Falcons clean house

[ATL96Steeler]

Falcons fired defensive coordinator Richard Smith and defensive line coach Bryan Cox.

Even after Atlanta's Super Bowl meltdown, the moves are very surprising. Smith's young defense improved steadily over the course of 2016, while Cox's defensive line harassed Tom Brady relentlessly on Sunday before running out of gas on a whopping 93 defensive snaps, not including six penalties. Dan Quinn presumably had misgivings about both before the Super Bowl, because Smith and Cox's units played about as well as could have been hoped. With Kyle Shanahan gone to San Francisco, the Falcons will have two new coordinators in 2017.

Smith is most likely being reassigned...Cox was let go.

The DC will be from the current staff, the leader in the clubhouse so to speak is the secondary coach. Regardless, they will continue to run Quinn's DEF. I agree on Cox, I am a little surprised there all things considered. He got something out of Hageman this yr and he was starting to look like a complete bust. Garrett is a young stud, and Vic Beasley had a pro bowl season....aside from that he was working with guys past their prime.

I think the bigger issue will the OFC with Sarkisian. Even if Shanahan came back, the OFC had to take a step back from this '16 performance.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

Hank doesn't blame the play calling. He thinks the first 50 minutes if the game were a fluke and the last 13 were the real deal ( as do the majority of Pats fans ). So you're not going to convince any of them that Atlanta would have won if they stick to the run

Not a fluke so much as misrepresented.

You know you loved your boys' pedal to the metal stuff. But I guess only when it works....

They were scared Brady could eke out another possession so they wanted more.

The turning points from previous games didn't stick..... Blount coughed it up (stripped just like Ripkowski), Brady tossed the pick. The Falcons just weren't good enough to follow through against a team at full strength.

Easy to pick on GB with no defensive backs, or a depleted Seattle secondary.

3 and out....... Happened more than once....

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Gotta love Sark failing his way up the ladder, lol.

Hopefully they already have their DC target selected, as they are late to the party to be trying to fill that position.

Most likely from his staff...secondary coach seems to be the front runner.

 

[rmilia1]

Not a fluke so much as misrepresented.

You know you loved your boys' pedal to the metal stuff. But I guess only when it works....

They were scared Brady could eke out another possession so they wanted more.

The turning points from previous games didn't stick..... Blount coughed it up (stripped just like Ripkowski), Brady tossed the pick. The Falcons just weren't good enough to follow through against a team at full strength.

Easy to pick on GB with no defensive backs, or a depleted Seattle secondary.

3 and out....... Happened more than once....

There's a time to go for it and time tivreqkize youve won the Super Bowl as long as you play smart the rest of the way. That's common sense.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

This was a juggernaut offense. You can blame the defense all you want but the best part of this team scored just 21 points. That is sub par for this offense anyway you slice it.

The OL started getting pushed around...several 3 and outs, plus the 2 punts on possessions that were in NE territory...most of the local fans here are ticked at Shanahan and a few at Quinn for not overriding that stupid decision to pass the ball when they were up 8 and were in FG range.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

There's a time to go for it and time tivreqkize youve won the Super Bowl as long as you play smart the rest of the way. That's common sense.

Still say they were afraid of Brady getting another chance even if they got 3. Given he motored 91 yards on 10 plays in 2'33" to tie it, I'd say that was worth worrying about. If all he needed was 3 to tie it up, I wouldn't bet against him getting them down there.

Everything changed after the Hightower sack. Everything.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Still say they were afraid of Brady getting another chance even if they got 3. Given he motored 91 yards on 10 plays in 2'33" to tie it, I'd say that was worth worrying about. If all he needed was 3 to tie it up, I wouldn't bet against him getting them down there.

Everything changed after the Hightower sack. Everything.

It certainly helped turn the tide, but imo the MO changed for good when ATL punted after the onside kick. NE smelled blood in the water there and took control.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

It certainly helped turn the tide, but imo the MO changed for good when ATL punted after the onside kick. NE smelled blood in the water there and took control.

they had a long way to go then. But I get it.

Still think the Hightower sack though cause it yielded the short field they didn't get from the onside kick, and it was demoralizing.....

Freeman there getting ready to sign autographs and shit......

 

[rmilia1]

Still say they were afraid of Brady getting another chance even if they got 3. Given he motored 91 yards on 10 plays in 2'33" to tie it, I'd say that was worth worrying about. If all he needed was 3 to tie it up, I wouldn't bet against him getting them down there.

Everything changed after the Hightower sack. Everything.

