44 twenty-yard passing plays in 2010. 16 regular season games. 2.8 twenty-yard passing plays a game. Mildly worrisome unless you consider our 13-3 record. But don't tell Vince Verhel that. Logic isn't his strong suit. I don't have Inside, though this little gem is part of the article preview:
"We feel like Julio is a fine addition to our offense and will continue to help provide Matt [Ryan] with the tools that we need going forward as an offense and as a team," said Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff.
And how'd that work out? Atlanta's season-opening 30-12 drubbing at the hands of the Chicago Bears was eerily similar to the Packers game, and perhaps at least some cause for worry when you consider the competition.
The Bears are better than expected. The Falcons lost to a bad team. The Bears are playoff contenders. The Falcons are who we thought they were. Dave smells like rotten sardines. And so it goes ...
There's no rhyme or reason to the post-Bears/Falcons analysis. On the one hand, I can see what Verhel is getting at. But his thesis is very contradictory on its face. This isn't intramural football for Vishnu's sake. The NFL is almost scientific in its complexity. I'm not sold that "airing it out" always drubs efficiency. The Falcons had 4 twenty-yard passing plays on Sunday. Only 3 teams had more than 6 twenty-yard passing plays.The
Ryan completed 66 percent of his passes in week one. Burner had an 100 yard game. They were efficient, they just made stupid mistakes and failed to take advantage of their opportunities. Turnovers, missed tackles, poor special teams play, and horribly mistimed play calling. Sure, our offense was a little vanilla, but if none of that happens, then it's an entirely different ballgame.
At a certain point, we have to accept that Matty doesn't have a Tom Bradyesque arm. He just doesn't. Heck of a leader and game manager though, which is far more important IMO. MM is not going to call deep outs every other play, like it or not.
But that's just my opinion. As always, I'm curious what the Falcoholic-chugging masses think.
On your mark. Get set. GO!