0	$0	$3.00
Jacquizz Rodgers	$0	$2	$1	$0	$0	$0	$3.00
Matt Ryan	$1	$2	$0	$0	$0	-$1	$2.00
Justin Blalock	$0	$0	$0	$2	$0	-$1	$1.00
Todd McClure	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Will Svitek	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Eric Weems	$0	$0	$0	$1	$1	-$1	$1.00
Mike Johnson	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	-$1	-$1.00
Ovie Mughelli	$0	$0	$0	-$1	$0	$0	-$1.00
Chris Redman	-$1	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	-$1.00
Tyson Clabo	$0	$0	$0	-$1	$0	-$1	-$2.00
Garrett Reynolds	$0	$0	$0	-$3	$0	-$3	-$6.00

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Michael Turner had a solid game, and looked like the old Michael Turner throughout this game, breaking tackles and getting yards after contact. Ovie Mughelli looked back to be in his old form. Granted, it did come against a horrible Panthers run defense, but it’s still somewhat promising for the rest of the year. The Falcons dominated a run defense that they should have dominated. Despite this however, I think the Falcons still need to get Jacquizz Rodgers more involved on offense.

Matt Ryan had a nice solid game managing the game, although he continues to struggle throwing the ball down the field with 3 of his 4 poor throws being deep passes.

Tyson Clabo’s negative score is the result mainly of Charles Johnson getting the better of him in the second half several times. It was nice to see Harry Douglas have a solid game catching the ball and even contributing as a blocker. If Ryan had hit him with two of those deep passes, we might be saying Who?-lio today (yes, I know a very bad pun).

Mularkey’s play-calling on 1st down needs some tweaks. Throughout the second and third quarters the Falcons force fed Turner the rock on first downs, and it netted almost no positive results. He needs to do a better job keeping this team on schedule on first down and needs to do a better job mixing up his play-calling then. Maybe if he’s that intent on running the ball on first down, that would be an excellent time to switch things up by feeding Rodgers instead? But other than that, the Falcons did an excellent job executing the rest of his game plan and he did make a couple of very good play calls (34-yard catch & run to Douglas on 3rd & 12 was one of them) today, so he deserves some credit. And Mughelli and Michael Palmer also made some plays in the passing game, so they were more involved this week than past games.

PLAYER	PASS	RUSH	REC	BLOCK	SPEC	PEN	TOTALS
Michael Turner	$0	$22	-$1	$0	$0	$0	$21.00
Ovie Mughelli	$0	$1	$3	$5	$0	$0	$9.00
Matt Ryan	$6	$3	$0	$0	$0	$0	$9.00
Harry Douglas	$0	$0	$4	$1	$0	$0	$5.00
Justin Blalock	$0	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$2.00
Todd McClure	$0	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$2.00
Tony Gonzalez	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$0	$2.00
Michael Palmer	$0	$0	$1	$1	$0	$0	$2.00
Jacquizz Rodgers	$0	$2	$0	$0	$0	$0	$2.00
Garrett Reynolds	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Jason Snelling	$0	$1	$0	$0	$0	$0	$1.00
Roddy White	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	-$2	$0.00
Sam Baker	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	-$1	$0.00
Eric Weems	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	-$1	$0.00
Tyson Clabo	$0	$0	$0	-$2	$0	$0	-$2.00

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My vitriol for the play-calling on both sides of the ball in this game has subsided somewhat after reviewing the game. But I’m going to use this entry for Moneyball to vent a little about what I think are some of the problems that have plagued the Falcons this year, which are reasons why I think they have yet to reach their full potential on either side of the ball.

What disappoints me the most is that the Falcons did an excellent job with misdirection plays on their first two series, but pretty much stopped doing that as the game wore on and went back to a more traditional gameplan of just trying to “out-execute” the Packers defense, and it did not work. Ryan missed on a couple of throws, and the offensive line essentially could not handle that gameplan. Tyson Clabo had two drive-killing penalties on 3rd downs, Roddy White had another, Harry Douglas had a catch overturned.

