A Look At The Falcons Red Zone Performance: Week 10

by Dave Choate on Nov 20, 2009 5:18 PM EST in Falcons News

This post is sponsored by Comcast and their NFL RedZone channel. If you're looking to check out red zone action as it happens, then you need Comcast's NFL RedZone. Comcast....where dreams come true!

We're back with this week's edition of Why-Does-This-Team-Not-Win-When-They-Do-So-Awesome-In-The-Red-Zone. This previous week, against the Panthers, we managed to convert four of five chances, though two were for field goals, and then Jason Elam whiffed on another kick. That's still nothing to sneeze at, and it continues the Falcons' preposterously good streak inside the 20. That should mean success for us, but lately it hasn't.

Why, you ask? Because on our other drives we do absolutely nothing. Against the Panthers, Ryan threw two costly, drive-killing interceptions. On another, we got to the Carolina 39, just out side of reasonable field goal range, and promptly threw two short passes (both incomplete and to Tony Gonzalez) and Jason Snelling mustered a two yard run. Boom! Punt. On yet another, the Falcons actually went for it with three straight deep passes right before the half, only to see all of them fall incomplete.

In essence, we're an inconsistent team, something that was expected of us on defense but certainly not with this weapons-grade offense. Matt Ryan's slow decline over the last few games has had a lot to do with it, but certainly the loss of Harry Douglas seems to be hurting more than ever before. In the red zone, we have big targets with good hands who can make things happen by out-muscling everyone else. When the field's a little more open, no such luck.

Thoughts?

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Burner won Fed Ex Ground player of the week for week 9 !

Snelling and Stecker are better than expected and Jerious could be back .

There is always hope when Tony G is around – just throw a catchable ball to him .

Falcons still have a wild card position if they can survive this stretch

by WarWolf on Nov 20, 2009 7:57 PM EST reply actions

Consistently Inconsistent!

About the only thing we seem to do well is play either well or poorly. We must find some sort of calming effect to allow is to play four quarters of quality football. This team is too good to show such a poor level of play week in and week out. You begin to question whether it’s scheme or the coaching staff’s ability to light a fire under our players. We must find the answer to this problem. Or this will not improve with healthy players when everyone gets healthy. We got to do better!

Gary J Moody

by Gjmoody on Nov 20, 2009 8:55 PM EST via mobile reply actions

It's on both sides of the ball.

The offense and defense both play excellent on some series and bush league on others.

I don’t necessarily agree about “having players that can out muscle everyone else but not playing as well outside the redzone”. White is a GREAT WR that plays very well outside the 20’s. Jenkins seems to have a problem catching balls so far this year but is a good receiver. My questions is why isn’t Weems being used more? Also, why so few screens and underneath passes to the RB’s? I think the inconsistency is also a function of less than ideal offensive game plans.

The defense is another story all together. Their 3rd down play is killing the team. Along with an inconsistent pass rush.

On the upside all of those things are fixable.

by mwalex on Nov 20, 2009 9:59 PM EST up reply actions

OK ...

This team is too good to show such a poor level of play week in and week out.

Really? Are we talking about the same team here? Don’t misunderstand me, I’m as black and red as they come, but we all knew (or should have known) that this team was a work in progress.

Exhibit A: The Secondary
Grimsey, Houston, Jackson, and Hill are on the path to success, but did you honestly think any of those four was capable of defending a Steve Smith?

Exhibit B: The D-Line
Once again, there are plenty of up-and-comers (and one down-he-goeser), but are we really surprised by the absence of pressure?

I could go on, but I think you get my point …

While I agree that the defensive and offensive play calling has been … well, lackluster here and there. But we’re not the Colts, at least not yet.

Reporter: How will you address all of the dropped passes?

Mike Smith: I don’t think that we were as sharp as we have been catching the football. It’s something that is very fixable. It’s VERY fixable.

by FrankyWren on Nov 20, 2009 11:59 PM EST up reply actions