Falcons vs Panthers – Postgame Falcons’ Grades

Each week after every game, win or lose, I will grade the performance of the Falcons’ Offense, Defense, Special Teams and coaches.

• Offense (A-) – A very good day for the running game today earned an (A-) for the Falcons offense. What impressed me the most today was the ability to finish off drives in the redzone. All the Falcons TD’s were within 5 yards of the goal line, that tells you the O-Line is playing  very well. Michael Turner also deserves credit he ran with the aggressiveness, power and speed we all know he is capable of. All he needs is for the O-Line to give him a gap and he will exploit it. In the passing game the explosiveness wasn’t quite there though, which I guess was to be expected considering the absence of Julio Jones. However the passing game came up big when it needed too. The throw from Ryan to Douglass when Ryan was under duress was absolutely world class.

• Defense (B+) – It was very much a tale of two halves for the Falcons D. The first half was appalling from the Falcons. Their inability to get off the field on third down was very frustrating and allowed Cam Newton and the Panthers to continue and score on drives which should have ended earlier  In the second half they turned it around and began to make stops with big sacks from Ray Edwards and the crew. The Defense continued to create turnovers late in the game, finishing with three on the day courtesy of picks from Brent Grimes, Corey Peters and Thomas Decoud.

• Special Teams (A-) – Another good day of punting from Matt Bosher, it’s very good to see that he is improving. Is it any surprise that Matt Bryant converted his only opportunity today? That guy is incredible, the best kicker in the league in my opinion.
• Coaching (A) – The coaches deserve a lot of credit today. On offense, the Falcons stuck to running the ball and schemed well around the absence of Julio Jones and still remained effective in the passing game. On Defense, I was delighted with the adjustments the Falcons made late in the game to stop the Panthers offense. It is good to see the Falcons staff making the right adjustments rather than the opponents’ staff, as that has happened all too often this season.