AJC > Sports > Falcons > Blog > Archives > 2005 > October > 11 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USHartwell’s loss and run defense
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Falcons coach Jim Mora and his players lamented the loss of middle linebacker Ed Hartwell to a season-ending torn Achilles-tendon injury. Hartwell, the major offseason acquisition brought in to bolster the run defense, had surgery Monday and will be placed on injured reserve, possibly as early as today.
What this means for the run defense could be interesting. As much of a brute as Hartwell is, the three teams that have strong tailbacks — Seattle, Buffalo and New England — all went for more than 100 yards rushing against Atlanta.
Hartwell was not solely to blame, as Seattle and Buffalo tended to break more runs outside and off tackle than up the middle. However, Hartwell seemed to be having some issues adjusting to the single middle linebacker spot from the inside spot he shared playing in Baltimore 3-4 defense.
Chad Lavalais is playing better than many thought at defensive tackle, but maybe he’s not eating up blockers the way departed Ed Jasper did to free up the linebackers. Safeties Keion Carpenter and Bryan Scott, who at times have made some key stops, struggled in run support early against the Patriots and have been out of position to make tackles in other games. Rookie ends Chauncey Davis and Jonathan Babineaux has shown impressive flashes, but their inexperience could factor into things as well.
The Falcons aren’t placing blame on any player or specific position, saying poor tackling was a big problem against New England, which it was. Players said that they will toughen up and be better, which they should be, at least this week, because Saints workhorse running back Deuce McAllister tore his ACL and is out for the season.
With the linebacking corps having to be re-shuffled — the guess here is that Keith Brooking will be used in the middle with Ike Reese and Demorrio Williams playing on his flanks — it could be telling if the run defense improves, stays the same, or gets worse.
Comments
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By Brandon
October 11, 2005 04:24 PM | Link to this
Hartwell and Brooking both have the same problem they both get caught up in traffic, which is a symptom of The falcons d-line playing up field. If your going to play that way then the d-line is going to have to make plays. Teams like baltimore use their line to engage the o-line which frees up the LB’s to make plays.
By coleman
October 11, 2005 05:16 PM | Link to this
I hate to see Hartwell out for the year, but I have to admit that he was a bit of a disappointment up to this point—especially given all the run-stuffing hype from the coaching staff when he was signed.
The silver lining (if there is one) is that it forced a re-shuffling on defense that otherwise might not have happened. That inury to the promising Beck in the pre-season is much bigger deal all of a sudden.
Our defensive line is full of heroes, so now’s the time for them to really step up. A little tackling clinic for the secondary wouldn’t hurt either. You don’t hit a 260 pound tight end at the shoulders and assume you’re going to bump him out of bounds.
By larry w.
October 11, 2005 08:17 PM | Link to this
I think that playing the world champions to the last 17 seconds of the game with our back up quarterback really says something about the character of this team. Yes there were many areas of play that were lacking, solid tackling being one of them, but sometimes a team benefits more from a loss than a win. I think this may be one of those instances. I don’t subscribe to the “moral victory” theory at all, however, the best teams in football have fallen to the Patriots with their starting quarterback in the game. I would have loved a victory on Sunday, but I am still proud of our team for not rolling over to the champs when they could have easily done so.
By Greg
October 11, 2005 08:25 PM | Link to this
Anybody have Jesse Tuggle’s phone number?
By William Kitchens
October 11, 2005 09:24 PM | Link to this
Larry W gets my vote
By larry w.
October 11, 2005 09:47 PM | Link to this
Hey William, I would really like your assesment of the game. What do you think about the effort (or lack of) of the defense. Was it personnel or scheme or both in your opinion?
By eric
October 11, 2005 11:36 PM | Link to this
Larry, couldn’t agree with you more. I was saying the very same thing on one of the other blogs. There were some Pats fans on there, and they were saying how Brady lit up our secondary, but you could also look at it the other way around. Our bacup QB lit them up, tied the game up, and it was anyone’s game till the end. I think the falcons played their tails off, and now we know if Vick goes down, we have a very capable backup. Something we didn’t have 2 seasons ago. It has been a strange season so far. I remember last year, we were #1 against the run, up until the Kansas City game, when we got blown out. Then our run defense suffered. This year, up until last week, our secondary has actually been good so far, and our run defense has been lacking. We still have the #1 sack leading team, and I think that will stay the same. Jason Webster has been a disappointment. I know he’s Mora’s guy from SF, but when he isn’t injured, he’s just not very good. There’s so many other DB’s I think we should have gone after in free agency, and now it’s too late. I love D-Hall, and that kid will only get better.
