Week 1: Atlanta @ Minnesota

[HMFFL]

Minnesota is favored to win by 3 points

GO FALCONS

[lpsevier]

Falcons by seven.

[HMFFL]

Vikings expect some 'curves'

[Harry10]

i'm most interested to see how Crump is in the new system with Harrington. with Vick gone, Crump might see himself as the leader and star on offense. i have a feeling that this could be a career high year for Crump.

[High 5]

Not only will we be without Coleman Sunday, he's going to be out at least another month after knee surgery.

[HMFFL]

I have us getting the W, but I don't believe it's going to come easy, and I really don't know what to expect from this team.

[beater97]

Well, I know what I expect and that is a win. Minnesota is not a great team and this might be one of most winnable games if the D can play strong against the run.

Lets got Falcons!

[High 5]

Joey Harrington is probably going to get a lot of flak for his two INTs, but he really didn't look bad out there. He didn't look great and he didn't really make any difficult plays, but he was very efficient and only made a few mistakes. The first INT was just a fluky play by Kevin Williams. He just threw his arms up and surprised himself with a pick. The second INT was all on Jenkins.

24-3 is a bad score, but I'm not too upset with it. Defense played well, only gave up 10 points, 1 TD on a bad play from Boley and a hold on Hall. (Peterson looked great)

Goats of the week are definitely the OL. Couldn't protect Harrington, couldn't block for Dunn and several penalties. I also wish Petrino let Norwood run the ball more. Bad start to the season, but not as terrible as it seems on paper.

And if nothing else, we get a nice start to the Brian Brohm sweepstakes. Unfortunately we still won't have anyone to block for him.

[dms269]

I didn't understand why we tried to run up the middle against one of the top run defenses in the NFL. You beat Minny by getting to the outside and running and passing.

[HMFFL]

^

I was also thinking that during the game.

Joey really needs to release the ball quicker.

[Worm Guts]

24-3 is a bad score, but I'm not too upset with it. Defense played well, only gave up 10 points, 1 TD on a bad play from Boley and a hold on Hall. (Peterson looked great)



.

I don't think that it was a bad play by Boley. Adrian Peterson came from the opposite side of the field and Boley was coming on a blitz. Boley saw Peterson coming out for the screen and tried to get back and cover him, but Peterson was not his responsibility.

[LL Cool Scott]

And if nothing else, we get a nice start to the Brian Brohm sweepstakes. Unfortunately we still won't have anyone to block for him.

Exactly. I am wholeheartedly rooting against this team all year. We have to completely start over because this entire roster was put together to complement Michael Vick. Much like the Hawks last year needed to lose to get a shot at Oden (Horford was a decent consolation prize) - this year's version of the Dirty Birds would be better served by losing their way to the #1 pick and a shot at Brian Brohm. I think he's going to be the next Peyton Manning.

[Harry10]

it wasn't as bad as most of you guys are making it out to be.

the game was pretty even for 3.5 quarters.

but i saw alot of the same mistakes from last year come over to this game. i don't remember the Falcons blitzing on 3rd down (which i think you should do that for every 3rd down). and the Falcons where not able to go down field.

Minn has the worst pass defense and everybody criticized Vick QB skills, but even with Harrington, the WRs where still not able to go down the side lines.

alot of the posters above are blaming the O-Line, but you have to remember that the Vikings where not respecting the Falcons' WRs.

Birds did okay in their run defense, even with two backup DTs. and Harrington looked okay in his short passes. but the bad news is that the Falcons are going to face another two 6'5, 300lb DTs next week in Jacksonville.

[horaceworthy]

I didn't understand why we tried to run up the middle against one of the top run defenses in the NFL. You beat Minny by getting to the outside and running and passing.

Both our OLB's are former sprinters, Udeze is a good run stopping end, and we have two corners that hit hard and play well in run support. Running to the outside isn't really the answer. Where we got into trouble last year was when teams spread us out with 4 WRs, then dinked and dunked their way down the field.

Minn has the worst pass defense and everybody criticized Vick QB skills, but even with Harrington, the WRs where still not able to go down the side lines.

Our pass defense was actually average last year, in every category except yards given up. That was more because teams passed against us more than any other team in the NFL, due to our rush D, as opposed to having a very bad pass D. The only area where we were really weak on D was the ability to get to the QB, but even that looked okay yesterday.

[horaceworthy]

So Bobby Petrino, are you still telling me you have no regrets?

No one could blame you when you sat at a summer news conference, surrounded by your Atlanta Falcons bosses Arthur Blank and Rich McKay, and stated, "I have absolutely no regrets about taking this job. I'm very motivated and energetic toward the challenge." Realistically, who would stand up in a moment of weakness after officially learning Joey Harrington is the starting quarterback instead of Michael Vick and say, "I want out?" But there's no way coach Petrino doesn't look at what his old team, the Louisville Cardinals, did on Thursday night or what former Falcons quarterback Matt Schaub did in his debut for the Houston Texans against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday and not wonder "what if."

As the suspended Vick was likely enjoying what's left of his freedom Sunday afternoon, Harrington & Co. did what was anticipated

[lpsevier]

I'm disappointed we didn't get to Jackson more, Norwood didn't get more carries, and we didn't look downfield at all.

[HMFFL]

Falcons drop season opener

I believe week 2 is going to be very difficult, so hopefully the entire team learned something here, and I hope Bobby is better prepared for the upcoming games.

[dms269]

Both our OLB's are former sprinters, Udeze is a good run stopping end, and we have two corners that hit hard and play well in run support. Running to the outside isn't really the answer. Where we got into trouble last year was when teams spread us out with 4 WRs, then dinked and dunked their way down the field.

Tell that to the commentators who kept saying how the Falcons needed to get to the outside. Our big gains were when Dunn got to the outside and was able to get some yards or Norwood was able to get the corner and use his speed and skills to get past guys. We ran up the middle way too much and as a result sucked horribly and beat it into the ground.

[dms269]

-= original quote snipped =-



Exactly. I am wholeheartedly rooting against this team all year. We have to completely start over because this entire roster was put together to complement Michael Vick. Much like the Hawks last year needed to lose to get a shot at Oden (Horford was a decent consolation prize) - this year's version of the Dirty Birds would be better served by losing their way to the #1 pick and a shot at Brian Brohm. I think he's going to be the next Peyton Manning.

The problem is we are in the transition from Mora's offense to Petrino's. Huge o-linemen don't grow on trees so our little bitty linemen are gonna have to work for a while until we can get some big guys who can block for the pocket.

We also need some wr's. Jenkins is worse than horrible.

The good thing is we are likely to have our high 1st, our high second and the texans second to spend on players, hopefully a qb, o-line, and more o-line.

[horaceworthy]

Atlanta had 5 runs of 9+ yards, 4 of them went up the middle or off the guard's block. A couple were eventually bounced outside, but they started up the middle. It's pretty hard to turn the corner against a good NFL defense (I don't think it's too homerish to say the Vikes have a good D), and in order to do so you have to set it up with runs up the middle. The Williams boys are our two most high profile players (with the possible exception of Peterson), so it makes sense the announcers would say that, but it doesn't mean the Falcons were easily able to get to the outside and turn the corner.

You might say that you sucked horribly as a result, but compared to last year, this was a slightly off day for the Vikings D. Last year we gave up 61 rushing yards per game with a 2.8 YPC. Yesterday the Falcons managed 96 yards with a YPC of 3.4. The answer to beating the Vikings doesn't have a whole lot to do with running the ball in any direction.