Mularkey did a better job using guys like Douglas, Weems, and White to manufacture yards and stay on schedule in early downs, replacing rushing yards. The Falcons need to continue to do this. While Turner and the ground attack was effective early in the game, in the second half it stopped because just like the Seahawks, the Packers began to stack the box and the Falcons offensive line was unable to get enough push to spring a slow back like Turner. But Mularkey needs to do more of this with screens and quick throws to receivers in the flat. Doing this 2 or 3 times a game is not going to be enough given the Falcons blocking issues.

The offensive line had a nice game, giving Ryan much more time than he’s seen most of this year, but when push came to shove there were too many instances where Ryan was pressured which led to incompletions. Sam Baker’s missed block on Desmond Bishop on 1st down in the fourth quarter was the lone sack the team allowed. But it put the Falcons in a 2nd & 21, and Ryan got too greedy on the next play trying to get it all back and his throw to Gonzo was a few inches overthrown and led to the interception that pretty much ended the game.

I don’t even know why guys like Michael Palmer and Reggie Kelly are on the team. They have contributed next to nothing to this offense. The Falcons just need to go out and sign someone like Alge Crumpler, Ben Patrick, Chris Baker to try and add something to this offense as a second tight end.

The Falcons need to get Jacquizz Rodgers more involved. His quickness can potentially be an asset because he might be able to squeeze through those smaller creases that the offensive line can create that Turner cannot.

PLAYER	PASS	RUSH	REC	BLOCK	SPEC	PEN	TOTALS
Michael Turner	$0	$10	$0	$0	$0	$0	$10.00
Matt Ryan	$6	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$6.00
Tony Gonzalez	$0	$0	$4	$0	$0	$0	$4.00
Justin Blalock	$0	$0	$0	$3	$0	$0	$3.00
Jason Snelling	$0	$0	$3	$0	$0	$0	$3.00
Julius Jones	$0	$2	$1	$0	$0	-$1	$2.00
Roddy White	$0	$0	$3	$0	$0	-$1	$2.00
Garrett Reynolds	$0	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$2.00
Tyson Clabo	$0	$0	$0	$3	$0	-$2	$1.00
Jacquizz Rodgers	$0	$2	$0	$0	$0	-$1	$1.00
Harry Douglas	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Joe Hawley	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Sam Baker	$0	$0	$0	-$1	$0	$0	-$1.00
Reggie Kelly	$0	$0	$0	-$1	$0	$0	-$1.00

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Here are the accumulated stats from the first 4 games of the season. If you’re curious to what are the rules for Moneyball, you can click here. You can also find a glossary of the abbreviations used in this post at this link.

PASSING	1st	3rd	20+	40+	TD	PT	INT	Skd	TOTALS
Matt Ryan	28	17	8	2	6	25	4	0.5	$39.50

 Matt Ryan’s earnings are up compared to last year’s first quarter earnings.

RUSHING	5+ yd	10+	1st	3rd	YAC (5+)	TD	MH	TOTALS
Michael Turner	13	5	1	2	1	3	1	$32.00
Jacquizz Rodgers	3	2	0	1	1	0	0	$9.00
Matt Ryan	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	$8.00
Jason Snelling	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	$2.00

Turner’s earnings are down from last year. And notably absent is the lack of earning that Jason Snelling had a year ago. Collectively, Falcons running backs have earned roughly half of what they did a year ago by this point in the season.

RECEIVING	1st	3rd	20+	40+	YAC	TD	Drop	TOTALS
Julio Jones	6	5	3	2	4	0	2	$20.00
Tony Gonzalez	5	4	2	0	1	4	0	$20.00
Roddy White	11	6	3	0	3	1	7	$18.00
Michael Turner	2	0	2	0	2	0	1	$5.00
Jacquizz Rodgers	2	1	0	0	2	0	0	$5.00
Harry Douglas	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	$3.00
Ovie Mughelli	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	$0.00
Jason Snelling	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	-$2.00

This is probably the first time ever that Roddy White has not been the leading earner among the receiver group, thanks in large part to his 7 dropped passes. That number matches the total number of drops he had in 2009, and far exceeds what he had last year (3). Julio Jones has already doubled the combined two-year totals of Michael Jenkins in terms of receptions in which he had 10 or more yards after the catch (YAC).

