Can Falcons Take Broken Wings and Learn to Fly Again?
The Atlanta Falcons are, having lost three games in a row, in the midst of their worst losing streak since 2015.
The Atlanta Falcons are, having lost three games in a row, in the midst of their worst losing streak since 2015, when they dropped six straight. That is to say, things are looking pretty bad right now for the Dirty Birds and they could be better, but they could definitely be worse as well.
Sure, the Falcons failed to avenge their Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots, have blown lead after lead, are having second thoughts about turning over the offense to an inexperienced coordinator, and, by the way, are starting prove all the people who talked about a Super Bowl hangover right.
All of which begs the question, how could things be any worse? For starters, the Falcons could go, if they lose to the New York Jets on Sunday, 0-4 against the AFC East division. They could match or even worsen that aforementioned 2017 losing streak.
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They could miss the playoffs, etc. on the plus side, a 3-3 start is, all things considered, mediocre by definition, which means it’s neither very good nor very bad, and there is always, as the Green Bay Packers demonstrated last year, the chance of a strong second half of the season. But it might take the patience of a regular Robert Stroud – aka the Birdman of Alcatraz – to mend these Falcons’ broken flying appendages.
The very first thing that needs mending is the run defense. Atlanta allowed the Pats, on Sunday alone, 161 yards on 36 run plays, and surrendered, prior to that, 117 running yards to the Bills and 138 to the Dolphins.
"“If the Falcons don’t stop the run, nothing else will matter in 2017,” is Orlando ‘Furioso’ Ledbetter’s take."
Falcons head coach Dan Quinn, meanwhile, says according to Ledbetter:
"“Like a lot of runs that happen, somebody is in the wrong spot, in the wrong gap. That’s usually what takes place when a run gets manufactured, especially an explosive one. We’re more of an eight-man front team. When you get out of the gap, there are going to be consequences to that. At the end, no, I’m not happy with the result of the numbers of rushes and the yards, but the tackling was improved.”"
For the Win writer Steven Ruiz agrees that the defense isn’t where it was a season ago, but places the blame for the Falcons’ 3-3 win/loss record on the offense’s regression from 32 points per game in 2016 to 21.3 this year.
New offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian hasn’t tinkered with the offense too much, and having quarterback Matt Ryan, receivers Julio Jones, and Mohamed Sanu as well as running backs Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman on the roster, no one really expected him to.
Next: The Falcons are pulled back in
But now, with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps he should have assert himself a bit more because, as it is, he’s failing with using Shanahan’s precept, which is not only a failure but sort of dishonest as well. Better to make your own mistakes than to turn someone else’s hits into misses.