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I was waiting for someone else to start their thread, and I was gonna copy and paste my thoughts from a different site, but since I'm tired of waiting on you fuckers, I'll just start it up:
Ctrl+V'd from my blog:
"It’s just one game out of 16.”
That’s the cliché. And it’s bullshit. Not every game in an NFL season is equal.
Not when you are playing in your divisional rivals’ yard. Not when that team is the defending champions, and swept the series the previous year.
Add all that to the equation, and it’s more than one game out of 16. The Falcons didn’t need to win this game, not any more than they need to win any other week, but coach Mike Smith would be lying if he told you that his team didn’t want this one a little more.
I’ll get to the overtime field goal(s) in a bit, but first thing’s first:
A Bobby Cox tip of the cap to Mike Mularkey for committing to the run game, and another BCTOC goes to Burner, Snelling (need to get him a nickname), and the offensive line for kicking the crap out of the Saints’ front four for five straight quarters. The 8-minute scoring drive, which took up the majority of the 2nd-quarter and tied the game at 14, was a thing of beauty; but I especially loved seeing the last drive of overtime, when the team resorted to the “Pound Their Asses Til It's Over” strategy. (Without Jerious Norwood, there is no deception in the Falcons running game. They are going to run straight up the gut with two big backs that the defense probably doesn’t want to tackle.)
To the rest of the NFL, you now have your blue print for knocking off the 2010 Saints. You are welcome. Apparently, if you control the time of possession, avoid stupid mistakes and win the turnover battle, you keep their offense off the field and give yourself a chance to win. Ground breaking, I know.
Okay, now that I’ve filled my Bobby Cox Tip O’ the Cap quota, let’s talk about the overtime field goal(s).
(whistles)
(Wait what?)
Sorry guys, Sean Payton just called another timeout before I could get that paragraph off. Gonna have to start over.
Here goes…
Okay, now that I’ve filled my Bobby Cox Tip O’ the Cap quota, let’s talk about the overtime field goal(s). I for one, do not consider it “lucky” that Garrett Hartley missed from 29-yards away. The guy has been tempting the football gods for three weeks now; his game-winning attempt last week was blocked and still somehow cleared the crossbar. Chalk it up as Hartley simply being due for a shank job. Looks like Matt Stover is auditioning today to re-take Hartley’s job.
Speaking of shaky kickers, Matt Bryant may have shed that perception tonight.
After the initial attempt was aborted/blocked due to the time out, I thought that the false start penalty, which turned a 41-yard attempt into a 46-yarder, surely would do us in. It’s not that I was lacking confidence in Bryant (though he did have a pretty brutal preseason), it’s just that I expected the ridiculous string of lucky breaks to continue for New Orleans.
If Bryant had missed, it would have surprised precisely no one. That’s not a knock on his abilities as a kicker, I just didn’t think he would come through after such a bizarre sequence of events. First, he attempts a 41-yarder, but half of his line stopped blocking halfway through and it gets blocked. Then, a minute later, he sets up for another go-round, and just as he is about to start his reattempt, a lineman twitches and there are even more whistles, this time accompanied by flags. So then he moves back 5 yards, re-sets up his kick, again, and starts the kicking process for the third third time in 90 seconds. Had he missed, there would have been a fair amount of excuses to choose from.
Instead, Bryant overcame all the exterior static and boomed the kick through with plenty of room to spare. It can’t be overstated how clutch that kick was. Game ball to Matty B, and a BCTOC to him as well.
Other BTOC’s go to:
Matt Ryan- This was a litmus test for Matty Ice, a measuring stick, a barometer, a statement game, etc. He was at a crossroads and all that. This was his chance to prove he could beat a good team on the road, and he grabbed that opportunity by the nuts and ran with it. He hit Tony Gonzalez early and often (8 grabs, 111 yards) and found both Gonzo and Roddy in the end zone. Matty’s 22-yard scoring toss to White might be the best he has made all season.
