Atlanta Falcons To Start Leftwich

by Dave the Falconer on Oct 17, 2007 10:54 PM EDT in Falcons News Comment 2 comments

In a move that has been roundly condemned already by everyone posting on this site, the Falcons have inserted Byron Leftwich at QB. It's fairly remarkable to find myself in the mind state I'm in at the moment, as it wasn't long ago that I was championing Leftwich to succeed Harrington. My expectations for the season have changed so much that I no longer view a shift away from Joey Joe Joe as a source of relief.

On the contrary, I think it's a sign that the Falcons are going in the wrong direction.

Added wide receiver Joe Horn: "We have to do our jobs first before Byron can be successful. Everyone has to join in and beat the man in front of him. If that doesn't happen, if we drop balls and the line doesn't block, what's the need to have Byron starting anyway?"

That's exactly my point.

None of those things have happened consistently this year. The receivers had plenty of drops last game and the line hasn't blocked successfully since their ancestors came over the land bridge from Asia. This is not a fluke that Lefwich can fix with his cannon arm and the Fat Albert jokes he inspires. Instead, he's likely to end up getting pressured even more than Harrington. Leftwich arguably has the better career numbers than Harrington (okay, more than arguably), but he is famous for being unable to escape the rush. With a pair of rookies at tackle and an unhappy Alge Crumpler suddenly forced to block more, there's a recipe for disaster brewing. Worse still, Norwood's not getting enough carries and the running game is going nowhere.

This is not to completely knock Byron, who behind a good offensive line does offer superior arm strength and reasonable decision making skills. Behind this particular line, he's going to get killed. Pet Rhino might as well shoot him in the back while he's jogging out to the field and get it over with.

If the Falcons are serious about leaving Leftwich in this position for the rest of the season, they'd better set him up with a game plan that involves lot of quick routes or deep outs from White and L-Rob. Anything short of that is going to leave him with the ball in his hands for far too long, and that's a problem we already had with Harrington. It might also help to put all hands on deck in passing situations, getting Mughelli and Dunn/Norwood involved in blocking as much as possible to offer some additional protection. With the right combination of luck and skill, Byron could do a good job the rest of the way.

But I'm not optimistic.

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I thought long and hard about this

over a few cold beverages last night. I can see your point. It seems like the team is not progressing so there is some logic to making a change that could produce a spark. I guess what gets me is the justice of it. There is none.

I'm not going to say that Harrington has been without his playing problems but overall I think we can agree that he has been better than expected. His first couple games were pretty bad but after that he has done a decent job with what he has to work with.

Could a spark not be made by benching those receivers that are dropping balls?

If we can pull out all the stops to block for Lefty then why not for Joey? Do you think that Lefty came in and quickly developed a great rapport in the locker room? How much support did Joey have from the team? I read that there were doubts at the beginning of the season. It's hard to deny that he does have a negative rep.

Lefty can certainly chuck the rock a long ways. It will be interesting to see how they game plan with his skills in mind.

Here's my prediction: IF Lefty doesn't get hurt we will continue on our current path. There will be some good games where we are able to block and run a bit and he'll hit some receivers for big gains. We'll win some close ones but we'll also have just as many, or more games where the blocking sucks ass, there is no running game and we loose. I don't see that much room for improvement with the line in what is left of this season to make a huge difference.

I'm trying to remain optimistic here because I'd be hypocritical to be down on Lefty before seeing what he can do. I'll give him three games.

by Templar on Oct 18, 2007 9:28 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It doesn't matter...

I don't recall who said it, but somewhere in one of the more recent posts someone commented that due to the strategy/failures of the last regime, the Falcons have not had a line that could pass block since Dan Reeves left town.

For too long the offensive line was given a pass when Vick was under center, there were so many excuses, he dropped back too fast, they didn't know where he would be because of his scrambling style - it made it harder to block for him, and blah blah blah. Now its plain and simple, even with Gandy and Weiner, the line could not pass block, and without them, it can not pass block. The falcons need to invest BIG TIME in offensive tackles, NO MATTER THE COST.

Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo is catching the short end of the shit stick on this one. Watch the Pats, see how often Brady's pressured, and even when he is forced to move, see how far he has to go before he's back in a protected shell. The O-Linemen there get it, they get it INDY too. They get it in NY, for both teams, even tho Chads got the arm of a geriatric.

I understand the desire to spark the team, and maybe theyre all down on Joey, and maybe they all love Byron. Maybe Joey went to each O-linemans house and top shelfed every toilet, and maybe Byron went there and scooped out the fecal matter. Short of the O-Line and receivers hating Joey and wanting to see him fail, there is no way to explain why the O-Line is so bad save for lack of talent, lack of experience, lack of coaching, or a bad scheme. Byron is only going to suffer, and although I beleive its necessary for any and every NFL QB to have a large ego to some extent, Leftwich has to have some reservations about going in and getting crushed.

Unless when they break down the film theres a wide open guy everytime that Joeys missing, this move is just going to lead to alot of the same, and probably worse results.

by Hamburger on Oct 18, 2007 9:43 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs