Strategy & Matchups – Atlanta

Posted: September 16th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 20 Comments »

Trying to figure out this game is hard. Atlanta played poorly last week and lost bad. We were sloppy, but still won by 18. The quality of competition had a lot to do with that, but so did the fact we’ve got the kind of playmakers who can deliver the big plays that change a game.

We beat the Falcons easily last year. Here are a couple of things I wrote after that game.

“The Eagles brought their A game and the Falcons had no idea what hit them. Early on the offense was incredible. We threw a variety of packages, formations, and plays at Atlanta. They were on their heels and we had a 14 point lead before you could blink. Great gameplan by the coaches. Great execution by the players. The defense was equally good, right from the start. First play of the game – run for no gain by Turner.

We controlled the LOS on both sides of the ball. No Jason Peters. No Brodrick Bunkley. No problem. The O-line and the D-line played outstanding as whole units and really took it to the Falcons. We have played 2 of the most physical teams in the league in the last 2 weeks (SF, ATL). We out-physicaled both of them. That ain’t easy to do. Just ask Olivia Newton John.

The beautiful thing about this game is that while we played well it wasn’t as if any player did insane things that can’t be repeated. This was our A game, but it wasn’t our impossible game. We didn’t get every call. We didn’t get every bounce. We didn’t have every thing go right. We played at a high level. We whipped some butt.

The Falcons never quit, but they did look overwhelmed for large parts of the game. Mike Smith is a good coach and they’ve got a real good core of players, but something has to happen with that offense. Either they aren’t calling aggressive enough plays or Matt Ryan isn’t being vertical enough.

* We won TOP, 34:03 to 25:57. Normally that’s overrated, but not so vs ATL. They were #1 in the league in TOP prior to the game. Ball control is their game.

* Field position was in our favor. We had 6 drives start at our 42 or better.

* Eldra Buckley had 12 carries for 40 yards. Michael Turner had 15 carries for 45 yards. That gives you a big hint as to who won.

* John Abraham wasn’t just a non-factor. He was damn near invisible. 1 tackle. Little pressure. No impact. “

Based on everything I’ve written so far you’d think I would be beaming with confidence. I’m not. I do feel like we’re the better team, but Atlanta has a couple of things going for them. First, they’re at home. The Falcons are a different team at home. They love playing in the dome and know how to take advantage of that.

The other factor that helps them is desperation. They’re 0-1. They have Super Bowl aspirations. Going 0-2 would be near disastrous for them. Up next is a trip to Tampa to take on the Bucs. That’s no gimme either. Coach Mike Smith will use every trick up his sleeve to come up with a win this week. The Eagles want to win this game. The Falcons need to win this game.

Now, those factors don’t guarantee squat. The Falcons went 7-1 last year at home. The loss was to the Saints. Then they lost in the postseason to Green Bay in the Georgia Dome. Good QBs and good teams can win in Atlanta. As for the desperation factor, that doesn’t automatically override talent. Remember the 90s when the desperate Eagles would get whipped by the confident Cowboys?

EAGLES OFFENSE vs FALCONS DEFENSE

Last week was a sloppy showing by the offense. Vick was 14 of 32 passing. We allowed too many blitzers to come free. The stretch play looked like a kindergarten fire drill more than an NFL running play. We still scored 24 offensive points and moved the ball fairly well.

I expect a much better showing this week. Vick got better as the game went on. He got into a comfort zone. DeSean Jackson played really well. The OL shut down the Rams when they rushed 3 or 4. And that Shady guy did okay. The rust is gone. The coaches had actual game tape to show the players when pointing out mistakes. Football players are visual. Looking at a sheet of paper isn’t going to be the same as seeing game tape when trying to figure out who to block.

So what specifically will we try to do? Andy and Marty will throw the ball downfield. That’s Atlanta’s weakness. They love to play the run. Pass defense isn’t nearly as much fun. The first focus from Andy and Marty will be on pass protection. Last year we opened the game in an empty set, but had TEs chip block the DEs as they released down the field. Expect Brent Celek to spend a lot of time blocking on Sunday. The OTs don’t need the help, but fear of blitzers will mean less time as a receiver for Celek.

Jeremy Maclin becomes important this week. We need the passing game to be more balanced and efficient. That requires Vick to spread the ball around. Maclin got targeted a few times last week, but should be a much bigger part of the offense on Sunday night. It wouldn’t surprise me if the first pass of the game went his way.

Vick must play a “cleaner” game. He missed some open guys. He threw without setting his feet a couple of times. Like I mentioned earlier, he got better as the game went along. I think he’ll play better this week. The lack of a conventional offseason and then the OL experimenting in preseason hurt him. It’s just a matter of getting back in the full flow of things.