- Speaking of Roddy White, did you know he has had 41 passes thrown his way, a number that leads the league? (Next highest is Brandon Marshall with 38.) Still worried that our over-reliance on Roddy may doom us down the road. Sure, he’s second in the NFL in receptions, which is great, but his 10.3 average is worse than everyone else in the top ten (excluding non-WRs Frank Gore and Dallas Clark.) In order to give Roddy some space, Atlanta must utilize more options through the air.
The 4th and 6
I’m not going to sit here and second-guess the decision to go for it on 4th down at the end of regulation, but I would’ve liked to see the third-down play call be made with a little more foresight. I didn’t mind the decision to go for it, but hated seeing back-to-back passing attempts when the team was A. running the ball damn well and B. trying to burn clock. But all’s well that ends well, right?
Around the NFL
- Remember after week 1, when I professed my allegiance to the Ramswagon? It’s not too late for you to climb aboard. We’re still accepting members after Sam Bradford‘s latest dazzling (for a rookie) performance: 23/37 235 yds, with a TD pass and a pick in the win over the Redskins.
- Seeing Sebastian Janikowski miss three of his seven field goal attempts, including the last one from point blank range, was pretty brutal. And Hartley thought he had a rough afternoon.
- The only thing I can take from the Houston-Dallas game is that Arian Foster and Miles Austin are here to stay, at least for fantasy purposes. Other than that, the Cowboys needed to win that game, and they did.
- CJ Spiller’s 95-yard kickoff return vs. the Pats was eye-popping. He's justifying the comparisons to CJ2k already. Also eye-popping- The Bills scoring 30 points on the suspect Patriots defense.
- My question for the 49ers is this: Why did Mike Singletary and the rest of the organization elect to start the season with Jimmy Raye's play-calling communication still an issue? Wouldn't this have been apparent by the second preseason game? If Raye was having problems calling the plays, couldn't you try to figure something out? Anything? Maybe have him point to every call on a playsheet, and hire an actor like Liev Schreiber or George Clooney to radio it in? Instead, the 49ers throw him under the bus three weeks into the season for something that they likely knew was a problem months ago.
- Final thought....
Michael Vick!
That is all.
Ctrl+V'd from my blog:
"It’s just one game out of 16.”
That’s the cliché. And it’s bullshit. Not every game in an NFL season is equal.
Not when you are playing in your divisional rivals’ yard. Not when that team is the defending champions, and swept the series the previous year.
Add all that to the equation, and it’s more than one game out of 16. The Falcons didn’t need to win this game, not any more than they need to win any other week, but coach Mike Smith would be lying if he told you that his team didn’t want this one a little more.
I’ll get to the overtime field goal(s) in a bit, but first thing’s first:
A Bobby Cox tip of the cap to Mike Mularkey for committing to the run game, and another BCTOC goes to Burner, Snelling (need to get him a nickname), and the offensive line for kicking the crap out of the Saints’ front four for five straight quarters. The 8-minute scoring drive, which took up the majority of the 2nd-quarter and tied the game at 14, was a thing of beauty; but I especially loved seeing the last drive of overtime, when the team resorted to the “Pound Their Asses Til It's Over” strategy. (Without Jerious Norwood, there is no deception in the Falcons running game. They are going to run straight up the gut with two big backs that the defense probably doesn’t want to tackle.)
To the rest of the NFL, you now have your blue print for knocking off the 2010 Saints. You are welcome. Apparently, if you control the time of possession, avoid stupid mistakes and win the turnover battle, you keep their offense off the field and give yourself a chance to win. Ground breaking, I know.
Okay, now that I’ve filled my Bobby Cox Tip O’ the Cap quota, let’s talk about the overtime field goal(s).
(whistles)
(Wait what?)
Sorry guys, Sean Payton just called another timeout before I could get that paragraph off. Gonna have to start over.
Here goes…
Okay, now that I’ve filled my Bobby Cox Tip O’ the Cap quota, let’s talk about the overtime field goal(s). I for one, do not consider it “lucky” that Garrett Hartley missed from 29-yards away. The guy has been tempting the football gods for three weeks now; his game-winning attempt last week was blocked and still somehow cleared the crossbar. Chalk it up as Hartley simply being due for a shank job. Looks like Matt Stover is auditioning today to re-take Hartley’s job.
