Story back dated from December 5, 2018.
Well, not much for the rest of this year. There are so many things that have gone wrong for the 2018 Atlanta Falcons team. It first started with injuries to the defensive side of the ball. Losing three defensive starters to injuries, safety Keanu Neal (ACL), LB Deion Jones (foot), and safety Ricardo Allen (achilles). Then on the offensive side of the ball having running back Devonta Freeman basically lost for the year with past concussions and knee injuries, and losing both offensive guards Andy Levitre and Brandon Fusco for the season have all been devastating to this team. The way I look at it you lost your defensive QB in Ricardo Allen which is huge because he is the signal caller for the defense and gets the defensive players lined up correctly and in position for each play. Then losing both offensive guards which are the engines of the team. The offense runs depends on the offensive line.
So with this all said there should not be any excuses because of the injuries. These men are professional ball players and my mentality is next man up, but it never seems to happen with this team. Other teams do it so why not the Falcons? Well, I tell you it is the lack of depth on all positions especially the offensive line. And this falls on the general manager. Thomas Dimitroff has been great in my opinion in years past, but there is something that is lacking in the depth this year…not quality back ups.
Play calling has gone stale in which it seems the defense of the other teams knows what the Falcons are bringing before they even know. It might be last call for offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian who doesn’t seem to attack the defense when the Falcons have the ball. The Falcons miss Kyle Shanahan and the way he could pick defenses apart. But not to beat that to the ground because Shanahan is not coming back, even though he’s not having a stellar head coaching experience in the bay at San Francisco.
There has also been talk since the Falcons are 4-8, best they could be is 8-8 if the win the remaining 4 games, that the Falcons should let QB Matt Ryan sit since the team is basically eliminated from the playoffs, and you don’t want to get Ryan injured. Listening to sports radio here in Atlanta this morning and Head Coach Dan Quinn was on talking about this and his answer was “No, Hell No”!! This team is still going to go into every game and lay it all down and fight. My opinion, the Falcons are paying Ryan $100 million dollars and he can’t sit on the sideline if you are eliminated from the playoffs. What type of precedent does this show. And not to say the NFL might be very upset with this because that would send a message to players, fans, other teams that the Falcons are quitting, and that is not happening with this team. They can still go out and play hard, no spoiler alert for Falcons because the remaining games are not against teams making the playoffs this year. The remaining games are winnable against Green Bay Packers (4-7-1), Arizona Cardinals (3-9), Carolina Panthers (6-6), and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-7).
This offseason these are my Atlanta Falcons needs. First, a new offensive coordinator that can call plays to the strengths of the offensive players, and plays that attack the defensive side of the ball. In free agency or draft this team needs a new starting running back, Freeman is showing his injuries too much these last two years, running back Tevin Coleman is a free agent and will be with a new team next year. Rookie running back Ito Smith can be a stud if given the ball. He reminds me of former Chargers/Falcons running back Michael Turner, but we also need another running back to help carry the load. Falcons also need two guards, and a defensive tackle and really need to see if defensive end Vic Beasley is really going to cut it with this team.
The Falcons can be good again. This was just the year where the ball just hasn’t gone their way, and this happens with every team. This team needs to get healthy again and add a few extra pieces and they can be dominate as everyone had expected at the beginning of this season.
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