Breaking Down the Tape: Screen Pass Defense

Falcons have given up big plays with screen passes early in the season, three of those screens resulting in a TD. This is a copycat league and the Falcons need to get this fixed, as more screen plays might be coming throughout the season. The screen pass defense was much better last week except for Jeremy Maclin's TD. I have broken down the Maclin Touch down play in to 5 phases as it unfolded.

1.    Scrimmage/Formation:

Jeremy Maclin lined up  far left on Dunta, Kelvin Hayden lined up on Jason Avant near right and James sanders deep lined up around 24 Yard line in the middle. In this play Kelvin Hayden was Blitzing, leaving Dunta Robinson on 2 guys with the help of Sanders back deep.

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1.    Catching the Pass:

Vick threw a quick pass to Jeremy Maclin before Kelvin Hayden could reach Vick. Jason Avant moved in front to block Dunta ,Sanders moves to the right but stays deep on 23 yard line. This was the opportunity for Sanders to move towards the ball and help out Dunta Robinson.

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3.    Tale of two Holds:

Sanders is still on 23 yard line as if he had a Brian Freeze. But by this time Jason Peters moved right in front of Sanders to block him. But this play should have ended with a flag right here, Dunta was held from back by Avant  and Spoon was held by Eagles Center. The officiating was horrible for this game would be understatement

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4.    Block on Sanders:

After Sanders stood still on 23 yard line for ever, Jason Peters comes in front and knocks him off. Sanders had a bad game against Eagles, step or two slower and lost at times resulting in 3 big plays through out the game. He can get benefit of doubt, as this was his first game. I would not be surprised if DeCoud gets little more playing time than the Eagles game.

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5.    Bigger Hold

Look at the hold on the spoon in the photo bellow. It's almost a Horse collar hold. This was the last chance to throw a flag by the Zebras. I guess the referees tried everything they could to help Eagles win this game. Hope this doesn't happen for rest of the season.

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I am not a Coach to know if there was a communication problem or not, but I think its Zebras and Sanders  gave up this big play. From a stat perspective this play will go against DR, in this case I have to agree with people who dont rely only on stats.What say you?