Long read, but made some good points, particularily with regards to te Falcon's

secondary. What really stood out to me was the total disrespect concerning Atlanta's

receiving corps. To say that the Dolphins are more concerned with Tony Gonzales

than their wideouts (Yeah, i know - just the Writer's opinion) is just plain stupid.

Roddy White (1384yds) and Michael Jenkins (777yds) are a pretty good receiving tandem

and not to be taken lightly. Should be a good game with the Falcon's winning a close one.

hopefully injury free for both teams.....

 

How does saying that we would be more concerned with Gonzalez disrespect to the Atlanta receivers? A future hall of famer being thought of highly is disrespectful to other players on the team? I'd love to know that. And it is stupid is it. Interesting - any other well thought opinions? The only thing that is disrespectful is to quantify that jump of logic with nothing of merit than to say "that's stupid". Making a jump of that nature regarding the disrespect is just poor logic. And, I am not the only one who has praise and fear for Gonzalez, most have spoken about his pick up as being instrumental in Ryan's development as well as the team's. There has been little talk of the WR's this off season. Is that stupid too?

Do you know the Dolphins play a quarters defense which does have issues protecting the deep middle of the field and the flats?. And given the play of our safeties the matchup with Gonzalez is much worse for the Phins. We have more talent at corner than we do at linebacker or safety that is capable of coverage. That seemed obvious to me looking at the roster. The Dolphins have a much better chance of matching up with the receivers than we do against Gonzalez; who has torn us apart in his career.

777 yards for a receiver will not strike fear into anyone. Ted Ginn had 790 yards and he is not feared by most other fans. White is a good player, and it wouldn't matter how good Ryan is at getting the ball out of his hands if no one can catch it. I think saying Ryan has places to put the ball is a complement to the WR corp, otherwise I would have said something regarding their ineptitude. Also note that never once did I say that we will shut down the Atlanta offense, that includes the WR's or for that matter that we could stop Ryan. The only word I ever used for either is "contain". That in itself is a complement.

 

Gonzalez has always killed us. I too am more concerned with TG than the receivers.

 

i am as worried about roddy white as gonzalez. i think jenkins can be nullified. good writeup overall and alot of interesting player evaluations

 

Wow, Strike a nerve did i? Wasn't aware you wrote that, but no matter. To
totally omit a PRO BOWL Rcvr (didn't even mention his name) is disrepectful.
Hopefully the Dolphins Defensive coordinator shares your obvious low opinion of the Atlanta wideouts.

 

No, it just shows what level you can debate on. Well I omitted John Abraham too, does that mean I was disrespectful? I didn't mention Mike Smith, Coach of the Year - is that disrespectful? Saying nothing about someone is disrespectful? Wow, and you think the piece is long now? How long will it be if I have to mention every player?

You have yet to offer anything of real substance in defense of your "stupid" claim other than to say I omitted one player's name? That's it, of everything written there, the fact I didn't say one player's name causes you to refer to it as stupid? Wow. Apparently I must have struck a nerve with you by omitting that name....hence the stupid reference. The best response you could come up with is stupid regarding one player. If you like Roddy White fine, he is a good player. But if I don't mention one of the 22 players on the field it has nothing to do with disrespect.

I didn't mention Ronnie Brown for Miami, or Ricky Williams - Brown was a Pro Bowler as well, as was Jake Long. Did I disrespect them? Hardly.

If you want to say you disagree fine. So be it. We can talk about it all day. But I don't know what manner you expect me to respond to you in if you refer to things as stupid. If I had that same attitude I could have simply responded with " **** off jerk." Is that reasonable? Hardly. It depends where you want the conversation to go.

If you don't like the tone people speak to you in maybe you should examine yours. I showed no disrespect to anyone on that roster. I was fair in my opinion and wrote what I saw - I can't cover everything other wise the WC would have been included, as would have more been written regarding the zone scheme your offensive line runs.

But in all honesty, do you think after reading that piece that I don't examine a great many things, and it would be hard for me say that the wide outs are a joke? There is not mention of the wide outs in any negative fashion. Period.

Look, if you think I meant disrespect by omitting someone then I don't truly know how to broach this. I simply cannot mention everyone on either roster, so someone will be left out. I try very hard to ensure that I am accurate in my assessments and above all else - fair. No player is all bad, in incapable of something - that's why i never refer to any player in a completely negative tone. We have issues and you have issues, I tried to hghlight what scenarios I think will matter. No matter what coaching staff exists, they will concede something to an offense, regardless. There is no way to shut down a team in every facet (I think you know what I mean, unless the team is completely hapless or riddled with injuries etc.) and if the defense keys in on certain aspects it will leave other alone.

 

You're right about that.They used to pick on Zach in that situation all the times we played them.Never could stop them over the middle.
Things hopefully will be different this weekend.

 

Okay maybe "stupid" was i poor choice of words on my part. But to omit mentioning a key weapon on the Falcons offense is dis-respectful, imo..
While i agree with most all of your article, that part we'll just have to agree to disagree. Don't look for Gonzo to be the featured rcvr as he was in KC, My guess would be mostly red zone, safety value type stuff...