By larry w.
October 11, 2005 11:48 PM | Link to this
Great point Eric. We made all of those changes to our defense to strengthen our run defense, but we actually have played the run much worse than we did last year to this point. I think Webster’s biggest liability is his lack of speed. He just does not have any recovery speed at all. All corners get beaten, but the really good ones often recover and make a play on the ball just as it is arriving. It would be great to have a playmaker corner opposite DeAngelo. Hopefully this will be the main priority going into next season.
By Steve
October 12, 2005 03:42 AM | Link to this
Bingo!! Ed Hartwell’s presence in the middle has done little to stop the run. Three runners breaking the 100 yd. mark says it all. You rarely heard his name called on the tackle. Now Rod Coleman…. hes the man!! By the way, where in the world is Roddy White? One offsensive pass interference is all he did Sunday. Is it that hard to go out for a pass and catch the darned thing? Looks like the Falcons have given us the reincarnation of Peerless Price!
By birdman
October 12, 2005 07:17 AM | Link to this
The Falcons front seven might be fast and aggressive, but they sure aren’t physical! If you want to see linebackers going backwards, check out a tape of that game against the Patriots.
It wasn’t the entire LBs fault of course. The linemen were unable to shed their blocks, and guys like Rod Coleman were pretty well handled one-on-one by Stephen Neil. That meant the linebackers had blockers to shed before they could make the tackle. Either way you look at it, the Falcons look soft as putty against a power running game, and this will have been noted around the League.
By birdman
October 12, 2005 07:39 AM | Link to this
The Falcons showed the league – and perhaps discovered for themselves – that they’re not a team that lives and dies on the form or the health of Michael Vick. Any opponents thinking that when Vick’s out all they need to do is pack the box and stuff the run to stop Atlanta, now know that in Matt Schaub the Falcons have a solid enough pocket-passer who’s capable of managing their offense – and that’s more than a lot of teams can say about their starters.
By Pete
October 12, 2005 10:34 AM | Link to this
Something that doesn’t get attention is that teams are forcing Brooking to cover backs on passing plays. He’s been very weak in this area and teams are converting thirds into firsts.
Until he gets some help or does a better job the team will have problems defensively.
By Johhny C.
October 12, 2005 11:53 AM | Link to this
Perhaps replacing Brooking with Boley on obvious passing downs will help to improve that area. Boley showed pretty good speed in pre-season.
By falcon guy
October 12, 2005 12:53 PM | Link to this
I think we have a good enough team to go deep in the playoffs. Look, we’re 3-2. But so are the Eagles and Patriots. NE beat Pitt, SD beat NE, Pitt beat SD. So there isn’t a dominant team in either conference save maybe the Colts. But they’ve yet to play a tough team other than JAX, so it remains to be seen. What the Falcons need to focus on now is the South. They are behind TB, so they need to win out against them and do well against NO and Carolina. TB looked good early, but with the Caddy in the garage, they look bad. The Falcons look good but they’ve got areas to improve on. That’s good, no way they’ll get complacent as long as there’s something to work on.
By falcon guy
October 12, 2005 12:57 PM | Link to this
Oh and if you’d told me the Falcons would be 2-1 against the Vikings, Eagles and Patriots before the season, I’d have been very pleased. So let’s keep that in mind, the schedule is difficult thru the first couple of months. The toughest games they have left are 2 against TB and 2 against Carolina.
By wes
October 12, 2005 03:51 PM | Link to this
Keep Brooking in on short-yardage passing downs i.e. 8 yds or less on 3rd downs…he’s EXCELLENT at baiting QB’s e.g. broken up play from Manning to obnoxious TE (Shockey) last year at Giant Stadium.
By Chucktown Birdfan
October 12, 2005 03:56 PM | Link to this
Quite frankly, Hartwell has been the invisible man on defense. Last I looked, he had something like 22 tackles, no forced fumbles, no fumble recoveries, no picks, no sacks and no anything else in almost 5 full games in the MLB position. Alexander, McGahee and Dillon all had field days against us and much of that was up the middle. Seems like Hartwell talks a lot better than he performs.