Atlanta had some holes in their downfield pass defense last week. Cutler had the arm and accuracy to get the ball to his guys and burn the Falcons. I expect more of the same this week. When Vick is given time, he can throw strikes.

One thing I’m not too sure about is how Atlanta will do when Eagles spread them out. Chicago didn’t do much of that. We didn’t do too much last year since Dunlap was playing LT. Atlanta is going to be tested when Vick lines up in the shotgun with Shady beside him. The play will flow one way and if the Falcons are over-aggressive, there could be big cutback lanes for Shady. The Eagles did burn the Falcons with mis-direction runs last year, but used DeSean on those plays. I also wonder if the Eagles will call up some kind of QB run early in the game to get Vick going and let him get the butterflies out of his system.

The book on Vick is to send DBs from his blindside. I think FS Thomas DeCoud and SS William Moore could both be key blitzers this week. They didn’t have any sacks last year, but have the skill set to be dangerous off the edge. Todd Herremans must communicate well with whatever skill players are to his side and part of the blitz protection scheme.

The Falcons I’m sure are hoping to exploit RG Kyle DeVan with their quick DTs. They’d love to have him go up against Jonathan Babineaux, but he’s injured. Pressure up the middle is tough on all QBs. We’ll see if Peraia Jerry can get into the backfield and make his presence felt.

If the OL blocks well, we could see more of the 4-WR set. The Eagles want DJax, Mac, Avant, and Smith on the field at the same time. The goal is to improve the short passing game so that we’re not as reliant on big plays in every game. Whether we use 2, 3, or 4 WRs, I do like the matchup of the Eagles receivers and the Falcons DBs. Grimes and Robinson are good CBs, but I think our WRs are even better.

EAGLES DEFENSE vs FALCONS OFFENSE 

Control Michael Turner. That’s the key. We don’t have to completely shut him down. We need to keep him from getting 25 carries. Atlanta wants to control the game. They want to run Turner and then throw the ball based off of that. I’d rather have Turner go 15-98 than 23-88. His number of carries really is important.

The Falcons won’t be as conservative as the Rams in terms of alignments. St. Louis was pretty boring for most of the game. The Falcons are conservative, but will mix in some different looks. They’ll run from 3 WR sets. They’ll go empty and put Ryan in the shotgun. They’ll move Tony Gonzalez around.

I’m not sure what specific matchups the Falcons will try to exploit. Last week they threw a lot of short passes. OC Mike Mularkey said that wasn’t by design, but was a product of facing the Bears Cover 2. That limited what Atlanta could do. I do think the Falcons will try to get the ball to Roddy White on short throws against Asante Samuel. White is tough and physical. He’s got good RAC ability. CB Peanut Tillman was physical with him last week, but Peanut is a tougher corner than Asante (pretty bold statement, huh?).

We know the Falcons will attack our LBs with the run. We can win this battle if the D-line is able to penetrate and then the LBs do their job. The LBs must stay in the correct gaps. They must get off blocks. They must tackle well. The run defense got better last week as the game moved along. That’s nice, but we need to see the team play good run defense for a whole game before we can start to really believe in this group.

While fans were screaming for Casey Matthews to get benched, it turned out Moise Fokou was the LB on the hot spot. He lost some reps in practice to backup Brian Rolle. Fokou was very sloppy when it came to gap responsibility. That’s unacceptable. The coaches can live with physical mistakes, but mental mistakes, especially ones that get repeated, are not as forgivable. Fokou has the potential to be the Eagles best run defender, but he must play smarter.

Another player who must improve is S Kurt Coleman. Danny Amendola blocked Kurt relentlessly last week. Kurt needs to be more of a factor in the run game. He doesn’t need to make plays right at the LOS, but he needs to make the kind of tackles that prevent 5-yard runs from turning into 10-15 yard’ers.

I do like the matchup of the Eagles DEs against the Falcons OTs. I’ve never believed in Sam Baker as a good pass protector at LT. Trent Cole had 2 sacks last year and I expect him to be a force off the edge once again. I think Jason Babin can give Tyson Clabo fits. Clabo is a very good run blocker, but isn’t as good at pass protection.

The Falcons are at their best when they can run the ball and then Ryan is hot on 3rd downs. Tony Gonzalez becomes a key weapon in those situations. They don’t even have to throw to him. He can just be a decoy. Ryan is a master at moving the chains. We must pressure him and then tackle well when he does get the ball out.

