Official Rival Thread #1 - Atlanta Falcons

[davos]

On a GPA scale, I'd rate their offseason a 3.28

 

[Burnout189]

59 minutes ago, Montsta said:

Didn't their O-line play like every single snap of the season together? No way does that kind of continuity and luck happen again. Their vaunted offense will therefore regress IMO. 

At least I hope, because that offense was stupid good last year. 

^^ This right here. Their OLine was ridiculously healthy and dominant last year which lead to Ryan having all day to sit in the pocket and tear defenses up. I'm just not so sure that kind of luck can happen in back to back seasons.

Also as someone else pointed out, a team's attitude can affect their season a lot. Just like with the Panthers, after losing the SB and then having to come back and play Denver in the opening game, and just barely losing like they did can kill your teams attitude and drive. Which I think anyone who watched Carolina last year could just tell we did not have the same drive that we had the previous year. If the Falcons come out this year somewhat deflated and un-motivated , then I can see their season taking a nose dive very quickly.

[Ball4life]

2 minutes ago, Saca312 said:

Oh you'll see how it was Shanahan who made everyone look scary good, not the other way around. I got a thread coming up addressing that.

And I can promise you it's Ryan who should be thanking Shanahan for his MVP season. Now, Ryan's good, but Shanahan made him look insane.

Oh he did but the Falcons still have a top 3 offense in terms of talent. Put talent around Ryan and he wins no matter who the OC is. 

[CarolinaNCSU]

ATL had what, 0 injuries on the OL last year?  It was something ridiculous.  Injury wise, the law of averages will kick in and hurt.  Freeman's contract could be an issue this summer. They lost a lot of coaches. Super Bowl hangover. Yeahhhh, a lot in place to bring them back down to the median where they belong. 

[theDIRTYcode2]

On paper I think we have the best roster in Dimitroffs 10 year period here. But there are just so many factors that go into winning. Can we stay healthy, can Sark call plays on par with KS, will our defense continue to improve.

Manuel is an upgrade at DC, not sure what we have in Sark just yet. The offense will stay the same, but I'll agree KS was a brilliant play caller, until he wasn't. 

Division is gonna be tough, y'all should bounce back, Tampa looks tough on paper, and Brees is gonna Brees. Not sure that 28-3 is gonna effect us just yet, but it's a real possibility. 

If poo hits the fan it's 8-8, things go right 10-6 to 12-4 best possible case, and I can see any of those happening. 

[Ball4life]

6 minutes ago, CarolinaNCSU said:

ATL had what, 0 injuries on the OL last year?  It was something ridiculous.  Injury wise, the law of averages will kick in and hurt.  Freeman's contract could be an issue this summer. They lost a lot of coaches. Super Bowl hangover. Yeahhhh, a lot in place to bring them back down to the median where they belong. 

Aren't there other postions other than OL though? Falcons had injuries everywhere but OL(until playoffs) and QB. And only 2 Superbowl losers since 2006 have won less than 9 games. 

[Saca312]

Just now, Ball4life said:

Aren't there other postions other than OL though? Falcons had injuries everywhere but OL(until playoffs) and QB. And only 2 Superbowl losers since 2006 have won less than 9 games. 

Panthers lost their MLB in 2015 for a few games, their only good RB for a few games (including the superbowl and loss to you guys), Tillman for most of the year, Jared Allen for a few games, Charles Johnson for a few games, and a whole host of others. 

Our o-line was barely scathed, which just shows you that's pretty much all that matters.

[falconidae]

2 hours ago, Cyberjag said:

Falcons were 7-5 at one point.  If Quinn has to take over the defense for it to perform, isn't that an issue?

Poe looks like a good signing.  My point is that stuff which looks good on paper doesn't always translate to the field.

And yes, the defense was full of 1st and 2nd year players.  How many NFL QBs and OTs now have plenty of film on them to review for items to exploit?  Bene Benwikere once looked like a steal.  Kony Ealy looked like the next great DE.  Tre Boston had lots of promise.  

Seriously, you have a team that was 27th in the league in scoring defense, and we're to believe that it was all garbage time when they weren't much above .500 going into December.  Come on, man...

Of the 10 players that played the most snaps on defense for the falcons last year 4 were rookies, 2 were 2nd year players, 1 was a FA brought in that year, rest were 3rd year players- that's  lot of youth and inexperience. This was also the 2nd year in a new scheme on that side of the ball.

They got much better as the year went on. Last ten games, including playoffs, average score going into the 4th quarter was 32-13 falcons.

And, yeah, lots of those points were in garbage time, last few minutes of 4th quarter with a 2+ score lead.

Examples:

Raiders game -7

Panthers -14 

Broncos- 10

Bucs- 14

Cards - 6 [failed 2 point conversion]

saints- 14

That's 15% of the points scored against the Falcons coming in garbage time.

Quinn taking over the defensive play calling says more  about the previous coordinator than the players.

Think you're going to see a very good defense out of the Falcons this year, barring, as always, injuries.

[Jon Snow]

fug the falcons!  That is all.

