A Wishlist For A New Atlanta Falcons Defense

Its the details that make a difference in league.

All agree on this post you’ve covered all the important areas, one I would like too add is swagger and toughness people called us out all year and we’ve done nothing bout it, hit hard hit mean and play with a pourpose. That being said we should go after mario williams, michael griffin or laron landry to sure up the D but then again its all gonna depend on the DC, finally loft resigned and grimes is gone sorry guys

Our def. doesn’t have to be dominant, just keep it close and create turnovers

If a better coordinator doesn’t take our defense to top 5 in the leage.

I’ve come to realize (actually in the last few games of the season) that the talent is clearly there, it’s the scheme that kills us.

Hopefully a new coordinator brings a man coverage scheme here… that places an emphasis on putting pressure on QBs. In this pass happy league, that is a must.

Kirby Smart and bring Josh Chapman w/ him

What on earth is a soft zone? I’m assuming it refers to playing an “off” zone defense, where the corners line up 5-10 yards off the line of scrimmage. Conceptually speaking, it’s sound. If you line up your corners tight (whether for press or not), they are more likely to get beat on certain routes. If you’re playing “off”, you’re trying to keep the play in front of you, and willing to give up the small completion in order to stop the big play. It also gives you the ability to read the quarterbacks eyes, and make a play on the ball, either deflecting or intercepting the ball. Do you think Brent Grimes would be so fantastic at playing the ball if he was hand-fighing a corner with his back turned to the QB? This is part of a standard cover-2 defense which was developed to slow down the potent WCOs back in the day. You try to minimize the big play, and force your opponent into sustaining long drives, which are statistically less probable to suceed.

So conceptually, it is sound. You can (and probably should) take issue with when it was employed, or how often it was employed. The best defenses are good because they employ a variety of concepts and looks that make a quarterback really work with their pre-snap and post-snap reads. So some people specifically mention how bad it is to run this scheme in 3rd and long, when it is actually smarter to play off, give up a 3 yard completion, rather than a 15 yarder down the field. That doesn’t mean you do it every 3rd-and-long, but it is a valid concept for that down and distance.

If we are going to take anything away from all this, its that the defense needs to employ many different concepts, which undoubtedly requires a coordinator who is willing to do so and more versatile personnel to run the scheme.

If you look at the top defenses in the league, they are very aggressive. If they put you into a third and long, the don’t drop into soft zones – they get after your QB and force him into a quick throw (which usually results in not enough yards). Rushing 3 and hoping a modern NFL QB can’t find the hole in your zone with 35 seconds in the pocket is insanity.

I want a defense that has a bad attitude and that hates your children. When they’re on the field, they should scare the hell out of you. When they blitz the quarterback and sack him, they let out a guttural scream that causes crows to flee and our souls to burn.

That’s all.

Let’s face it, in the modern NFL there aren’t but a tiny handful of elite defenders left. This league is about just keeping the other team out of the endzone enough for your offense to win the game 34-28.

Atlanta had one of the better defenses in the playoffs. The elite teams have offenses that get up a couple of scores, and defenses that go for broke after the quarterback and force turnovers. That’s the key.

He’d get after the QB, stop the underneath routes, and slow the run game. Sure he’d get a few balls thrown over his head in the passing game, but he’d kill that receiver on the next jam at the line. Dude plays with all the speed and passion you could ever want.

its gonna come down to a bidding war between blank and jeff lurie, my money is on blank pun intended

Decoud was 3rd after Curtis Lofton and Spoon on the list with 86 Tackles. Why is a FS tackling so much, usually its the SS who has more tackles than the FS. Something is not right if you compare to most of the other teams in the league.

If we want an Aggressive safety that can get 100 tackles a year… Laron Landry is the guy we need. I live in DC so i see alot of the redskins games and im telling you This dude is the best safety in the league (take away Reed and Palomalu). match him with Sean Weatherspoon and Curtis Lofton and that could be 300 tackles between 3 players…Wow

Brian Billick referred to it as a passive zone. It was anything but “explosive.” Watching the playoff game was torture, fortunately though, I only was able to watch half of it as we were having our last Christmas family get together. I have a lot of thoughts on the team, and I’ll start with the defense.

One word, ATTACK!

What’s bothered me about the defense is that despite the focus on the defense for the better part of the first three drafts, there was only one knock it out of the park pick, Spoon. There are a lot of picks that I like, Jerry, Peters, Franks, Lofton, Sidburry, Spencer Adkins, and Biermann, and FA Walls, but they haven’t wowed yet. To win a Superbowl, they have to do a lot better. Hopefully, it was just VG’s schemes that were holding them back. The weak link in the secondary is Decoud. I think the brightest futures lie ahead for Franks, Walls, and Sidburry.