I’m looking forward to seeing Cullen Jenkins go against RG Garrett Reynolds. Jenkins is tough for talented veterans to block. Reynolds is a young guy. He’s more of a natural fit at RT. He struggled in pass pro at times last week. Expect more of the same with Jenkins on him. I also want to see what Antonio Dixon can do in this game. Atlanta was his coming out party last year. Their interior guys don’t match up with him well. He’s big and quick. I would expect them to try and double him a decent amount.

MISC

Field position will be critical. Ball control teams have a much easier time of it when they don’t have to go 80 yards for a TD. The Falcons had poor FP last week and it hurt them. We also had poor FP, but it wasn’t as much of a hindrance.

We do need Chas Henry to punt better. We also need Dion Lewis to kneel down on KOs that are more than a couple of yards deep. Something tells me he learned his lesson.

Crowd noise will again be an issue, but we dealt with that last week and that helps us quite a bit. If we can get up 10 points that will take the Falcons out of their comfort zone and their fans out of the game.

I don’t know what to make of the Falcons as a bounce back team. They responded to all 3 losses last year with wins, but the opponents were Arizona, Cincinnati, and Carolina…teams that combined for 11 victories. That is worlds different from Sunday’s situation.

Finally, there is the Vick factor. This is some sort of a homecoming game for him, but I don’t know if we’re making too much of that. The last time he was their QB was December 2006. He’s played in Atlanta since then. He’s in his 3rd year as an Eagle. I’m not sure how emotional Vick will be. It’s hard to read him sometimes. If he loses focus and plays sloppy, that does give them a big edge. If he’s locked in, watch out.

The Eagles are the better team.  The matchups favor us.  I feel pretty good, but we’ll get Atlanta’s best since they’re at home and will have something to prove.  I can see either team winning.  I can see us blowing them out.  The only thing that would surprise me is for the Falcons to blow us out.  I think we’d have to see a turnover-fest for that to happen.


20 Comments on “Strategy & Matchups – Atlanta”

  1. 1 Eric Weaver said at 6:05 PM on September 16th, 2011:

    Tommy,

    This sort of illustrates my issues with installing a Howard Mudd type of offensive line with regards to a QB like Michael Vick.

    http://footballoutsiders.com/under-pressure/2011/under-pressure

  2. 2 Anonymous said at 6:33 PM on September 16th, 2011:

    We’ll see how things play out. Mudd has more talent to work with here than he did in Indy. Peters is a stud LT. Herremans looked good at RT. Mathis is a solid player. Kelce has big potential. Colts OLs of recent years weren’t that good. Not sure if Mudd is partially to blame or scouting department did a poor job.

  3. 3 the guy said at 6:31 PM on September 16th, 2011:

    It’s sounding like Peters could miss the game with an ankle problem. Is he afraid of someone on ATL specifically? Or is this just a new tradition? If he does miss the game, the OTs will definitely need help, from TEs or really anyone available. Do we know who the LT backup is? Depth chart on PE.com says Dunlap, but that seems kind of predictable for Mudd.

    Losing Tapp could hurt. He’s been solid at the very least, and has a tendency to make plays. I imagine he’s also much better against the run than P. Hunt.

  4. 4 Anonymous said at 6:34 PM on September 16th, 2011:

    Jason Peters had some ankle / achilles soreness today, but said he will play on Sunday.

    Darryl Tapp is out. Phillip Hunt makes his NFL debut. Should be interesting.

  5. 5 Eric Weaver said at 6:43 PM on September 16th, 2011:

    Tommy,

    Wasn’t one of the key points in the victory last year that they focused a lot on not allowing Abraham opportunities to get to Kolb? Like chips and double teams with some rollouts to the right?

  6. 6 Anonymous said at 7:39 PM on September 16th, 2011:

    We used gameplan and personnel to slow down Abraham. Used mis-direction plays. Used sucker plays. Chipped him with TEs, WRs, and RBs.

  7. 7 Jak FTW said at 8:28 AM on September 17th, 2011:

    I remember that – we also had a lot of stuff to help King. It seemed like our plan was more precise that week to make Kolb’s day easier. I guess my question is why don’t we do that every week? (Although, maybe we do and it just doesn’t come off as well).

  8. 8 Anonymous said at 6:53 PM on September 16th, 2011:

    ATL will deffy try the no huddle – hope Castillo can call the game well….also Tommy any idea why they don’t pair Dixon and Patterson as the DT’s – I would think they are our are best DT’s vs the run

  9. 9 Anonymous said at 7:40 PM on September 16th, 2011:

    Rate our DTs in terms of athleticism:
    1 Jenkins
    2 Laws
    3 Dixon
    4 Patterson

    You don’t want the 2 run stuffers together. You want a run guy and an athletic DT paired up.

