FanPost

Three Up? Three Down!


I don't mean to bigfoot the front pagers, but...yeah, I'm going to bigfoot the front pagers.

UP

Cordarelle Patterson

Patterson looked genuinely dangerous and, most surprisingly powerful, as a RB, He had 7 carries for 54 yards in the first half and had 0 carries in the second half. Some of that might be because the Falcons ran so few plays after the break, but at least, he looked like they knew what they were doing when they took him and put him at RB. Teams will now have to account for him as both a running and receiving threat from the backfield.

AJ Terrell

Look, I'm not going to watch that debacle again. You can't make me. But watching live, I did not see Terrell give up a play in coverage, and I saw him make willing and aggressive tackles on run plays. Maybe he did give up a play, and I didn't see it, but he was mostly not tested, which can be a good thing if you're a CB.

Keith Smith

I guess I have to pick a third... Smith did his job as a lead blocker, but also averaged 6.5 yards on two carries and reeled in all three catches on balls thrown his way. The rushing attack looked pretty potent in the first half at times, and Smith was a contributing reason why.

DOWN

Arthur Smith's Plan

Smith made the bold decision not to play any of his starters during preseason, despite installing new terminology and a new system. That went...poorly. The offense looked pretty good during the first few scripted plays, but for the rest of the game, they were sloppy, plagued by penalties that were both stupid and tended to happen at the worst times. This looked like a preseason game at times.

Arthur Smith's Playcalling

OTOH, Tennessee looked terrible today without him on the sidelines. Derrick Henry only had 58 yards and Tannehill looked like Tannehill again. However, Smith seemed absolutely incapable of adjusting to two things:
1) Atlanta seemed incapable of stretching plays down the field, allowing Philly to stack the box, despite being down to two safeties. However, this was mostly because...
2) There was no attempt to help out Mayfield at LG. He was a turnstile for much of the game, and this should have surprised no one, given the quality across from him. However, there was no plan, apparently to leave in an additional blocker. Mayfield was on an island. A lonely, lonely island.

Matt Ryan

I'm a Ryan fan. I think he can be a top-10 QB for the next few years. But he's played behind weak offensive lines for much of the past few years and he hasn't looked this bad. I don't pay for All-22, but he was not exactly reading the Philly Zone well. He forgot that Russell Gage was on the field. His old pattern of staring down his WR1 when things go bad was on display. He looked rusty (see point one above).

This team seems likely to start the season 0-2. Improvements, however, need to be apparent against the reigning Super Bowl champs. Especially from the coaching staff.

<em>This FanPost was written by one of The Falcoholic's talented readers. It does not necessarily reflect the views of The Falcoholic.</em>