Most Falcons seasons in recent memory have been defined by the team’s anemic pass rushes that can’t get to the quarterback, an uncanny ability to blow all possible leads, and solid offenses that are often hampered by inconsistent offensive line play & lots of holding penalties. Their 24-16 preseason loss to the Jets featured all of these concepts wrapped up into one game. That’s why I said that it looked like the team was already in midseason form on Monday night.
Pass rush is lacking
The Falcons managed exactly zero sacks this week after earning just one the week prior. This is a serious cause for concern, and yet it’s nothing new for the Falcons, who have consistently ranked amongst the league’s worst in terms of sacking the QB for over a decade. They also failed to get much pressure on the quarterback at all this week, generating just three quarterback hits in the game compared to last week’s five quarterback hits against the Lions. Putting pressure on the quarterback is now more important than ever with the emphasis being placed on building dynamic offenses, and the rules catering towards offensive-centric teams. Sacking the QB also detracts teams from blowing leads, which leads me to my next point…
Blew a 16-0 lead to the Jets
Granted, it’s the preseason, but could blowing a 16-0 lead to the Jets be an ominous sign of bad things yet to come? After all, this franchise has famously struggled in holding onto leads. The caveat here is that the Jets only scored with their backups on the field against our backups. Our starters actually played fairly well. Still though, the depth of this team is surely to be battle-tested regularly over the course of this lengthy 17-game season. We’ll need to beat the teams that we’re supposed to beat this year if we’re to have any hopes of overachieving during the season.
Offense looks good (mostly)
The good news: both Marcus Mariota & Desmond Ridder looked great against the Jets. The bad news: the team committed 13 penalties for a net loss of 121 yards, and many of these flags were thrown for holding calls on the offensive line during pivotal moments of the game. Desmond Ridder led the Falcons offense to one drive in particular where they approached the Jets 1-yard line twice in the second quarter, only to be pushed back both times due to a holding call & a false-start penalty. Arthur Smith was fed up with these penalties during that sequence.
The bottom line
I’ve said all along that this looks like a long upcoming season for our beloved Falcons. These preseason games haven’t really given me enough optimism to change my biased opinion. We’ve been playing close games against similar competition (Lions, Jets) during the preseason. I’m not sure really what to make of that, and evaluating this team won’t get any easier during this week’s game against the Jaguars when all of the starters are likely to rest on the sidelines. Time will tell whether or not these troubling trends are actually worth being concerned over.
The Sports Beacon 