Why That Vaunted Falcons Passing Attack Hasn't Materialized

This is a hanging slider for Mularkey. Run it up the middle.

Ryan’s shines in football smarts but he wasn’t always the most accurate or strong armed QB. If he was drafted just on arm strength or interception ratio he’d never been drafted.

But I’m a believer that the problem lies with MM. Get a new offensive coordinator that can cater the offensive around Ryan strengths. If that doesn’t work only then will we shop for a new quarterback. Time for MM to go. but I’ve been saying this for 2 years now. Same as my disgust with our drafting acumen from 2009-2011.

Ryan has always seemed to be good for 2 or 3 overthrows a game to wide open receivers 15-30 yards down the field. I don’t know what it is, but it’s like he has to get a couple of those awful passes out of the way before he can start hitting receivers in stride.
These arid overthrows have also been the cause of at least a few of his picks this year. Specifically, I can remember one against Detroit, Green Bay, and Seattle. It’s not even like the defense made a great play, the ball was just overthrown by 10 yards. Sigh.

The pass routes were better in the Lions game. The slants were particularly effective when they clicked. However Ryan has been throwing high more often than on target and that has been a buzz kill for the passing game as of late. So the Falcons are still in “po” mode for passing. Hope they get it together at some point.

I know there’s a perception that the Saints and Packers do nothing but throw deep all game, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Both of these offenses use the short passing game – including screens – to setup their downfield shots. These teams are also very good at getting yards after the catch – something the Falcons haven’t done well the last couple of years.

We’re not going to overhaul our run-first offense overnight. Our offensive line has to be retooled to provide a better pocket. However, we do need to take the occasional shot downfield to keep the defenders from stacking 8 in the box.

Will the passing game materialize against the Colts? I’m not so sure. With Freeney and Mathis, Ryan may not have the time to bomb it 45 yards – but there’s no need for him to. I think the Falcons should do as they always have: use Turner to setup the pass.

Oh – and let Ryan run the offense: the Texas no-huddle offense is so much more effective, both for the running and passing games.

Work Julio into our existing game plan. Short/Medium passes that are high percentage are fine. Just get that man the ball. He can make things happen after the catch that nobody else on our team can. Short slants, screens, whatever, get the ball in his hands and let him get a few yards on momentum, break the occasional tackle, and drag some defenders down the field.

The OL does have to do a better job in protecting Matt Ryan because it seems he’s sometimes it looks like he’s a little skittish in the pocket. Also, like I’ve stated before – Matt seems to sometimes over estimate the speed of his Receivers. He puts a lot of arm into the ball and sometimes over throw everyone when he throws the long ball. My advice would be to have him double pump the ball and see if that works when he throws it to Julio Jones. We need to use Jacquizz more in screens, short passes, runs to the sidelines to stretch the oppositions defense.

And really it goes back to when we brought in our current O-line. This team was initially tailored to be run first/play action passing team. Our guys are not groomed or lack the proper natural abilities to be great pass-blockers.

Watching the games, when Ryan does a straight drop back, he never has the time to throw a proper ball. He only gets time off of play action. Whether we need to start drafting new lineman who can do both effectively, or hire a new o-line coach, I just don’t know, I don’t have that knowledge. I only see the finished product, and not what goes on in practice and the meeting rooms.

Like others have mentioned, I don’t think Julio is the deep-threat everyone makes him out to be. He is a tremendous intermediate receiver who excels at YAC. Which is exactly what we need. He also takes pressure off of Roddy and Tony G. Teams can’t double up on one or two of these guys and take out our passing game. Which comes down to scheming, which is why I think Mularkey loses his job this year regardless. He cannot handle game planning with so many talented players.

Big plays are overrated IMO. I like the time consuming, give your defense a break and get the opposing offense out of their rhythm style. Our defense relies on speed in the front seven, and will be exponentially more effective the less they have to play. We only need to light up the air when we are down by a few scores in the second half. Otherwise stick to the runs, short and intermediate passes. We’ve seen plenty of those go for big plays on this team. I think Turner has more 50+ yard plays than all our receivers combined.

2009 – Roddy White 90 yard TD off a hitch
2011 – HD 50 yard pass off a intermediate cross – and plenty more that I could name.

its their fault on first down for not opening up running lanes, then getting us in long 2nd down situation and committing holding making it 2&20, that lets the defense pin their ears and go hunting… yup thats how it seems to go