Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Falcons outlast Broncos 27-21

By Roosevelt Hall
Outside the Redzone

Atlanta – Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan passed for 219 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Falcons to a 27-21 win over the Denver Broncos. Ryan looked impressive for the second week in a row operating out of the no-huddle offense.

Ryan has said in the past that he likes to emulate Peyton Manning’s execution of the no-huddle so it had to be a great feeling to get a win over the quarterback he emulates most. Both Manning and Ryan ended the night with nearly identical completion statistics.

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Saturday, September 1, 2012

Atlanta Falcons 2012 Season Preview

By Roosevelt Hall
Outside the Redzone

The Atlanta Falcons experienced déjà vu during their 2011 season. The Falcons experienced their third double-digit winning season under head coach Mike Smith only to experience their third one-and-done playoff exit during his four-year tenure.

It almost seems that the Falcons are stuck in their own little version of Groundhog’s Day come playoff time. Regardless of what the Falcons do during the regular season, the result is always the same during the playoffs: the Falcons always lose their only playoff matchup to the team that eventually goes on to play in the Super Bowl.

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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Falcons’ 31-17 Loss to Ravens Comes With Good, Bad and Ugly

Jake Saltzman
Outside the Redzone via Falcons Gab (from August 10th, 2012)


The good the Atlanta Falcons showed in last night’s preseason opener will not, on the whole, overshadow the bad. The Falcons’ 31-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens will not be marked by Julio Jones’ 109 receiving yards. Matt Ryan’s 155 passing yards are not enough to sugar coat more than a quarter or so worth of preseason rust.

Even the capital “L” in the results column won’t deprive Mike Smith of sleep this weekend.

The 24 unanswered second half points Baltimore’s reserves were able to rack up against Atlanta’s lower tier defensive units, however, may do the trick.

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Saturday, August 11, 2012

Falcons' Julio Jones ready to start his assault on NFL record books

By Roosevelt Hall
Outside the Redzone via the Sport Mentalist

All the talk at the wide receiver position during this offseason has revolved around the comebacks being made by Randy Moss, Chad Johnson and Terrell Owens. While those are nice storylines, the wide receiver most people will be talking about as the season progresses will probably be the Atlanta Falcons Julio Jones.

We know that preseason games don’t matter, but an impressive showing like the one Jones had versus the Baltimore Ravens is hard to ignore.

He looked like a beast snatching balls out of the air on slant routes, he showed solid hands while plucking a ball out of the air in full stride along the right sideline but his best catch was an under-thrown ball that went behind his defender in the end zone.

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Sunday, July 29, 2012

Mike Nolan Looking to Turn Falcons D Into One of the Best

By The AP via Falcons Gab

Atlanta coach Mike Smith is looking for new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan to help the Falcons increase their third-down stops.

In a 25-year NFL head coaching career that has included stops as a defensive coordinator with the Giants, Redskins, Jets, Ravens, Broncos and Dolphins, Nolan has built a reputation for scheming to apply pressure on opposing quarterbacks — and receivers — by making them have to guess.

Some of the Falcons’ defensive statistics were good last season. They ranked No. 6 in the league against the run while allowing 97 rushing yards per game, but getting off the field was a big problem at times. Atlanta allowed a third-down conversion rate of 44.1 percent, 29th in the NFL.

Nolan’s defense in Miami was No. 7 on third downs (33.8 percent allowed), arguably with weaker personnel than the Falcons have. Atlanta also was No. 30 in the NFL in third-down sack rate (6.02 percent, with 10 third-down sacks) while Miami was No. 2 (12.2 percent, with 21).

“Mike lives for third down,” Smith said. “He’s been one of the best third-down coaches in the 14 years that he’s been a coordinator. I think you’re going to see multiplicity in our defense. There will be some things that will run through the defense that we’ve done in the past, but there’s going to be more multiplicity in what we do.”

You can read the rest of the article here: Mike Nolan Looking to Turn Falcons D Into One of the Best