I know, I know, this has been discussed ad-nauseam, but I just re-watched highlights of the game. It may be harsh, but Dan Quinn should have been fired in the locker room after the game. How are you throwing the ball that much with that lead. Inexcusable. Matt Ryan is as un-clutch as they come. My prediction...Atlanta won't win 8 games. I don't see how you overcome a loss like that.
think about that.
Everyone loves blaming the coach and the QB (and justifiably so) but Matthews took them out scoring position twice when a filed goal would have iced the game.
Before you yell at me, watch the sequences again during the Patriots comeback.
A fortunate catch by Edelman......
A RB whiffs on a block and Ryan fumbles.....
The questionable offensive calls in the fourth quarter....
And BB smelled blood in the water.....
That is a coaching error, and it isn't even that debatable.
that would have made it impossible for Tom terrific to
tie the game or win it .
Everyone loves blaming the coach and the QB (and justifiably so) but Matthews took them out scoring position twice when a filed goal would have iced the game.
Before you yell at me, watch the sequences again during the Patriots comeback.
Yeah, I'm on board with that.
think about that.
Wow.
And it's not like Freeman was having a poor game prior.
All they had to do was run the ball right up the gut and kick a FG. Instead, they had Ryan drop back to pass in an area where a loss of yardage could put them out of FG range and he got sacked.
One of the most inexplicable decisions ever.
This place would be insane for years.
When all the Falcons needed was one more score, Matthews knocked the Falcons out of field goal range with two of the worst second half penalties in NFL History.
Holding #1: 1:30 left in 3rd quarter; Atlanta up 28-9. 2d and 1 on Pats 32 and he gets called for a hold on a running play...on 2d and 1!!! - Not only would Falcons have gotten easy first down, they probably score a TD and ice the game. That play is followed by an incomplete pass and a God-awful Ryan sack to push ball back to pats 49 yard line. Falcons blow field goal chance and punt.
Holding #2: Leading 28-20 with 4:40 left in game, the Falcons, after great Julio Jones catch, have first and 10 at Pats 22 yard line. Atlanta loses 2 yards on first down with with run. On second down Falcons inexplicably try to throw and Ryan takes another sack moving ball back to Pats 35 - still within Matt Bryant range. But then on third down, Matthews tackles Chris Long and his penalty nullifies 7-yard pass to Sanu and moves ball back to Pats 45 and then (3rd and 33) Ryan misses a short throw. Falcons punt and the rest (as they say) is history.
A hold on a 2d and 1 running play? Tackling Chris Long with Falcons in field goal range? Can you imagine if that was Eric Flowers? He would have been run out of town before the game ended...
If Carroll and Quinn make the correct calls, there is no talk about the Pats Dynasty. Amazing that Quinn didn't learn from the first debacle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pHGUtq-nxw&t=243s - ( New Window )
think about that.
This is the truth but not the whole truth. Between 28:3 and 28:28, the Falcons had 3 drives, lasting 3 plays, 3 plays, and 6 plays. They passed 4 times in the final drive after the scores were tied.
So really, of the 12 plays they ran while leading, they ran the ball 5 times and passed 7. Running it all 12 times would NOT having exhausted the game clock, as the Patriots tied it with 57 seconds left and still had a time-out.
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they ran the ball 5 times.
think about that.
This is the truth but not the whole truth. Between 28:3 and 28:28, the Falcons had 3 drives, lasting 3 plays, 3 plays, and 6 plays. They passed 4 times in the final drive after the scores were tied.
So really, of the 12 plays they ran while leading, they ran the ball 5 times and passed 7. Running it all 12 times would NOT having exhausted the game clock, as the Patriots tied it with 57 seconds left and still had a time-out.
It isn't just the number of times they ran, and I wasn't saying they could have simply run the clock out, but it was also the situational plays when they didn't run the ball 3rd and 1 midway through the 4th, every down after the Jones catch, so many plays where running the ball would have been the thing to do from a success standpoint and from a clock management standpoint and they inexplicably just simply didn't.
and Atlanta was having success running the ball averaging over 5 ypc.
Watch all the NFL films of that game of the Falcons sideline. I would have fired Quinn after that debacle.
How so?
Between leading 28:3 and being caught at 28:28, the Falcons operated three offensive drives, lasting 3 plays and 2:15, 3 plays and 1:20, and 6 plays and 2:26, respectively. So that's a total of 6:01 off the game clock.
If they just ran the ball each time in those 3 drives, with ball snapped at two seconds remained in the play-clock and consumed two seconds each time, no out-of-bounds, no penalty, that's 9 plays of 40 seconds each, or 6:00. Each of the 3 drives would have ended with a punt, and let's say it consumed an average of 8 seconds. So that's a total of 6:24, compared to the 6:01 in reality.
An extra 23 seconds, but the Patriots tied the game with 51 seconds remaining, and still had a time-out.
ATL's D-line was gassed; Tom Brady played "rope-a-dope" with the inexperienced Atlanta defense, wore them down, then destroyed them.
Same thing when the Giants played the Packers; our defense looked unstoppable, then Rogers steals the momentum with the Hail Mary to end the 1st half, DRC gets injured and it's over
That's misleading too. The Falcons ran the ball 10 times in the 2nd half, with a net total of 18 yards. They gained 1 yard or less in 6 of those 10 times.
Talk about great half-time adjustment, by Belichick's D against Falcons' run game.