  10. 10 ike said at 8:02 PM on September 16th, 2011:

    Tommy:

    I’ve lived in ATL since 2001.

    Since training camp this season, the Falcons have worked on opening up their offense — especially using the 3-receiver set. (Obviously, the Falcons didn’t miss the lesson taught by the Packers in the playoffs.)

    Also, Michael Turner’s been taking some heat in the media for being bigger, slower — and most important — not as effective at breaking the first tackle, like he did in ’09.

    While the Birds are facing the same QB, head coach and off. coord’r, I don’t think their facing a team with the same philosophy as last year.

    Also, what’s been interesting this week is that the radio media has really picked up on the “Reid and Vick embarrassed us 2 years ago”.

    The talk’s instead been all about shutting down Vick’s running lanes and the big play. And, offensively, protecting Ryan.

    That’s my take, at least.

  11. 11 Anonymous said at 9:17 PM on September 16th, 2011:

    Good stuff, Ike.

    It was weird to see Turner caught so easily on the 53 yd run. I was surprised that wasn’t a TD or that he didn’t get further.

    I also thought MLB Curtis Lofton looked a bit thick and slow.

  12. 12 Anonymous said at 9:24 PM on September 16th, 2011:

    I want to see our Dline looking like a bay-side fish market – laid out on (Matty) Ice all day long.

    Overall, I am much happier with our style than theirs. They need everything to go right throughout the game to maintain control. We need things to go right a few times, then wait for the snowball effect. It seems much easier to envision our needs being met.

  13. 13 Anonymous said at 10:54 PM on September 16th, 2011:

    All I see when I look at this game is mismatches. Our D-line is better than their O-line. Our WRs are a huge mismatch for their secondary. Our O-line is better than their D-line. McCoy and Vick are mismatches for almost any defense. Our only mismatch is our LBs vs Turner. Our corners and their WRs are about even.

    I’m supremely confident in the outcome of this game. I think Vick is going to light it up and the Falcons aren’t going to be able keep up. I think tops, they get 14 points.

  14. 14 Anonymous said at 12:27 AM on September 17th, 2011:

    I like the confidence.

  15. 15 Anonymous said at 10:56 PM on September 16th, 2011:

    An Eagles vs. Falcons night game early in the season, eh? Any chance Brandon Hughes gets in a fight with John Abraham at midfield, right before kickoff, and they both get ejected? Then, how about Cullen Jenkins spears Matt Ryan (no flag) and gives him a nice chest bruise that affects him for most of the season? I could even go for some Roddy White sit-ups in his driveway. (still bitter about 05)

  16. 16 Anonymous said at 12:27 AM on September 17th, 2011:

    I did detect just a hint of bitterness. Also some cinnamon.

  17. 17 Anonymous said at 12:42 AM on September 17th, 2011:

    PE.com film room segment by Caplan/Cosell on the Falcons run game.

    http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/media-lounge/videos/Film-Room-The-Falcons-Rushing-Attack/91b334ca-5942-4089-a5e3-dc4dd4c794ab

  18. 18 Anonymous said at 8:38 AM on September 17th, 2011:

    Tommy,

    Do you believe having Page as our starting SS besides Allen works better for us in this game, seeing that Page is good in run support?

    Read that article that you linked, and i think our Safety play by the LOS is extremely important in this game, and also something not really discussed about enough.

    Also, what do you think of Page?

    And do you think it is possible that Jarret will be the other starting safety some point in this year due to Colemans lack of ability in shedding blocks? Of course as long as he can prove that he can cover as well or better then Coleman

  19. 19 Christopher Miller said at 2:24 PM on September 17th, 2011:

    thanks for the you tube on scoutsnb of Rolle knocking the C on his butt. I love the kid’s attitude, and hope he infects the rest of the defense with it.

  20. 20 Jonathan said at 2:38 PM on September 17th, 2011:

    I’m not sure I would say I feel “confident” but I do have a good feeling about this game. And, I really look at it as a house-money game. When the schedule came out, few people looked at this as a win. If we come out of this game 1-1, no one will be too surprised or upset. But, our offense is better than theirs. Our defensive backs should match up well with their receivers. Our coaches seem to have a good feel against theirs. If they can stop the run, they should be able to win. It seems there are always games each season we win that we’re not supposed to, and unfortunately a few losses that we should have no business losing. This may be one of the former. With each win, there will be less of the sarcastic “dream team” talk from the national media. Win this one, and listen how much less we hear about it.