BLOCKING	KB Run	KB Rec	KB 1st	KB 3rd	KB TD	KB Pass	SA	MB	QBPA	TOTALS
Justin Blalock	2	0	1	0	0	0	1.5	2	2	$4.50
Garrett Reynolds	3	0	0	2	0	0	2.5	2.5	5	$4.00
Joe Hawley	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	3	0	$2.00
Tony Gonzalez	1	0	0.5	0	0	0	0	0	0	$1.50
Todd McClure	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.5	1	0	-$0.50
Michael Palmer	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	-$1.00
Reggie Kelly	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	-$1.00
Ovie Mughelli	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	-$1.00
Roddy White	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	-$1.00
Tyson Clabo	2	0	0.5	1	0	0	2.5	4	3	-$1.00
Sam Baker	0	0	0	0	1	0	1.5	4.5	8	-$3.00

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This is a tale of two halves. In the first half the Falcons looked really sharp. Their running game was effective, they made some nice throws down field, and converted their third downs. In the second half, their running game evaporated and thus they had difficulty converting on third downs, and Ryan missed on a lot of his throws downfield.

The Falcons defense got soft, and their inability to get pressure with their front four throughout the game allowed Tarvaris Jackson to pick them apart. The Falcons could not move the ball on the ground against the 8-man fronts that the Seahawks were showing in the second half as well.

The Falcons that were playing in the first half looked an awful lot like the 13-3 team that was playing last year. But in the second half, they looked like the same old 1-2 Falcons that went into this game. Thankfully, their first half lead was big enough that they were able to hold off the Seahawks.

Ryan had a good first half, but he missed too many throws downfield in the second half. He overthrew receivers and just wasn’t that accurate with most of his throws as the game wore on. Turner had a good start, running harder than we’ve seen to date, but that diminished as the game wore on and the holes closed up. The Falcons just can’t seem to get the ground game going when they need to this year, and that has to change if this team wants to get back into the thick of the hunt for the division crown. Jacquizz Rodgers had some nice runs, and it might be time for the Falcons to give him a greater look. Julio Jones, Roddy White, and Tony Gonzalez had good games for the most part. But Roddy’s drops continue to be an issue, particularly when they have come late in games in critical situations.  The blocking was better, as Ryan had pretty good protection all game long as the Falcons only gave up one pressure. The run blocking was good in the first half, and Garrett Reynolds had his best game with 3 key blocks, two of which came on third down conversions by Turner. Although his false start late in the game was really bad. Nothing kills critical drives as much as stupid false starts and blocking penalties.

It was nice to see Ovie Mughelli finally show up, registering his first key block of the season. But he also missed another block and dropped a pass, so a less than stellar performance overall for him.

PLAYER	PASS	RUSH	REC	BLOCK	SPEC	PEN	TOTALS
Matt Ryan	$11	$5	$0	$0	$0	$0	$16.00
Michael Turner	$0	$15	$1	$0	$0	$0	$16.00
Julio Jones	$0	$0	$8	$0	$0	$0	$8.00
Jacquizz Rodgers	$0	$4	$1	$0	$0	$0	$5.00
Tony Gonzalez	$0	$0	$4	$0	$0	$0	$4.00
Roddy White	$0	$0	$4	-$1	$0	$0	$3.00
Garrett Reynolds	$0	$0	$0	$4	$0	-$1	$3.00
Tyson Clabo	$0	$0	$0	$2	$0	$0	$2.00
Sam Baker	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Justin Blalock	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Joe Hawley	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$0	$1.00
Eric Weems	$0	$0	$0	$0	$1	$0	$1.00
Todd McClure	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0.00
Michael Palmer	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0.00
Ovie Mughelli	$0	$0	-$1	$0	$0	$0	-$1.00
Reggie Kelly	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	-$1	-$1.00

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