Conspiracy Theorist 5: Mularkey Leaves, Offense Fails

We average 17 points vs GB and two games vs New Orleans, neither of which have great defenses. I think he’s already failed.

voluntarily or otherwise, I’d expect to see a replacement OC with a very similar playbook. I would be shocked if we were to end up with a completely different offensive personality. That isn’t to say the playcalling won’t change, but I expect the playstyle to remain very similar.

Yep, could be worse. Unless you are 0 – 16. It could always be worse. So, let’s not change anything and be happy with what we have.

There is not a problem with that if you like where you are. I have to assume you are not as the last time we won a playoff game was 2004.

If we are going to compete with the Saints, Packers and Pats (and I think that is the goal and why we traded a draft’s king’s ransom for a WR), then either the D has to get a helluva lot better (and I don’t see that happening), or the offense does (and with MM, I don’t see that happening either). So, what to do, what to do?

People can say were spoiled and all cuz we have a few winning seasons and that we shouldnt take that for granted but I myself as a former athlete have never been satisfied with being mediocre above average or good not great year after year. At some point the formula has to change and a transition has to begin. Will you really be satisfied if you were an Eagles fan…great tradition good years but never winning championships. Its nice and all but I’ll take my chances with someone who can work with the type of personel we have and has proof of that in their track record. This the nfl football at its highest level…we should never have to settle for “well our offensive coordinator is getting better” and hell that changes week to week quarter to quarter…imo MMs window is closing unless our offense can dominate as they should and I dont care about stats or dvoa cause that doesnt always translate into championships or wins. Hes not all to blame but hes a big part of it with inept play calling and his conservative approach or lack of adjustments.

That they’d promote Bratkowski to OC in the event of Mularkey’s departure. Just pray to God that they don’t replace him with Mike Bobo from Georgia, who runs an offense so similar, you have to wonder if he’s the same guy.

Noone wants to hear that,we as fans have gone through this long enough to dwell on your pessimistic thoughts,find something positive to talk about,or post somewhere else.

The time has come for this organization to ink it’s name among the elites. We have been in overtime a long time,and now comes the time to rise up,and be fierce and competitive.

Our new coordinator let’s Ryan have more free reign. I think that is what matters. We can have a piece of crap coordinator but if he gives more control to Ryan I think it can help. Obviously we want the best coach possible but if it comes down to it we need to let Ryan do his thing. Someone to guide him would be nice and to create the plays and determine what new plays will beat a defense and let’s him do his thing. We are lucky to have one of the smartest QB’s in the NFL and we need to take advantage of it.

Change is a good thing but its quite possible that it can make things worse. Its hard to know if MM is the problem or part of the Problem. If MM was the only problem and easy fix, I would imagine TD and MS would have fired him. I think MM does the best what is given to him,the OL can’t hold up for 30-40 passes a game and that leaves the offense with less options. Also I am not sure if the Falcons receivers are super talented except for JJ. Roddy white is a good Possession receiver but never gets yards after catch and HD never gets open.

Why do you say that? Look where he has gotten us in 4 short years. That’s ludicrous !!!
Guys it’s real simple IMO. O-line! Just watch Brees, Brady, Rogers and how much time they have….. LOTS OF IT !!
Turner gets stuffed? Poor push and lack of domination at the line. It’s so easy to see when you look back!
Now to the D! Why do we get torched in the secondary? Our D-line hardly gets pressure on the QB. Try covering a Finley, Graham, Johnson for very long and they will get open!
These are the main problems this year.
Now do we need more creativity with the offense, hell yes! We are one of the lowest yardage teams on screens, why? MM.
But fellas until these line issues are addressed we are mediocre until then I’m afraid!

Matt has had off games this year I’ll give ya that. But this BS about his arm strength I’m sick of. He has enough to ZING IT on short and medium routes. HIS INTELLIGENCE AND TOUGHNESS can take us a long way.
Get our line to give him more time AND room to step up and the occasional bomb will be there.

