Falcons Post Game/Season Review/2017-18 Leadup

[thomchatt3rton]

I had my hopes up for our D today, thinking back to their performance against Arizona last year (til OT--the defense kept us right there, against a very good offense, and us down to our #5 and #6 WRs, and if Sam Shields make that INT, we probably win), against Seattle in 2014 (til the last 5:00), and even thinking back to them playing tough against SF in 2013 with a hobbling Mulumba as their OLB (again, if a DB makes a catchable INT--this time Hyde--we probably win).

I thought Burnett played well, Ha-Ha played well. Gunter had probs, but who doesn't against Julio Jones. Randall playing soft and not making any plays. Evans had an INT that he badly misjudged. Rollins didn't make an impact.

Clay, Peppers, Perry, Jones needed to have big games rushing the QB and were quiet, though Clay and Perry did alright in run support.

Jake Ryan had some missed opportunities, Joe Thomas looked bad at times.

Daniels played well. The DL seemed to go a good job against the run. Props to Guion for playing OL late. But very little interior rush from the DL, as well.

No rush, no take-aways, and lots of 3rd down conversions make for a tough day for the D. We definitely need an upgrade at OLB--Perry is alright, so is Clay especially if healthy, Peppers has had clutch plays but not in the last two games, and Jones' most noticeable plays are his penalties.

That's exactly what I was thinking / hoping- that Capers could pull some magic out to confuse the previously confuse-able Matt Ryan into some picks and get the scrubs to in general play above their heads.

Our D actually wasn't terrible the first several series, especially relative to how their D was not stopping us at all our first 2 drives. Our first 2 drives never even saw 3rd downs until they were within the ATL 30, but our D was fairly stiff on first and 2nd down- we just could not stop them from converting every single damn 3rd-and-long for the first 2 or 3 drives.

Had the offense scored on our first 2 possessions, like they SHOULD have, I think the pressure would have been on ATL's O and things might have been pretty different (just like if NYG had not dropped a couple big catches early in the wild-card, that game could have been quite different).

[WeekapaugGroove]

Joe thomas was abysmal yesterday. It kind of highlighted something that seemed to go wrong all year on d where one or two guys got on tilt and played the worst game of their lives. I honestly dont know why that occurred. Is it just inconsistent players or are the coaches not reacting and helping a guy out schematicly once the other team finds a weakness and starts exploiting it?

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[WeekapaugGroove]

One last thing on this game. I have to tip my cap to Atlanta they played really well. Jones is a **** nightmare for any corner in the league and ryan is dialed in right now. Obviously if the pack played up to their ability this game is much more competitive but im not sure if they would have beat them.

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[emunney]

He actually wasn't,he wasn't in Godgers mode necessarily but he wasn't playing bad at all.

But that's kind of the whole point,if Rodgers isn't in Godgers mode this team might not beat the Cleveland Browns.It's not fair to Rodgers and it just plain sucks that Rodgers has to play out of his mind every game for this team to win.

Yeah, it is the whole point. Rodgers is taking up a lot of our cap. We sink or swim with him. When he's average, we're average.

Certainly there is waste on the roster, but it basically evens out with all the underpaid young players. If we didn't have Rodgers, I'm pretty confident we could spend his money such that we'd be an average team. We need him playing better than that to give us a chance. You look around the league, this is not uncommon math.

Rodgers is only the 9th highest cap hit in the NFL. We get best-player production with only a 9th ranked salary. We should be able to make gaps up elsewhere.

Yeah, we should. But again, if 9th salary is playing like 9th salary, that's not an advantage.

Also, I'm saying that the rest of the roster is basically average. Plenty of room to improve and I agree that we should want and expect improvement. It is *easier* for us to be good with Rodgers at QB, particularly when he's playing well. But it is not easy.

[MickeyDavis]

Hard to handicap our schedule, there will always be surprise teams (good and bad). Non division home games are Saints, Bucs, Ravens, Bengals, Seahawks. Not too intimidating. Road games are Falcons, Panthers, Browns, Steelers, Cowboys. Tougher.

[Flames24Rulz]

At least there was no heartbreak after this game like there was in 2014. The week after that game sucked something fierce.

[ibanezjp]

I'm gonna try my best not to get mad this offseason hoping for some changes when they will most surely do nothing. My guess is they think Randall and Rollins will have a similar jump Adams made this year when he wasn't hampered by injuries all year. I have small hope this is the case because they like Davante we're pretty decent in their rookie years. Still just can't imagine Randall really covering anybody. I mean he looked worse than Terrell Buckley out there during this season. Like somebody mentioned last year it seems like Shields was the glue that held it together and allowed Rollins and Randall to play to their strengths much like how our WR core went to crap last year when Jordy went down.

Another point about the defense and injuries. Every year we don't reach the Super Bowl just underscores how much an opportunity we wasted in 2014. Other than the calf that was the healthiest Packers team since 2007 and they had at least an average defense which would've got it done this year. Even the 2015 defense (which was probably our best since 2010) would've kept us in that game yesterday.

[Kerb Hohl]

There is almost zero reason to cut Clay. There will be people claiming he's overpaid, which he is, but that is irrelevant given the structure of his contract and what is out there in the 2017 FA class.

[MickeyDavis]

Yeah it's not like we have someone behind Clay waiting for a shot. We have no one. Inside or out.

[MickeyDavis]

Is there a list someone of potential defensive free agents to be?

