Atlanta Falcons vs San Francisco 49ers: The Good, Bad, and Ugly
By John Follett
The Bad
Keanu Neal
Keanu Neal is young, but for every big hit he delivers; we get treated to a blown assignment. Neal blew coverage on the 3rd & 19 play of the 2nd quarter in which Blake Bell ran a deep post route. Later in the 4th quarter, Charles Davis of CBS’s broadcast explained Neal’s blown gap assignment on a 3rd down run play. Neal is still developing but he needs to play smarter as the Falcons play better passing offenses in the weeks to come.
https://twitter.com/nflnetwork/status/810608310386905088
Robert Alford
I hate to keep beating up the secondary, but there’s only so much to nick-pick from. Robert Alford earns his place on the “bad” slide after he was beat on Garrett Celek’s touchdown catch. Alford got suckered with the head-fake and ended up a couple steps behind. Closing speed has been a big knock on Alford, but something he’s capable of improving. San Francisco ran a similar pass play in the 3rd quarter that Alford closed in on and batted away. Much like Neal, Atlanta needs Alford to step it up as the playoffs approach.
Grady Jarrett
A staple of the 2nd quarter was the 49ers’ sudden ability to rip off big running plays. Give Grady Jarrett credit for being a gaping hole along the defensive line during this period. There was one particular play where Jarrett flopped to 49ers’ backup center, Marcus Martin, thus allowing Carlos Hyde’s 17-yard run. Jarrett finished the game with 3 assists and was a non-factor throughout a majority of the game. There were also a couple times the Falcons run stunts in which Jarrett was too slow crossing into the gap.