I’m the last person to let opposing fans opinions frustrate me but there’s one comment that keeps annoying me from their fans. Alot of them are underestimating Brent Grimes. I think it’s partly because his name isn’t thrown around alot on tv but spreaking out of ignorance about his abililty kinda bothers me. I know that Cruz is a great wr and has been dominant all season, but so has Grimes. Grimes will most definitely be the best cb Cruz has faced all year besides Revis. I don’t believe Grimes will completely shut him down, but I do believe it will be a great matchup. What do you guys think?

On the Falcons website the wizard ( lol) is asked many questions by D-leb of the AJC!

I think this team needs an OC that can manage the entire offense on his own(except for MR2, ideally they would work together) so that Smitty can turn his full attention to the D and “tighten up” the BVG scheme. The D is not broken. It bends but usually(note: I said “usually”) doesn’t break. Smitty is a D oriented coach and he could work with BVG to maximize potential.

Also, I ate a lot of crow on Matty Ice, but he has convinced me. I agree we need to get him better play calling and protection, but I think he could work on his pocket movement and escapability some. Instead of fleeing every time he hear footsteps, a couple steps this way or that could lead to some great plays.

If we do regress it just means we found a worse OC than Mularkey and in that case, shame on us.

The reason we got held to under 30 pts. by most of the good teams this season has more to do with personnel issues than play calling.

Here are the key reasons:

The OL has regressed significantly in year 4 of Mularkey’s offense, I think that has more to do with the regression of Sam Baker, the age of and injuries to Todd McClure, and what looks to be a fat-and-happy new contract syndrome going on (just a tad) with Clabo.

Michael Turner has clearly lost a step. I think we’d all agree. It really would not be as noticeable though if the OL had not regressed. If our OL was still blowing doors like it was in Turner’s first few years here, we’d see a lot less negatively plays. But its clear (again, I think we’d all agree) that MM’s offense would be better served with a multidimensional feature RB.

Matt Ryan is great – I love him……..but, he still needs to learn 2 key things that Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have mastered (2 QBs who both are a tad limited in mobility like Ryan). Both Brady and Manning know how to feel pressure and step up in the pocket to prolong a play. Ryan has slightly improved in this, but has a ways to go – he checks down or throws the ball away 5-7 more per game than he needs to – BECAUSE he doesn’t step up in the pocket. Second, Ryan is still not looking off DBS with his shoulders/eyes near as well as he should. I think we’d all see a lot more of those slants over the middle that we want if Ryan did a better job looking off the coverage.
I think Ryan will continue to improve in these areas, I really do, but he’s not quite there

MM is the guy – but he needs 3 things (in order of importance):

1. 2 more “athletic” OLmen who can get out on screens, blow doors, etc.

2. A new feature back who is multidimensional. MT has served us well for 4 years, but he’s not a 3 down back, so he doesn’t give defenses more to think about like a more multidimensional feature back would.

3. Continued development of Matt Ryan into a top 5 QB………he’s not there yet, but I think he’ll get there.

I agree that changes to be made in the coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball, because we are NOT maximizing our talent there. Our offense has some personnel gaps, but we are maximizing everyone except maybe HD.

In our losses, our 3rd down conversion percentages have been in the pooper. In the wins, the 3rd down percentages are with the best in the league. I know stats are stats, but in the Monday Night loss against the saints almost all the Falcon’s stats were on par with the Saints…except 3rd down conversions. Our lack of converting them and N.O’s ability to convert the majority of theirs was the reason we were blown out. Setting up 3rd downs takes a solid 1st and 2nd down strategy – which I felt like we had last year (albeit conservatively). Trying to add more yardage depth in our plays seems to have really hurt our 3rd down ability against good teams. If we convert 55% or more of our 3rd downs on Sunday, we beat the Giants.

I have not read all the comments that were made yet, so this may have already been said, but Mike Martz is now on the Market. His O shemes consist of a lot of play actions and screens, combine with a hard nose running game, he maybe the perfect fit.

I would hope that a new oc would actually just enhance what Matty Ice is running already. Maybe just call different sequences to keep defense off guard. Lets face it Matty does a pretty good job in the no huddle, he pretty much can call his own game.

My main concern is lack of qb sacks this year. It seems Abraham and Edwards are all around the qb but can never get their hands on him. I don’t understand how they can be so close and not get their so much. We need more pressure I believe to improve next year.