What To Watch Tomorrow Night: Receivers In Action

On the heels of Harry Douglas saying he'll be focusing on yards after the catch in 2012, I thought it would be worth our while to look at how that might translate into actual game action.

The Baltimore Ravens have a nice secondary and Douglas is far from the only Falcon who the coaching staff is going to expect a little more smash and burn out of post-catch, so this is a fine time to see how that might look in action. Receivers getting extra yards by sprinting, juking or flat out running over defensive backs are doing a great service to the offense. A receiver snatching a pass on a five yard short route and immediately getting tackled is not the best use of your passing game.

The Falcons certainly have the personnel. Roddy White, Julio Jones and Kerry Meier are capable of trucking over corners, and Jones and Douglas can certainly blow by them. The key is going to be in the execution, as always, and we'll get an admittedly short glimpse of that in the Ravens game.

It will also be an opportunity, if this is truly a focus, for the players competing for that last receiver slot to separate themselves from the pack. Flash a little production, break a long one after a short catch and maybe you catch the coaching staff's attention.

The only obstacle? The Falcons receivers will mostly be getting passes from Chris Redman and John Parker Wilson.

Still worth watching. How do you think the Falcons will fare after the catch this season?