AJC > Sports > Falcons > Blog > Archives > 2008 > November > 11
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Keep the hammer down on Cutler
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Falcons took the “bend, but don’t break” defensive philosophy to the extreme in the fourth quarter against the Saints.
Call the 294 yards in one quarter empty yards if you like. Whatever you want to call them, that was way too much bending.
Now just about anybody who’s ever walked on a football field has heard the story about the hammer and the nail. I tell it to my Smyrna Spartans of the North Georgia Youth Football League every year. (One year, I took hammer and piece of wood to practice. I started hammering away at the nails and nearly whack my hand off. Ouch!)
The little football speech goes something like this, “Well, Lil’ Johnny do you want to be the hammer or the nail? Do you want to hit that kid or are you just going to stand there and let him whack you? Now, go out there and be the hammer!” Eventually, they catch on. Nobody likes being the nail for long.
For three quarters, the Falcons were swinging that hammer on the Saints. Driving them into the Georgia Dome turf. They were batting down passes like it was volleyball match. They were racing to quarterback Drew Brees and had him running around for his life.
But when the Falcons got the 27-6 lead, they backed off in coverage.
Against the Broncos on Sunday they’ll need to keep the hammer down on Jay Cutler. The Vanderbilt product just pulled off an improbable fourth quarter comeback, throwing for 204 yards and three touchdowns in the fourth quarter against the Browns.
I know what the coaches are going to tell the Smyrna Spartans 140-pound Division II team, who are set to play in the Instructional League Super Bowl against Achworth on Saturday.
“Keep the hammer down, Spartans. Keep the hammer down for FOUR quarters.”