 

If they brought in a future hall of famer to do that then they could have just gone with a rookie. Saying Gonzalez would be used like that could be termed disrespectful :wink2:

White will test us on that 10-12 yard hitch and he is good with his feet along the sidelines, but if we let guys control the middle of the field we are dead meat. Our linebackers and safeties are not the best in coverage, Ayodele was embarassed last year when he was matched up man to man. Keeping Gonzalez from beating us will also help our run defense. If our LB's are worried about Gonzalez catching more passes then Turner eats us alive.

I think Gonzalez will surprise you in how often you target him this season. I would expect both White and Jenkins overall numbers to go down actually. Gonzalez will taek some catches away from those two over the course of the season.Last year between Peelle, Hartsock and Rader a combined 19 catches for the season from the TE position. Gonzalez will likely triple that number this season, and those balls will come from somewhere. There's nothing wrong with that as it makes the offense much more balanced.

 

Our pass rushers better be amped!

 

White is a very good receiver. Will Allen (when healthy) is a very good corner as well, and White isn't the type of guy that gives him trouble at all.

Jenkins will be a non factor as well in my humble opinion.

Tony Gonzalez will be the one to beat us in the passing game or no-one will.

 

I have a feeling they will work hard on getting White on Smith and test him out.

 

Well if we are playing zone coverages most of the night, it will be more like getting White into his area of the field. In zone coverage you shouldn't be falling for double moves in my opinion as you are covering a specific area of the field and there is absolutely no reason to be playing your man that way.

If we are playing combination man/zone I could see White split out next to Jenkins, running routes deep towards the outside of the field while Jenkins goes over the middle. Making the corners swich off of their man. I'm not sure that would be very effective against a quarters defense anyway, but it would pressure the safeties at the very least.

That presents a size matchup on the other side of the field with Jenkins against Allen if they can manage to somehow get them matched up.

How do you see them doing it?

 

They'll use motion to determine what we are in first of all. If we see a receiver move in to more of a flexed position expect him to run a hitch that breaks outside, or he will run a fade in many ways by simpl running deep and fading towards the sidelines.

As I mentioned, you'll see a lot of in breaking routes this Sunday, it is just the way the offense is. They will layer the routes in an effort to ensure as they press you deep they have a short route behind it but the majority of it will be hitches etc. Also expect to see some play action where they hit a receiver dragging across the field rather than simply attacking deep.

But if we play zone, look for them to flood it at times with layerd routes making the defender choose either deep or short. They'll have their receivers plays on the same side a bit as well and look to bring on back across the field. Gonzalez will likely be running a route that goes the other way across the field.

 

Not even debating that. He will catch probably 50-60 passes, i'm just saying he won't be Ryan go to rcvr, that would be Roddy's job. Gonzo had what, 80's receptions last year? I suspect one of the main reasons they got him was for red-zone production, Falcons weren't the best in that area last year.

 

Basically the Falcons are a run 1st team. But don't sleep on Jenkins either,

dude's got good hands and deceptve speed, could surprise y'all. I think this

will be a fairly high scoring affair. While i'm fairly confident that Ryan will utilize

all the toys in his toy box, including his newest toy - Gonzo, our Secondary

has me plenty worried.

 

To be fair, one thing I didn't mention but should have is the fact there is no veteran presence on the unit as a whole. Brian Williams becomes the most senior member of the unit doesn't he? There wasn't anyone after Milloy got released to help bring these guys along. I think that has to have an affect on the unit's play as well - it's all young guys looking to each other.

 

Excellent work. VERY well-written!

 

you never mention me in your posts. i think you're disrespecting me :tantrum:

 

On a side note I love how Con writes the article and Celt gets the thanks :lol:

 

I'm being oppressed by the man!!!!

 

I can see you running with the gas can, ready to dump it on the fire. :lol:

I will mention this.....you called Vontae Davis as #1. I wanted Smith there, but alas you won. Now we will never mention this again........or everyone will want a mention. :shifty: You know CNC will be all over me for some love.

 

It's really hard for me to gauge how they'll perform. They ran alot of blitz type schemes, shifted personnel around to find the right mix, so i really don't have a clue. If we've seen how they'll do based upon their performance in the PS, we're in trouble... But yeah, your're right, Picked up Tye Hill from the Rams and with the recent acquition of Brian Williams, the veteran presence helps. All in all a very young, and relatively inexperienced group.

 

I have to wonder about Tye Hill though, I always figured him to be more of a man to man cover corner. I didn't think he was a good zone defender as he freelanced a bit. It's almost a redo of Chris Houston in many ways.

 

Hope not. The problem with Houston is his ball awareness, at times he plays the rcvr exclusiously, what i mean is he forgets to turn his head and try to locate the ball. Brent Grimes on the other side has decent coverage skills, has a real nose for the ball but he tends to be manhandled by taller/more physical rcvrs - Believe he listed at 5'8 (maybe standing on a phone book).
Maybe we can get pressure on Chad from the front four without having to blitz..

