All the necessary ingredients for a Falcons upset were available on Sunday: a wildly inconsistent New York Giants team, a sleepy and indifferent home crowd, a fired-up defense and a set of offensive weaponry in red and black to rival anyone in the game. In the middle was an up and coming quarterback, now in his fourth season, who had set career highs in yards and touchdowns.
But even if all the ingredients were there, Mike Smith and the Atlanta Falcons turned them into mush. And Atlanta fans eager to point call out blame had no shortage of targets.
Quarterback.
Matt Ryan played one of the worst games of his career, showing more jitters than a whole Blaine Gabbert highlight reel. He frequently pulled down passes that could have gone to downfield targets, preferring to hold the ball and skitter around hoping for something safe and short to open up. Julio Jones and Roddy White were targeted often, but neither was given room to make a game-breaking play.
How bad was it? Ryan’s 4.9 yards per attempt in this game ranked below the season averages of Sam Bradford (6.0), Gabbert (5.4), and even Jimmy Clausen’s rookie season (5.2). And it was a far cry from Ryan’s healthy 7.4 ypa mark on the season.
Ryan wasn’t helped by an ineffective offensive line that failed on two fourth down occasions to push the pile for a measly few must-have inches of New York sod. But neither did Ryan help out his squad, turtling forward and hoping for a spot rather than taking the courageous leap over the top to poke the nose of the ball indisputably past the yellow stripe. Call me crazy, but a fourth-year pro with 24/7 access to strength training facilities ought to be able to out-jump Don Knotts.
Ryan is about to enter a crucial season, his fifth of a six-year deal signed in his rookie season. His agent and the Falcons should be talking extension. But with three losses in three playoff tries, it hardly feels like the right time to be buying long term.
Offensive Coordinator.
The Falcons came in with a predictable gameplan — run gamely up the middle in vain attempt to establish the run and avoid mistakes. Take what the defense gives you, as long as they’re giving you short and easy stuff. When in doubt, punt.
Call it the Mike Mularkey way, a throwback to the Falcons offensive coordinator’s heydey with Bill Cowher’s smashmouth Pittsburgh Steelers.
This gameplan did nothing to help Ryan’s confidence, nor did an endless string of third and longs help his passing prospects. While the Falcons have aired it out on occasion this season, the obvious mismatch between strategy (grind it out) and personnel (light it up) finally boiled over after the game, according to Yahoo Sports’ Jason Cole.
“We talked about trying to establish the running game because we didn’t think we could pass protect,” said Roddy White…. “We played right into their hands.”
… As one player put it: “Something has to be said to [coach] Mike [Smith] this offseason.”
Head Coach.
Let’s be clear. “Smitty,” as he’s known, does not deserve any absolution in this mess. This is his team. Mike Mularkey has been at his side since the start of the Matt Ryan era, so it’s not like the head coach has been in the dark while his team suffered an offensive identity crisis.
Long-time observers such as Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution don’t even know what to make of this team any more.
Question: What now constitutes “Falcons football”?
Power running? (Sometimes, but not all the time.) The hurry-up offense? (Sometimes, but not all the time.) Strict attention to detail? (In previous seasons, but not this.) The capacity to extract the best from a cadre of gifted players? (Not even close.)
Smitty was seen as a savior when he rescued the Falcons from the double-disaster of Bobby Petrino’s betrayal and Michael Vick’s indictment, and somehow willed a team coming out of 1-15 hell to an 11-5 miracle season.
At the time, few thought that would be coach and quarterback’s career high points. But while they have achieved a certain respectability, neither Ryan nor Smith has a “signature win” in the three years since then.
With Mularkey calling his games, Smitty is approaching Schottenheimer status, and it is driving a wedge between the fan base and their former savior. You wouldn’t think that a franchise that is still 100 games below .500 overall would be ready to boot a coach who has led his team to a 32-16 regular season record over the last three years. But Falcons fans don’t want to hear those numbers.
All they see is 0-3: their team’s playoff record in the Smith/Mularkey/Ryan regime.
Defensive Coordinator. (Wait, What?)
The Falcons defense stalemated the Giants in the first half, took the crowd out of the game, and scored their team’s only points. Sure, the score got out of hand late, but by then the complete ineptness of the offense was on display. Blood was in the water, and no defense was going to stop the feeding frenzy that followed. Especially not one without its best cover corner (Brent Grimes) and most physical presence (William Moore).
Nevertheless, Falcons defensive coordinator Brian Van Gorder becomes the first to jump ship, heading back to the college ranks to coach up the Auburn defense.
Van Gorder’s departure becomes the first major coaching change that the team has faced since Smith took over four years ago, but indications are that it won’t be the last.
GM Thomas Dimitroff now faces a different kind of challenge than the one he faced four years ago, when he was left with ashes. He may find it harder, and more delicate, to retool than to rebuild. Especially when the thing that most needs rebuilding is his team’s fragile confidence.