[raysbookclub]

We don't know what goes on in at practice or in film review, but we can see a lot of the results. Just don't know how you can keep a coordinator who gives up this many yards year after year.

Sure, we can blame the GM for not drafting better, but it's not like Perry, Jones, Randall, Rollins, Clark would have all been late round picks or undrafted had we not picked them early, or Ryan and Martinez would have gone undrafted. Look at our D. DL: Clark (1st), Guion (FA), Daniels (4th), Lowry (4th). LB: Peppers (2nd overall pick, HOF, older but still athletic), Clay (1st and all-pro, injured), Perry (1st), Jones (1st), Fackrell (3rd), Martinez (4th), Ryan (4th), Thomas (undrafted). DB: Burnett (3rd), HaHa (1st), Randall (1st), Rollins (2nd), Gunter (undrafted), Hyde (5th). That's not a lack of investment by the GM.

I would love to have drafted Kendricks as our ILB and Harrison Smith as our S. Maybe those represent TT mistakes. But I'm not confident that our D would be much better if those guys were on our team.

[Kerb Hohl]

Is there a list someone of potential defensive free agents to be?

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/defense/

I can't imagine making something out of that list for 11 million that is better than just taking a shot on keeping Clay and hoping he's got one more elite year in him.

The Packers have no leverage in a restructure unless Clay wants to win. If he's interested in money, he can just say, "go ahead and cut me and I'll take Jacksonville's $50 million contract plus the $4 million you owe me."

[WeekapaugGroove]

Whats unfortunate is the packers biggest needs cb and pass rusher are two absolutely premium positions across the league. One positive is ive been reading its a good deep corner draft class.

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[ibanezjp]

Yeah that free agent list is "woof, buzz's girlfriend."
It's gonna have to be hoping Randall and Rollins make that 3rd year jump.

This is more of a discussion when we get deep into the offseason but just curious as to who you guys thinks gonna be our biggest road block next year. I have a hard time seeing Atlanta being this dominant ever again. (weird side note, Matt Ryan is 2 years younger than Rodgers, sure doesn't feel that way). I'm not saying they'll fall the way Carolina did this year but still I think they become human again. Hell they were pretty average to start the year. Seattle will always be in the mix with that division and with Wilson at QB but I think the days of us shaking in our boots over them like in 2013 or 14 are over. Dallas scares me the most. They will sink a ton of money in that D and probably draft some big wide receiver early to go opposite Dez. Tough to imagine us beating them straight up in the next 2-3 years unless they make some mistakes like they did last week. What do you guys think, any teams in missing?

[Flames24Rulz]

It's never going to happen because of the pay day that he's going to get, but how about Eric Berry and then moving Burnett to the Woodson role where he can play a hybrid position? The rest of those FA names are not good at all.

Randall looked so good for the first half of last season -- I honestly have no idea what happened to him. He showed all of the promise in the world but now, he can't cover anybody. Randall and Rollins might be this decade's version of Carroll and Thomas.

[RRyder823]

FA isn't the way to go this offseason. Not a great year for our positions of need.

I know people hate it but our CB situation will be tied to hoping Rollins and Randell having an Adams like bounce back and the draft.

Resign Cook, Perry, Lang and Tretter. And we'll see if any guys become cap casualties that we can pick up later but that's far from anything certain. It's not even clear how much cap we'll have after that

But as of right now hitting on a CB and an OLB in the draft is our best bet, along with hoping for bounce back seasons from our young guys, at turning around the D quickly.

You guy might not like it. But it is what it is

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[jakecronus8]

Didn't read the whole thread here but if there's anyone saying injuries aren't a valid excuse for this team, I'll point out Letroy Guilin playing OG in the fourth quarter.

Not gonna overreact. McCarthy may have done his finest coaching performance this year.

[chuckleslove]

FA isn't the way to go this offseason. Not a great year for our positions of need.

I know people hate it but our CB situation will be tied to hoping Rollins and Randell having an Adams like bounce back and the draft.

Resign Cook, Perry, Lang and Tretter. And we'll see if any guys become cap casualties that we can pick up later but that's far from anything certain. It's not even clear how much cap we'll have after that

But as of right now hitting on a CB and an OLB in the draft is our best bet, along with hoping for bounce back seasons from our young guys, at turning around the D quickly.

You guy might not like it. But it is what it is

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This is pretty much spot on. CB/Secondary help isn't going to come in free agency this year. I would say bringing Cook back is our biggest free agency target. After that I imagine we will keep some of our guys and let others go, I know going out on a limb there Going to have to hit in the draft to really improve the defense because this year free agency for defense is straight garbage.

[Wooderson]

You can make a strong case that 2011, 2012, and 2016 were the three hottest years for Rodgers and the offense heading into the playoffs. And in each of those years the defense was absolutely murdered (37/45/44 points allowed, 20/24/24 first half). That's the frustrating part. It's not realistic to expect to reach the Owl every year, but half the damn time we're getting shredded so badly that the offense doesn't have a chance.

[jakecronus8]

Football has such a random nature to it, especially when you get down to the best teams. So much is based on momentum, matchups, and luck really. Add a made fg and subtract a Rip goal line fumble. It's now 10-10 instead of 17-0. Packers have all the momentum and confidence and start playing looser, while Atlanta tightens up and feels the pressure. Who knows how the rest of the game plays out.

All I know is this was one of my favorite Packer teams. From 4-6 to the NFC Championship with all those injuries is something to be proud of.