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Once more, Falcons offense gets lost in the dead, er, red zone

Thursday night was the same kind of ugly, fractious, hard-to-love game as the one that ended the last Falcons season. Eight months ago, they lost 15-10 to these same Eagles on this same field in a divisional playoff, unable to pierce the endzone when it mattered. And almost from that day, they made a sacred vow to improve their efficiency inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. Red zone scoring became the theme of every camp, both mini and real. It became a mantra, almost an obsession.

After all that concentrated effort, we get, this. . .?

Another game-ending incompletion to Julio Jones, only in the opposite corner of the same endzone where Ryan desperately missed him at the close of January’s divisional playoff game.


The reflex will be to raise the same issue that dominated the close of 2017 – Falcons offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian.
An obvious issue to raise, as we review the game’s final four plays, four passes into the endzone out of the same formation. And four incompletions. Doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of the Falcons red zone offense.

ATL Boy wrote:Week 2 against Carolina feels like a must-win now.

ATL Boy wrote:1-3. Game against Pittsburgh is a must-win for both teams.