The most salient thing I noticed was Ryan kept snapping the ball with 12, 15 seconds remaining in the play-clock. What the F were they in a hurry for? In the 2nd half they snapped the ball 15 times while leading, and if they only took an extra 5, 6 seconds off the clock each time, it would have sufficed.
The Falcons game was the definition of IN THE BAG. Even after having done all but everything to give it away, you manage to put yourself in a position to again ice it late. But you fuck that up too.
It was simply mind-blowing. People get ridiculed for thinking they can coach better than these professionals. But in that snapshot of a 2nd half, it was true for Quinn. This is not a hindsight is 20/20 situation.
I was pretty into the "Brady is a great player and had his heyday early on but then couldn't win more Super Bowls after the Giants twice crushed his dreams" narrative. So I like many of us was rooting like hell for Seattle & Atlanta.
Really hoping they don't repeat in 2017. Go Raiders (in AFC).
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and Atlanta was having success running the ball averaging over 5 ypc.
That's misleading too. The Falcons ran the ball 10 times in the 2nd half, with a net total of 18 yards. They gained 1 yard or less in 6 of those 10 times.
Talk about great half-time adjustment, by Belichick's D against Falcons' run game.
The most salient thing I noticed was Ryan kept snapping the ball with 12, 15 seconds remaining in the play-clock. What the F were they in a hurry for? In the 2nd half they snapped the ball 15 times while leading, and if they only took an extra 5, 6 seconds off the clock each time, it would have sufficed.
THIS ^
I still haven't got past the 2010 loss to Philly when we were up 31-10 with 7:37 to go in the game. And that was only a regular season game!
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and Atlanta was having success running the ball averaging over 5 ypc.
That's misleading too. The Falcons ran the ball 10 times in the 2nd half, with a net total of 18 yards. They gained 1 yard or less in 6 of those 10 times.
Talk about great half-time adjustment, by Belichick's D against Falcons' run game.
The most salient thing I noticed was Ryan kept snapping the ball with 12, 15 seconds remaining in the play-clock. What the F were they in a hurry for? In the 2nd half they snapped the ball 15 times while leading, and if they only took an extra 5, 6 seconds off the clock each time, it would have sufficed.
there is nothing misleading about it. Any time you look at average yards per carry stats there will be some above the average and some below it.
From the time it was 28 - 3 the Falcons had runs of:
1st down 8 yards
2nd down 1 yard
3rd down Key non-run play, strip sack. Even a negative running play likely changes the outcome of the game
Next ATL drive:....some plays then
2 yard run
then the pass to Julio bringing the ball to the Pats 22
4:40 left FG range, up 8.
you run the ball three times and kick a FG there the game is over, no debate really, the Patriots would be down 11, with no TO's left and maybe a couple minutes on the clock, who knows.
what did ATL do?
1st down run for 1 yard loss
3:56 left, still easy FG range
2nd down sack, 12 yard loss
still a 52 yard FG to probably ice the game
3rd down, holding call pushing the Falcons out of FG range
the rest is history, you can argue all you want about when they snapped the ball or how effective the run game was, but there is nothing, literally nothing misleading about saying had the Falcons run the ball more up 28 - 3 they'd be SB champs. Especially on certain key plays.
All they had to do was run the ball right up the gut and kick a FG. Instead, they had Ryan drop back to pass in an area where a loss of yardage could put them out of FG range and he got sacked.
One of the most inexplicable decisions ever.
Well, Super Bowl XLIX Pats/Hawks had a horrific ending also with piss poor play calls. That's 2 Super Bowl give-aways to the Pats.
He jinxed it by going downstairs.. Morans
This place would be insane for years.
If this had happened to us, I still would be in bed under the covers..
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Could you imagine BBI if that was the Giants?
This place would be insane for years.
If this had happened to us, I still would be in bed under the covers..
It's not like he had the ball behind in the fourth quarter trying to score. Stupid to say he choked when he was basically just trying to survive.
Very true. Bill Belichick also echoed the sentiment by saying "Players win games. Coaches lose them." He wasn't just being humble. He once said his team is better, no because his #1 to #10 players were better than his opponent's #1 to #10, but because his #40 to #45 were better than their counterparts. And why are his fringe players are better? Better coaching, of course.
Wade Phillips told his players:"Mistakes are mine. Efforts are yours."
Is there another sport in which coaching matters more than football? More so in pro than collegiate.
that's still incredible.
get a brain morans
This is the SuperBowl. Almost by definition, both teams in the game should be able to take advantage. Effectively, you're automatically selecting for one of the top 100 teams of all time (with some exceptions).
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mistakes players made. The math was shown after the fact that the Falcons, if they ran the ball every play, would have run out the clock.
How so?
Between leading 28:3 and being caught at 28:28, the Falcons operated three offensive drives, lasting 3 plays and 2:15, 3 plays and 1:20, and 6 plays and 2:26, respectively. So that's a total of 6:01 off the game clock.
If they just ran the ball each time in those 3 drives, with ball snapped at two seconds remained in the play-clock and consumed two seconds each time, no out-of-bounds, no penalty, that's 9 plays of 40 seconds each, or 6:00. Each of the 3 drives would have ended with a punt, and let's say it consumed an average of 8 seconds. So that's a total of 6:24, compared to the 6:01 in reality.
An extra 23 seconds, but the Patriots tied the game with 51 seconds remaining, and still had a time-out.
Why are you using colons in game scores?