On an unrelated matter, was wondering why we haven’t made any effort to sign Jonte Buhl. Wasn’t he the last CB released in the final cut?
By larry w.
October 12, 2005 05:54 PM | Link to this
The Falcons have proven to be a very resilient team under Mora. Since he took over as head coach, the team has lost two games in a row only once. Last year they lost to New Orleans and Seattle back to back. We all know that those are the two games that the bulk of the starters either did not play or played very sparingly because we had already clinched the division. Despite the injuries and last week’s poor defensive showing, I feel that we will be well prepared for New Orleans, and quite frankly I really don’t see that game as being close. Especially when you factor in the loss of McAllister. The one area that I really hope is addressed immediately is the nickel position. Rossum is great at returning kicks, but he is a definite liability in pass coverage.
By William Kitchens
October 13, 2005 12:13 AM | Link to this
Larry… been away a bit and will again all weekend. My business takes me to Charlotte for the race this weekend.
Tough job…(#18 and Interstate Batteries is one of my clients) :-) I may not be able to post again till late Sunday night. I will TiVo the game and stay away from all radio and TV (after 1:00 P.M. Sunday) and watch it late Sunday night.
About the defense… Two or three mistakes away from a much better game. Brady is a master at the touch pass and there is no room for error on a DB. We seemed to be half a step and second all day away from making his life miserable.
I will say this again… I don’t think the PI on Rossum had any real bearing on the outcome. The catch would have been made anyway in my opinion. The replay shows it pretty clear…. but who knows. He still shouldn’t be the on the field in the nickel.
Where Rossum hurt us and the team was the special teams play. Stupid penalties resulting in poor field position. Not returnig punts? (rusty or not) The Falcons have to address these stupid errors.
The other boneheaded play was returning the last kick. Now I know 17 seconds is not much time, but it might have let Schaub take a couple of more shots down field and a PI on the Pats might have set up a field goal to tie. Instead Rossum runs it out and most of the clock. Miracles do happen.
Before the Pats FG, I liked what Simms said about letting a team score instead of burning the clock. I have thought this 100’s of times. Had the Falcons opened the red sea, the Pats would have scored and left enough time on the clock for a possible TD to tie it up and send it into OT.
In fact Steve, I would like to know why coaches don’t just do this rather than let a team burn up the clock and kick a sure FG? Besides the obvious…
Anyway, I have cooled down over the loss and look forward to the rest of the season.
I believe Tampa will at best be a .500 team by the season end. Carolina will be the team to beat but the Falcons will win the NFC South 11-5 or 12-4.
I hope the losses will allow the team to grow and play smarter.
By dray
October 13, 2005 04:35 AM | Link to this
I don’t understand how Brooking is considered the cornerstone of our defense, when our defensive line, led by Patrick Kerney and Rod Coleman (not necessarily in that order), clearly carries our defense. What is incredible is that there is so much rotation on the defensive line (they play about 7 guys), and also are defensive line is always blocked and double-teamed. On the other hand, our linebackers, at most, must take on one block, and sometimes even operate in free space, and yet you see them missing tackles or, as in Brooking’s case (and DWilliams recently) struggling so hard to bring down a ballcarrier that the ballcarrier ends up making an extra 2 to 3 critical yards. Those yards count! To quote Patrick Kerney in a previous article, “those yards add up!” Brooking clearly has some speed left because you always see #56 running around, and around the play as it is ending, but that is not the same as making plays and making stops. I think that his tackle stats lead to him being overrated. He doesn’t make effective one-on-one stops, but since he is on the field all of the time, he gets the chance to make more tackles than those who are rotating in and out. We have got to stop pretending that he is a defensive stopper, and give credit where credit is due (Coleman/Kerney/Brady Smith/Lavalais), build our defense around its strength, and work on upgrading the weaker areas, i.e. linebacker and also defensive back (though DHall, in only his 2nd year, clearly is proving he will be in stud for years to come).
By DC Falcon Fan
October 13, 2005 09:29 AM | Link to this
I’m a DC Falcons fan. Redskins seem to think LaVar Arrington is no good, haven’t been playing him, he’s on the bench. Falcons should take a look at him. He might make a good fit. Says the right things, just wants to play.