Takeaways and happy reactions from Falcoholic staff for the Week 2 win

Here are some of our quick Authentic Julio Jones Jersey , happy takeaways from Tuesday’s game. Then we turn our baleful gaze to the Saints tomorrow. DWOffense showed great promise, but the defense is concerningThe offense we all hoped for finally showed up in a big way against the Panthers. The creativity and execution were spot-on for most of the game and it came against a defense that has typically given us issues. However, that good news was offset by the reality that replacing Deion Jones and Keanu Neal is not going to be an easy endeavor. Duke Riley struggled throughout the game and the defense as a whole let the Panthers creep back in late in the fourth quarter. I’m not writing off the defense just yet, but there’s clearly work to do if they’re even going to finish as a top-20 ish defense for the season.Kevin KnightI think we all expected the defense to take a fairly significant step back after the losses of Keanu Neal and Deion Jones. What we didn’t know was whether or not the offense would step up to the plate and make up the difference. At least for one week, that was the case, with Ryan playing a great game, Calvin Ridley making a big contribution, and the duo of Tevin Coleman and Ito Smith looking excellent. There are still pieces on the defense that keep it from being a huge liability, but they’ll need to continue to show growth in the coming weeks. Expecting and/or needing the offense to score 30+ points a week is not a recipe for sustained success.Matt ChambersFootball is only fun when the Falcons are good.My biggest takeaway is I love watching the Falcons play great football. There were still a ton of problems that will definitely continue throughout the season, but I don’t think that matters right now. Atlanta beat one of the better teams in the league, and at times looked dominant. That was fun as hell, and the offense showed they could get it together. James Rael This team is just gonna keep on keepin on. That was a fun game to watch. I’d be lying if I said I’m not concerned about the defense going forward, because the Falcons will surely face teams more talented than the Carolina Panthers this season. But the entire team, all three phases, showed a lot of heart yesterday. Matt Ryan attempted to channel Michael Vick during that leaping touchdown, which I hope he never does again. (Unless a Super Bowl victory hangs in the balance, in which case he’s free to get as acrobatic as he wishes.) Ryan effectively shut down anyone doubting his abilities and Calvin Ridley officially introduced himself to the National Football League. For now I’m going to enjoy the win and convince myself there’s no way the Falcons could possibly lose to the Saints on Sunday. TorgoDivision games are critical, and we won.We knew it would be tough for the defense to play without Keanu Neal and Deion Jones. We weren’t expecting them to play without Damontae Kazee as well Authentic Deion Jones Jersey , or for the offense to be without Andy Levitre. But the Falcons got it done and came away from the first of the six divisional games with a “W”, and for now that’s all that matters. The play that jumped out at me most was the cringe-inducing fumble in the red zone late in the game. That sort of thing is exactly what killed the Falcons in the red zone last year, and for that matter all the way back to the later years under Mike Smith. We’ve seen that movie too many times - the other team recovers, drives down the field to tie the game and goes on to win. But this time, Atlanta recovered its own fumble and punched in what turned out to be the game-deciding score. Maybe our luck is changing.Cory Woodroof R-E-L-A-X The Falcons offense looked like it should look with this myriad of talent Sunday, and the Falcons defense looked like it was probably going to with its myriad of injuries. Really, this is what you can, or should, expect from Atlanta until Deion Jones gets back. He’s that crucial to what they’re trying to do on defense that it’s going to be mightily hard to hold teams back to much of anything in crunch time without him on the field. They could win out in agonizing fashion to his return if they keep playing and coaching on offense like this, though. They looked sharp as a tack. For now, enjoy the win, and wrap your favorite Falcon in bubble wrap. Dave ChoateThis win was a good sign, but the 2018 Falcons are still a work in progress.The Falcons needed to win this game and did. At the end of the day, that’s the most essential thing, and no matter how injured Carolina might have been, Atlanta was also banged up and managed to triumph. The offense looked as good as it will need to be, the defense looked very much like a work in progress minus two of its best players, and the Falcons were good enough to grab a narrow victory.We don’t know if this is going to be the norm Black Brian Poole Jersey , especially with more Falcons injured, but we do know the offense isn’t going to swoon all year after an encouraging performance against a quality defense. If the D can tread water until Jones gets back, it’ll be time to get excited again.Final few plays showcase Falcons’ offensive red zone ineptitude In Week 1’s defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Atlanta Falcons, found themselves in the exact same scenario as the one they were in to close out the Divisional Round of the playoffs back in January — the offense had the ball and needed to drive downfield and score a touchdown to win the game.In both scenarios they got the first part of that equation right — through the might of Julio Jones, the offense did indeed drive downfield to put themselves in position to win the game. In a case of d茅j脿 vu, however, they stalled out inside Philadelphia’s 10-yard line and lost the game.Matt Ryan completed a 3rd-and-8 pass to Mohamed Sanu for 10 yards to the Philadelphia 10-yard-line, and the team took its final timeout with 24 seconds remaining, putting themselves in position to attempt four more passes into the end zone. That was the last bit of success the offense would have in the game. But when you look at the deeper intricacies of the next few plays, it’s infuriating.Following an incompletion to the right, where nothing was available for Ryan, offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian dialed up a verticals play three straight times on 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-and-goal. I’ll let Twitter user Justis Mosqueda tell you about it:Yes, that really happened. For three straight plays to end the game, the Falcons lined up in an empty set shotgun formation and sent all five pass catchers on a go route. I would say they did this as if it were a game of Madden, but not even Madden players would call that same play over and over again. Against the Eagles’ zone http://www.authenticsatlantafalcons.com/cheap-robert-alford-jersey , nobody was open once on those three plays.If you think it can’t get worse than that, you’d be wrong, because it’s about to get so much worse. Let me allow Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner to tell you about it:Yes, you read that correctly: The Eagles literally ran the exact same defense on every one of those four final plays. Instead of seeing the defense and adjusting accordingly to beat the zone by overloading it after the first failed attempt, Sarkisian dialed up the same play (verts) again. And then, after it didn’t work the second time, he called it yet again. Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.The Falcons were bailed out on that final 4th-and-goal play when Eagles’ LB Jordan Hicks was called for an illegal contact penalty which put Atlanta on the 5-yard line and gave them one more chance. Matt Ryan targeted Julio Jones on a fade pattern, and Jones caught the ball out of bounds.Giving credit where it’s due, Sarkisian actually dialed up an excellent play call after those initial three failures. Twitter user Joel Bishop has the goods here:The Falcons utilize the pick play to near perfection, with Calvin Ridley’s brush block opening Tevin Coleman up for what should have been an easy touchdown pass for Ryan to make. Unfortunately, Ryan seemed to have made up his mind to target Julio on the fade before the play even began.Give the Eagles’ defensive line credit for consistently hounding Ryan to the point where he was seemingly hearing footsteps on the final play and rushing the throw instead of looking to see what was happening right in front of him. However, you still expect a quarterback of Ryan’s caliber to make the right play here, or to at the very least give Jones a chance of catching the ball inbounds (which he didn’t have because the pass was poor).Awful play calling followed by a lack of execution on a good play call ended up burying the Falcons on the final drive of the game. The red zone woes from a year ago are as prevalent as ever, and if they aren’t fixed, then this team has no chance of reaching its potential.