One thing that bothers me from last years draft (I love Jones) is that we didn’t get at least one of those DEs, when we could have picked two quality DLs.

We’re still short one DT, one OLB, and a safety. I think the defense is closer to elite status than the offense, but a long way from it.

On Offense:

The OL is the weak link on the team. No push. Joe Hawley and Mike Johnson, I hope just one of them can pan out, but…

At RB, we have Turner and Turner’s mini-me in Quizz. It seemed like such a deep position when the season started, but as the season dragged on they seemed to wear down from the heavy lifting they had to do.

White needs to STFU. He was on the NFL channel with a player from the Broncos, it was so embarrassing. Play ball and focus on that, let the scoreboard do the talking!
What happened to Douglas? Is Meir going to take on a bigger roll?

We need another TE, and I don’t see it in Palmer and Kelly.

And finally on the OC front, they don’t grow on trees. They might misfire on the next one too, as awful as that would be. Good ones are hard to find. Whoever they chose, I hope to see one thing, when it comes to the passing game and that is receivers catching the ball on the run as opposed to running to a spot and waiting for the ball.

Most important, whomever they get on the FA route, they need one thing that’s very important. They should be very aggressive and find a defensive and offensive leader. Preferably Superbowl experience. They don’t have to be great players. Just guys who’ve been there, done that and can show the guys without playoff success how to win in the second season.

Trade bait for draft picks? Gonzales, White, Peters, Jerry, or Edwards.

First of all, lets look at the schemes on the defensive side of the ball. The Atlanta Falcons on the defensive side need to first come up with schemes that disguises their looks. Every offensive team in the NFL knows that Atlanta has not disguised their looks on Defense for the past 4 years and they will tell you that! So getting in anyone from drafts, trades, or free agency wont do any good if you can’t get someone in who knows how to do this. We have the guys to run a disguised defense and that are quick to get to the ball. That is the first thing you iron out then let the new DC decide which players best can run this type of defense. This would keep Brent Grimes, Dunta Robinson, Chris Owens, and probably a few others. Now lets look at the Offensive side of the ball. During the Saints came – I was noticing that the Saints defense were listening to what Matt Ryan was calling and had an answer for it. If you dont believe me then go back and watch the entire game again. That told me that the vocabulary of play calling was not changed week to week like it was supposed to and this left the Offense really exposed. We also need some big guys up front to protect Ryan and a new Offensive scheme. Lets run some trick plays from the back filed to get those safeties to move up and leave one on one situations for our WRs, TEs, and RBs. Our new Motto for 2012 should be ‘We want it – We take it!’

Hire a DC that runs an aggressive 3-4 scheme. For all you that think we dont have the personal…how do you know until you see it fail.
We need someone that can adapt to the team we are playing and make changes on the fly. Also able to disguise blitzes and D schemes.
And to teach Lofton how to better read the Offense and call out of certain precalled D schemes.
Let Abe test free agency, and only resign him if the money is right. But at the same time, if we can get a talent like M. Williams instead, then pull the trigger. Sign Landry and let Decoud walk. Not sure if Weems is under contract, if not, let him walk, or trade for pick. Saw too many bad decisions on letting punts go and putting our offense inside the 10. Let Franks step up for returns and CB duty. Resign Hayden and Sanders for depth. Draft a big NT. This position can be found in the 3 or 5 th round.
Now back to the 3-4….
Babs and Edwards at the ends, Jerry and draft pick at NT. I know some will say Jerry might be too small, but I think what he lacks in Fat ponds, he would make up for in strength.
Not sure if Peters wld be able to play outside or inside?
I wld rotate Matthews with Edwards and Babs.
As for LBs, I wld put Spoon and a rotation of Bierman and Sidbury on the outside, with Lofton, Nicolas, Adkin
s, Peterson (old, but a stud against the run).
Possibly Nicolas on the outside with Sidbury dropping onto the line like LT use to do.
Moore and Landry at Saftey, with Grimes, Robinson and Franks. Hayden and Sanders provide depth.
I would also dangle Turner as trade bait for a draft pick and get a decent lineman via
FA…but thats on the other side of the ball

Any one notice how old Michael Turner looked at the end of the season…

Turner had been great at the develpment of our over hauled team and young QB, but I think we cld get similar returns with Snellung and Quoz whike adfing more deversity. And if we get an open minded OC who will work to Ryans strengths, WCO w/ quick reads and short passes hitting the recievers and RBs in stride, then I feel Turner may weigj down our progress. If we can get a 3 round pick for him, I wld do it.

a party to the softzone?? What did he run in Jax and Baltimore??