 

 

 

 

PS.  28-3  

[Cyberjag]

56 minutes ago, falconidae said:

Of the 10 players that played the most snaps on defense for the falcons last year 4 were rookies, 2 were 2nd year players, 1 was a FA brought in that year, rest were 3rd year players- that's  lot of youth and inexperience. This was also the 2nd year in a new scheme on that side of the ball.

They got much better as the year went on. Last ten games, including playoffs, average score going into the 4th quarter was 32-13 falcons.

And, yeah, lots of those points were in garbage time, last few minutes of 4th quarter with a 2+ score lead.

Examples:

Raiders game -7

Panthers -14 

Broncos- 10

Bucs- 14

Cards - 6 [failed 2 point conversion]

saints- 14

That's 15% of the points scored against the Falcons coming in garbage time.

Quinn taking over the defensive play calling says more  about the previous coordinator than the players.

Think you're going to see a very good defense out of the Falcons this year, barring, as always, injuries.

So turn that around, and 85% of the points were scored in the first 85% of the game?  Figure that includes the entire first half, the third quarter, and the first half of the fourth quarter?  Think about what you're saying here...

[pantherclaw]

Even in their no playoffs years, the Falcons tend to win against us, than lose. 

I also don't believe that they are going to fall off as much most think.

[KillerKat]

Did you guys hear that the Falcons blew a 25 point lead in the Super Bowl?

[Cyberjag]

3 hours ago, Ball4life said:

Yes that is why they fired the DC. They made some changes after the bye and the defense improved dramatically.                Not seeing the comparison..Boston, Ealy or Bene did not have as good of rookie years as Deion Jones or Keanu Neal or as good of 2nd year as Vic Beasley did.           Even when the Falcons were 7-5 I liked the team better even than in 2010 or 2012 when they went 13-3. They got screwed against the Seahawks, blew a 28-10 (yeah shocker) against the Chargers after Tevin Coleman went out and were just flat out outcoached by the Chiefs. Also were is the notion that the Falcons didn't have injuries?? Just because the starting OL played every game? Because they had plenty of injuries throughout the season.

Look, I get that you're excited.  We all were last year at this time too.  And I understand that you think you're poised for another big run.  How do you think we felt, coming off a 15-1 regular season and blowouts in the playoffs up until the Super Bowl?

The Falcons lost a lot in their OC, and his system is complex enough that it took you guys two years to properly implement it.  The next guy up is coming from the college ranks and will have his own system, which may or may not be as effective.  If you lose time on the O-Line to injuries, then Ryan is probably going to get pressured more and will look a lot worse, just like any QB does.  

You're a fan of a team that went 11-5 last year and got hot late.  This is a new season, New England just gave everyone a template (did you notice how teams went after Cam early last year?), and there's likely going to be some regression to the mean in Atlanta this year.  Couple that with Carolina getting healthy, Tampa Bay becoming more explosive, and New Orleans maybe getting a defense, not to mention the first place schedule (enjoy Seattle and Dallas), and tell me how you're going to actually improve on that.

Hope you're still around to answer for what will likely be a disappointing year in Atlanta this fall.  Not counting on it of course, people who make IDs to talk smack rarely last long.  But we'll see.

[Ball4life]

49 minutes ago, Cyberjag said:

Look, I get that you're excited.  We all were last year at this time too.  And I understand that you think you're poised for another big run.  How do you think we felt, coming off a 15-1 regular season and blowouts in the playoffs up until the Super Bowl?

The Falcons lost a lot in their OC, and his system is complex enough that it took you guys two years to properly implement it.  The next guy up is coming from the college ranks and will have his own system, which may or may not be as effective.  If you lose time on the O-Line to injuries, then Ryan is probably going to get pressured more and will look a lot worse, just like any QB does.  

You're a fan of a team that went 11-5 last year and got hot late.  This is a new season, New England just gave everyone a template (did you notice how teams went after Cam early last year?), and there's likely going to be some regression to the mean in Atlanta this year.  Couple that with Carolina getting healthy, Tampa Bay becoming more explosive, and New Orleans maybe getting a defense, not to mention the first place schedule (enjoy Seattle and Dallas), and tell me how you're going to actually improve on that.

Hope you're still around to answer for what will likely be a disappointing year in Atlanta this fall.  Not counting on it of course, people who make IDs to talk smack rarely last long.  But we'll see.

The Falcons aren't changing schemes though... they will be running the same one. And I know it happend to the Panthers last year but all I'm saying it doesn't mean it will happend to the Falcons. Falcons roster is constructed much differently than the Panthers and they had 5 rookies starting in the Super Bowl...which is more than any team ever. Falcons also don't lose a pro bowl corner like Norman. (Actually get a pro bowl corner back in Trufant) As far as schedules...the Falcons already had one of the tougher ones in the league last year. And they started the season hot and ended the season hot...it wasn't like the play at the end of the season was suprising. It will be interesting to see how they do with the coaching changes but this is the best Falcons roster maybe ever and it's filled with players 25 and younger. But you can't predict injuries so it will be interesting for sure.