Saints 31 Falcons 13

I could point the finger all around on this loss and I'm going to do just that. The Falcons lost their 4th straight on Sunday to fall to 5-6 on the season after starting the year a very promising 5-2.

One major problem on Sunday was the fact that Atlanta had to fight from behind just about from the outset. On the third play from scrimmage, Drew Brees connected with Devery Henderson on a 76-yard touchdown pass to put the Saints up 7-0. Atlanta drove right back, but Morten Andersen missed a very makable field goal. The Saints struck again to take a very quick 14-0 lead. Two field goals later and it appeared that Atlanta would go into the half just down 14-6 and receiving the ball to start the second half. But, on the last play of the opening half, Drew Brees lobbed a 50-yard hail mary that was caught in the end zone for a touchdown to extend the lead to 21-6. All the momentum the Falcons had in the second quarter was nullified based on that one play to end the half. The Falcons scored first in the second half to close the gap to 21-13. The Saints came with an all out blitz on a third down play later in the game and Michael Vick threw to a wide open Roddy White at the five yard line where he could've just waltzed into the end zone from there and potentially tied the game. Roddy turned his head just as the ball hit him and he dropped it. The balloon popped right there and the game was essentially over.

In the game, quarterback Michael Vick ran for 166 yards (a season high) on 12 carries. The Falcons as a team ran for well over 200 yards on the day. But, outside of Vick's scrambling, there were not many positives to point to offensively. Roddy White dropped two potential touchdowns. Michael Jenkins dropped a third down pass on the run that could've gone for a very long gain and maybe a score. Ashley Lelie dropped a couple passes. When the receivers weren't dropping them, Vick was throwing the ball away, getting hit as he threw it, or getting passes batted down. If not for the 40-yard hook up with Alge Crumpler on his only catch of the game, the Falcons' passing numbers would've looked even more anemic.

Allright, so, let's dish out some blame and see where we can go from here. First off, we have to look at the defense. On the third play from scrimmage, they gave up a 76-yard touchdown to immediately trail 7-0. They were down 14-0 following two "drives" less than five minutes into the game. The Falcons defense MUST play better if they want to get back on track and win some games. The secondary is giving up huge plays and the front seven is not getting to the quarterback enough. Hopefully, with John Abraham and Ed Hartwell getting healthy again and more playing time, they'll aid in disrupting the quarterback's rhythm. The secondary needs all the help they can get.

Offensively, what do we want to do? Why in the world is Greg Knapp going back to the playcalling from the first couple weeks? Atlanta scored 41 and 29 in consistent weeks when they didn't rely as heavily on the run. The playcalling allowed the receivers, quarterback, and line to get into more of a groove. Why back down from that? Why have Vick's numbers been down since those two weeks, his completion percentage in particular, outside of the drops? The playcalling! How does Knapp expect Vick, his receivers, and the line to get into a rhythm when Vick's running around all the time and is only called to throw on third and long? No quarterback will get into any rhythm with his receivers and line through that kind of playcalling.

Vick now leads the team in rushing with 870 yards on the ground. He's gained well over 300 yards in the past four games. Why is he being called on for the rushing yards? The lack of productivity from the two tailbacks. Again, Warrick Dunn was held in check, averaging 2.7 yards per carry on Sunday and Jerious Norwood averaging 4.0 yards a carry. Dunn is now averaging 4.2 yards a carry on the year after averaging well over five in the first few weeks and averaging 5.1 a carry last year. The Falcons cannot solely depend on Vick's scrambling ability as their source of a ground game. Dunn and Norwood have to contribute more, ESPECIALLY if Knapp continues this line of playcalling.

The receivers need to stop dropping the football. It pained me at times to watch USC's receivers on Saturday night catch almost everything that was thrown their direction. I laughed and told my father that their receivers catch the ball better than the Falcons' receivers do. It's true. Michael Jenkins has made a couple outstanding catches this year, but he does not catch the ball consistently enough. Roddy White is a notch below Jenkins at this point, because he hasn't made any great catches, but isn't bashful about dropping the easy ones. Roddy, stop trying to catch the ball with your chest! Use your hands! Ashley Lelie played fabulously in his first few games for the Falcons, but has been just as poor in catching the ball as the other two guys in recent weeks. People wonder why Alge Crumpler is Vick's favorite target. How about the guy catches the ball way more consistently than any of the receivers! That certain touchdown pass Vick threw to Roddy White was the gamebreaker. If White catches the ball, at worst, it's a 21-19 game with Atlanta carrying all the momentum into the 4th quarter. Following that drop, Atlanta had no more energy and adrenaline left in them to come back.

The O-Line needs to improve as well. Vick was hurried all game long and hit more times than he should. Last time I checked, the Saints tallied three sacks against the Atlanta quarterback. The line is also having problems opening many holes in the run game. The only effective back for the Falcons in recent weeks has been Vick due to his scrambling.

Potentially the most important ingredient is to find an identity. The Falcons simply don't have one. For the first few games into the season, Atlanta wasn't shy about running the football and did so at record-breaking numbers. But, with that came the risk of not being able to outscore the opponent or come from behind. They turned things around against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, when the passing game was kicked up a notch, yet the running game was still effective enough to garner over 150 yards. Since then, Atlanta has gone back to their early season philosophy of running the ball early and often. What has resulted? Four straight losses. With the defense being as beat up as it is, Atlanta can't stick to this offensive philosophy if they want to win football games and have a chance at making the playoffs. If the defense was steady and healthy enough, the all-out running attack could be successful, but with neither of those factors being a reality, the current philosophy and "identity" will do nothing but make the Falcons play from behind early, often, and have difficulty in coming back to win football games.

Up next is a road game against Washington who is coming off a win against the Carolina Panthers. The Falcons need this game. They've lost four straight and are dangerously close to being on the outside and looking in on the playoff contenders. Even at 5-6, the Falcons are right in the thick of things because of all the 6-5 and 5-6 NFC clubs. The New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers, Minnesota Vikings, San Francisco 49ers, and Atlanta Falcons are all either 6-5 or 5-6. Atlanta has two road games coming up against Washington and Tampa Bay. If they win those two games, they'll be right in the thick of the wild card race. At this point in time, Atlanta needs to concentrate on a wild card berth, because it'll be very difficult to make up three games in five weeks against the Saints to win the division. Do the Falcons have the kind of talent necessary to win the next two games and go on a run to end the season? Yes. But, did they have the talent to beat the likes of Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, and New Orleans? Yes again. It all comes down to coaching and execution. If Atlanta goes in to D.C. with a good gameplan and they execute enough on both sides of the ball, they could very well come out with a win. But, one thing they have not done is execute on both sides of the ball for quite some time.