They should've been worried about Brady. Dudes the best there ever has been that's why you can't do anything to risk the points you've already got. Is it possible NE scores, gets the 2 pt conversion, recovers an onside kick with 1 minute left and scores again? Absolutely. However that's a lot tougher to do than just needing 1 score. Listen New England played nearly flawlessly the last quarter. I'm just saying that that flawless quarter was only enough because of bad play calls by Atlanta. Not bad because they didn't work but bad because they were just top risky when the game was already won. Without those 4 specific pass calls NE loses regardless of how well they play the 4th. I get that people who were cheering for NE don't want to admit that but everyone who watched the game knows it. It's dumb to pretend otherwise

 

[rmilia1]

Also I think you're both right. Not scoring after the onside kick was bad ( first pass call that wasn't needed leading to Matthew's first holding call ) and the sack definitely hurt ( on a long developing pass route on a 3rd and 1 ). Those were the first 2 of 4 calls that if you CHANGE ANY of them the game turns out different but like I said props to NE for capitalizing. Both things needed to happen for NE to force OT ( Pats needed to play perfect football and Atlanta needed to assist them )

 

[ATL96Steeler]

they had a long way to go then. But I get it.

Still think the Hightower sack though cause it yielded the short field they didn't get from the onside kick, and it was demoralizing.....

Freeman there getting ready to sign autographs and shit......

No question the Hightower sack and resulting quick 8 was a shock to the system and probably sent the 1st real thought of "holy shit, this a close game" into their heads.

But imo...not getting anything out of that short field was the 1st sign of the Falcons sphincter tightening up ...if they get at least 3 there...mentally nothing changes for them. Conversely, NE knew they dodged a huge bullet there because they really could not afford to give up anymore points.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

When given the opportunity you have to make hay while the sun shines.

Like I said, top to bottom, a team game. Coaching matters, players matter, and they (NE) did it better.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Also I think you're both right. Not scoring after the onside kick was bad ( first pass call that wasn't needed leading to Matthew's first holding call ) and the sack definitely hurt ( on a long developing pass route on a 3rd and 1 ). Those were the first 2 of 4 calls that if you CHANGE ANY of them the game turns out different but like I said props to NE for capitalizing. Both things needed to happen for NE to force OT ( Pats needed to play perfect football and Atlanta needed to assist them )

Exactly...it had to be a perfect storm and they got it.

 

[rmilia1]

Exactly...it had to be a perfect storm and they got it.

Yep and they deserved to win. Atlanta played so stupid the last quarter that theyou have up their right to win the game. I don't get why so many people here are unwilling to recognize this. I guess maybe they think if they agree that the play calling was terrible they're in some way admitting Atlanta was the better team but anyone who watched it could already tell you that anyway lol. At the end though you can't make that many blunders in such a small span and expect to beat a good team with the greatest QB of all time

 

[rmilia1]

When given the opportunity you have to make hay while the sun shines.

Like I said, top to bottom, a team game. Coaching matters, players matter, and they (NE) did it better.

Yep and when you get the hay in the barn you don't throw it back outside for no reason lol

 

[Hank Kingsley]

No question the Hightower sack and resulting quick 8 was a shock to the system and probably sent the 1st real thought of "holy shit, this a close game" into their heads.

But imo...not getting anything out of that short field was the 1st sign of the Falcons sphincter tightening up ...if they get at least 3 there...mentally nothing changes for them. Conversely, NE knew they dodged a huge bullet there because they really could not afford to give up anymore points.

I haven't gotten around to re-watching that sequence.

Tonight. I stopped last night at 28-3..... Saving the best for last.

 

[Judge Fudge]

Crazy shit is the Pats were not stopping Freeman & Coleman. Those 2 were avg 5.4 on 18 carries.

Freeman was my mvp vote.

A good thought. What if altanta just got complacent and thought they had the game in hand?

 

[shopson67]

IMHO, the tide turned on the second half scoring drive for the Patriots that was at least partially penalty-aided. There hadn't been many penalties called to that point, and was a pretty clear indicator that the Falcons were losing focus.

 

[shopson67]

Freeman was my mvp vote.

A good thought. What if altanta just got complacent and thought they had the game in hand?

Freeman was my mvp vote.

A good thought. What if altanta just got complacent and thought they had the game in hand?

Could be. If not complacent, at least lost their focus and got sloppy. Some (deserved) penalties helped the Patriots get on a roll and the Falcons couldn't right the ship (came close on a few Julio catches, but to no avail).

 

[Hank Kingsley]

Freeman was my mvp vote.

After his excuse me block on Hightower the Pats were in agreement....