Speaking of shaky kickers, Matt Bryant may have shed that perception tonight.
After the initial attempt was aborted/blocked due to the time out, I thought that the false start penalty, which turned a 41-yard attempt into a 46-yarder, surely would do us in. It’s not that I was lacking confidence in Bryant (though he did have a pretty brutal preseason), it’s just that I expected the ridiculous string of lucky breaks to continue for New Orleans.
If Bryant had missed, it would have surprised precisely no one. That’s not a knock on his abilities as a kicker, I just didn’t think he would come through after such a bizarre sequence of events. First, he attempts a 41-yarder, but half of his line stopped blocking halfway through and it gets blocked. Then, a minute later, he sets up for another go-round, and just as he is about to start his reattempt, a lineman twitches and there are even more whistles, this time accompanied by flags. So then he moves back 5 yards, re-sets up his kick, again, and starts the kicking process for the third third time in 90 seconds. Had he missed, there would have been a fair amount of excuses to choose from.
Instead, Bryant overcame all the exterior static and boomed the kick through with plenty of room to spare. It can’t be overstated how clutch that kick was. Game ball to Matty B, and a BCTOC to him as well.
Other BTOC’s go to:
Matt Ryan- This was a litmus test for Matty Ice, a measuring stick, a barometer, a statement game, etc. He was at a crossroads and all that. This was his chance to prove he could beat a good team on the road, and he grabbed that opportunity by the nuts and ran with it. He hit Tony Gonzalez early and often (8 grabs, 111 yards) and found both Gonzo and Roddy in the end zone. Matty’s 22-yard scoring toss to White might be the best he has made all season.
- Speaking of Roddy White, did you know he has had 41 passes thrown his way, a number that leads the league? (Next highest is Brandon Marshall with 38.) Still worried that our over-reliance on Roddy may doom us down the road. Sure, he’s second in the NFL in receptions, which is great, but his 10.3 average is worse than everyone else in the top ten (excluding non-WRs Frank Gore and Dallas Clark.) In order to give Roddy some space, Atlanta must utilize more options through the air.
The 4th and 6
I’m not going to sit here and second-guess the decision to go for it on 4th down at the end of regulation, but I would’ve liked to see the third-down play call be made with a little more foresight. I didn’t mind the decision to go for it, but hated seeing back-to-back passing attempts when the team was A. running the ball damn well and B. trying to burn clock. But all’s well that ends well, right?
Around the NFL
- Remember after week 1, when I professed my allegiance to the Ramswagon? It’s not too late for you to climb aboard. We’re still accepting members after Sam Bradford‘s latest dazzling (for a rookie) performance: 23/37 235 yds, with a TD pass and a pick in the win over the Redskins.
- Seeing Sebastian Janikowski miss three of his seven field goal attempts, including the last one from point blank range, was pretty brutal. And Hartley thought he had a rough afternoon.
- The only thing I can take from the Houston-Dallas game is that Arian Foster and Miles Austin are here to stay, at least for fantasy purposes. Other than that, the Cowboys needed to win that game, and they did.
- CJ Spiller’s 95-yard kickoff return vs. the Pats was eye-popping. He's justifying the comparisons to CJ2k already. Also eye-popping- The Bills scoring 30 points on the suspect Patriots defense.
- My question for the 49ers is this: Why did Mike Singletary and the rest of the organization elect to start the season with Jimmy Raye's play-calling communication still an issue? Wouldn't this have been apparent by the second preseason game? If Raye was having problems calling the plays, couldn't you try to figure something out? Anything? Maybe have him point to every call on a playsheet, and hire an actor like Liev Schreiber or George Clooney to radio it in? Instead, the 49ers throw him under the bus three weeks into the season for something that they likely knew was a problem months ago.
- Final thought....
Michael Vick!
That is all.
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