Media Weighs in on Falcon Flop

ATLANTA, Georgia -- The Atlanta Falcons loss to the New York Giants was certainly not the biggest story of the NFL Playoffs. Even the New York Times ran their game story below that on Tim Tebow’s overtime theatrics in Denver.  But those who did attempt to analyze the meltdown at Met Life usually laced their accounts with criticism of the Falcons offensive line and of the coaching decisions made by the two Mikes—head coach Mike Smith and offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey.

Twice during the course of the game, the Falcons chose to go for it on fourth down deep in Giants territory instead of opting for a field goal.  AP writer Tom Canavan implied in his game account that the Falcons made mistakes by going with quarterback sneaks by Matt Ryan instead of trying to kick field goals or giving the ball to  running back Michael Turner.

Then there was the issue of what looked to be poor clock management—and/or the Falcons laissez faire attititue—in the last two minutes of the first half. The Falcons had the ball and were moving. They also had three timeouts left, but dilly dallyed as the clock wound down. In the end they used only one of their time outs, with just seconds remaining, and failed to score.  It led the New York Post’s NFL writer Bart Hubboch on his Twitter feed to say “-- Mike Smith coached … like he was terrified his QB was due for a pick-6.” The Post’s Mike Vaccaro added, “-- I'm starting to think that Mike Smith has won an awful lot of games by accident.”

Even the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Mark Bradley said the Falcons were “so unassuming”(near the end of the first half)…”they made you wonder why they bothered to come.”

Pro Football Weekly also called the fourth down plays ill-advised. Only Deadspin’s probability index said going for it on fourth down was a good move, The on-line site said that if they had attemped field goals on fourth down, the Falcons probability of winning would have gone down by a few points. But the index does not account for play calling. See Deadspin’s story at http://deadspin.com/5874392/are-nfl-coaches-getting-smarter-about-fourth+down-strategy?popular=true.

There is no question the Falcons blew it big time. Whether those fourth down calls and the strange happenings at the close of the first half made all that much difference will never be known. There were, afterall, the performances of the Giants running backs and that of  Eli Manning, who was able to convert on a fourth down play that resulted in the game’s first touchdown on a four yard pass to Hakeen Nicks. In addition, the Giants defense, 27^th in the league going in, also rose to the occasion, giving up just 247 net yards, and keeping the pressure on Ryan all afternoon.

There are changes afoot for the Falcons in playing personnel and on the coaching staff. As of today, defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder is gone to Auburn, and Mularkey to Jacksonville. In the meantime the pressure will build . Gone are the days of the Clampetts  (the notoriously inept Rankin Smith, et. al) when a .500 season was the epitome of success. Arthur Blank has convinced fans that he bought the Falcons to win a Super Bowl. He reiterated as much again at a press conference on Wednesday. But until that happens, he'll continue to feel the heat from the fans and, yes, the media.

Quick takes...Bernie Miklasz in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch cautions that fans should not to read too much into Jeff Fisher taking the Rams head-coaching job. Some believed if he rejected the offer the St. Louis franchise would be headed to Los Angeles. Not necessarily so said Miklasz. The move could happen, he adds, but the decision is not related to the Fisher appointment... The L.A. Times reports Tiger Woods will make his 2012 debut at Pebble Beach Feb.9...Doc Rivers was in Atlanta Saturday to see his son Austin play for Duke. The young Rivers, a freshman, scored eight points in the Blue Devils win...Incidentally, there is reason to be excited again about the Tech basketball program. The very enthusaistic Brian Gregory is an excellent coach and, with another year of recruiting under his belt, should be able to move this program forward. On Wednesday, the Jackets showed promise again with an 82-71 ACC win over NC state. If he can keep the talented third-year man Glen Rice Jr., another son of an NBA player, all the better...some BCS voters said that if Alabama had won by one or two points, they would be tempted to go with LSU as the nation's No. 1 team. That would have been OK by me. Anything to make the current BCS setup look even more ridiculous.