 

Gonzales always kills everybody, that's why he's a guaranteed first ballot HOF'er when he retires. I only hope he comes down with a 24 hour flu or something Sunday morning and can't play. Gee, I hope I haven't just insulted any of Atlanta's WR's. :lol:

BTW Con, another outstanding article. I have been reading it off & on for about 4 hours now, stop the world, I want to finish this article! :lol:

 

That sounds alot like our Jason Allen...:lol:...:sad:...:no:

Jamaal Anderson...

:escape2:

 

I think you will. Biermann has played well coming into this season. I don't know off hand if your coaching staff plans on playing him on the strong side in lue of Anderson in passing downs or if they will exclusively rely on Sidbury. If it were me, I'd let Bierman take more snaps early on in the season. Sidbury is active and does well to get off the ball, but I don't like his hand use all that much. He still relies on his speed, but he has some nice arm length which will help him if he can become more refined.

I can tell you this much - the Rams played a good deal of bump and run, with jams on the receivers at the line of scrimmage. Hill was on that defense, so his skill set may be more tailored to man to man. But, it is easier to teach a man to man corner to play zone than the other way around.

 

Very impressed. You guys managed to get a Falcon fan to talk about football.
I checked their site out. Delusional. They have no idea that Pennington put up better numbers than Ryan last year. Just a whole bunch of you suck and raa raa raa. I did not bother to register and reply because there is no point. I hope some of them read your unbiased and excellent report and see what a real fan site is about.

Thank you very much for your breakdown on the game.

I just hope I get out of Atlanta alive as I leave in the morning. I go in peace representing the team I love. Go Phins!:up:

 

Thanks Huck, and I think there are more good Atlanta fans out there. I know of a few Dolphins sites where it is pretty much the same MO. It is what it is.

 

Call me crazy, but as well written and substantive this and other articles on the topic are...Why is nobody talking about Jerious Norwood. I know he's dinged up, but he's extremely versatile and fast. Tell me how to stop that guy and your "A" goes to an "A+".

 

It would bery intresting to see how they cover Ginn, Con mentioned Falcons Cbs give their WRs a bit of cushion, you cant play off Ginn or he'll make you pay with his speed. If they use more bump and run they can knock him off his routes as Ted isnt the biggest guy we have, which makes me think we'd see more throws to Hartline or Turner as they can out physical smaller corners.

I'll read the rest tomorrow, way too late to be reading this stuff.

 

Not really sure how how the Falcons will set their line,, but if PS is any indication - Look for Chauncey Davis to start opposite Abraham at DE. Coach Smith is a firm believer in Rotating the defensive line, so probably on 1/2 downs you'll see some sort of Hybrid makeup of Davis/Anderson and Abraham/Bierrman. On obvious passing downs look for Abraham/Bierrman or Sidbury. Believe Peria Jerry (rookie) will start opposite Jason Babineux at the DT spot, but it's hard to say for sure as they'll be plenty of rotation. Your're right though about Bierrman, the guy has played lights out this PS, guy's got a non-stop motor.

Yes he is a little dinged up but look for him to play. The dude is a play maker -

good speed/dangerous return guy and excellent change of pace back, primarily his best work is running outside the tackles. BTW look for him to line up behind center to copy y'all version of the WC (WILD BIRD:lol:)

 

the last team who tried that against us failed miserably.

 

Norwood is a good player, but he doesn't see the field as much as he could do on another team. Thanks to Michael Turner being on the roster it does limit Norwood's contributions somewhat. But, with that being said Norwood is very dangerous as he can take any play the distance if he gets a small crease.

Norwood is a slasher in every sense and is best when he can keep moving forwared without having to move laterally. If he does have to move laterally he would naturally prefer to continue running forward whilst making the cut rather than having to slow down and make a lateral cut whilst he is perpendicular to a yard marker for instance. A stop and start lateral cut is not what he does best, nor does he wish to. But, if he is allowed to keep running forward he can cut you to pieces with some long gains.

The Falcons will use Norwood out of the backfield in an effort to get him into space, but not enough for my liking. It may cause Turner some touches ( but would that really be a bad thing for a guy around 400 carries ) but it would make the offense even more dangerous.

If it were me I would also the front to attack the gaps in much more of a one gap style so as to force Norwood to make a move laterally in the backfield. If you try to play two gap against the O-line with him in the backfield you could set yourself up for some big gains. Norwood is just too fast. Stop him early and make him move laterally more than he does forward and you can limit his effectiveness as Norwood is not the shiftiest back in the NFL. He is much more reliant on making moves at speed as I mentioned earlier.

I did mention that he will be used on kick returns by Atlanta, so it is an element to his game.

 

Nice article; the game withiin a game of Groves vs. Peria Jerry is what I'm really concerned about.

Will ATL flip-flop their interior DT's?

 

Yes, they will. I don't know off the top of my head if it is based on formation, but they do do it.

 

Just watched all of today's pressers. Ronnie and Don Thomas both brought up time of possession. I would not be surprised to see us use all of the available clock on every play right from the git go in an effort to win TOP. If we can establish a running game, things will bode well for that.. now, if only the defense can get off the field on third down...

 

TOP.....we don't need no stinkin' TOP,.....Donald Thomas is time itself. :shifty: