Falcons Will Return to Playoffs, but That’s About It…

Sorry Atlanta Falcons fans but if you’re looking for your team to make the Super Bowl this year then I can save you 20 weeks’ worth of time right now. It won’t happen this year.

There don’t you feel better? Now you can just sit back, relax and feel all of the stress and tension ease away from your body as you come to the realization that what I’m telling you is correct.

Well some of you have accepted it. Most of you will need further convincing.

It’s cool though, I’m game. So where should we start?

Let’s start in the offensive trenches where the Falcons have lost another anchor to their offensive line this offseason. Last season’s starting right tackle Tyson Clabo wasn’t resigned this summer.

The two linemen battling it out in camp to replace Clabo have one career start between them. Neither is considered to be an upgrade over Clabo, but Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff was trimming the team’s payroll everywhere he could in order to clear money for Matt Ryan’s enormous contract extension.

Let’s just hope for Ryan’s sake he stays erect long enough to cash in on it.

Protecting Ryan’s blind side has always been a chore with the injury-prone Sam Baker manning the left side of the line, now the right side is bound to suffer a drop off this season.

At least the Falcons may see some improvement at center and right guard after installing two new starters at those positions last season.

Ryan is going to have more difficulty finding time to throw this season though with the continuing issues at tackle. These deficiencies will be even more noticeable when they play the better defensive teams that make the playoffs.

Not convinced yet? Relax, I’m just getting started.

I really wanted to focus on what the Falcons do in the defensive trenches. Or better yet what they don’t do which is stop the run.

It doesn’t take rocket science to understand why the Falcons have such a poor run defense. They have the smallest defensive line in the league.

Every other defense in the league possesses that one huge space-eater along the line who can occupy multiple offensive linemen and gives the guys behind him a chance to make a play. Every defense except Atlanta’s that is.

Atlanta’s opponents averaged 4.8 yards-per-carry against the Falcons last season. It’s one of the reasons Atlanta’s defense has such a hard time getting off the field.

This was especially true during the playoffs. During their game against the Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta was so worried about Marshawn Lynch and Russell Wilson getting loose that they brought extra defenders to contain them.

The result? Wilson had his first 300-yard passing day of the season.

Atlanta had the Seahawks down by 20 points at the half but Seattle had moved ahead by one point with two and a half minutes left in the game. Seattle’s defense had successfully bottled up Atlanta’s offense for most of the second half.

To their credit though, Ryan and crew were able to mount a final drive that put them in position for the game-winning field goal in the final seconds of the game.

They weren’t so lucky against the San Francisco 49ers though. Frank Gore rushed for two touchdowns in the second half of that game and helped the 49ers come back from a 17-0 deficit to beat the Falcons 28-24.

Still not convinced??? Man this is a tough crowd but I’m not done yet so let’s look at the defense as a whole.

Defensive coordinator Mike Nolan wants to run an aggressive, attacking defense but let’s face it; he really doesn’t have the personnel for that. This has forced him to run a bend-but-don’t-break style of defense.

Now I’ll admit the BBDB defense isn’t all bad. The Buffalo Bills ran it en route  to four straight Super Bowl appearances back in the early 90’s but even with all of the defensive talent that team possessed they couldn’t get over the hump.

The reason being is that the bend-but-don’t-break defense usually breaks during the playoffs.

The whole philosophy behind the BBDB is that the defense stiffens as the field grows shorter. When the opposing offense gets down into the red zone, the BBDB uses the short field like an extra defender.

With less ground to cover the BBDB takes more chances with blitzes and other techniques than it would earlier during an offensive series.

This defensive method actually worked pretty well for Atlanta during the regular season. The Falcons were among the top ten defenses in points allowed even though they were in the bottom third of the league in terms of passing yards and rushing yards allowed.

The biggest problem with the BBDB though is that the good teams will figure out how to score if you give them enough chances.

The Seahawks figured it out, so did the 49ers. The New York Giants figured it out the year before that.

Just like Buffalo in the 90’s, Atlanta’s strength is its explosive offense. Offenses like that put fans in the seats and wins games for you but Atlanta’s defense contains none of the Hall-of-Fame talent that Bills team did.

And there’s no disputing that defenses win championships. Until the Falcons commit more resources towards that side of the ball they will always be playoff fodder for whatever team ends up actually advancing to the Super Bowl.

I see you’re still not convinced. Oh well I tried. See you in 20 weeks.

Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He can be contacted at sportmentalist@yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.