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Sunday, November 19, 2006
Falcons’ hopes are finished
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Baltimore — You could sense it when the Baltimore Ravens, after spending two quarters seemingly bent on keeping the Falcons breathing and interested, commenced with their smackdown.
You could sense when players walked off the field afterward, not looking particularly dejected or angry so much as a little too accepting.
Even the head coach’s familiar “fight on” post-game ramblings seemed unusually deflated.
It’s over.
At 5-5, the numbers say otherwise. At 5-5, with three division games left, the numbers say the Falcons can still make the playoffs. Win a division. Win a Super Bowl. Set themselves up with a boatload of I-told-you-sos. But at 5-5, they probably need to go 5-1 in the next six weeks to stretch this season into overtime. And 1-5 is looking closer to reality.
The way this season has evolved, from 2-0 to beaten up and beaten down, it’s likely that Sunday’s 24-10 loss to Baltimore will not be an aberration for the season’s remainder, but rather a blueprint: Play close for a half. Then watch as opponents expose holes and run over flailing body parts.
If the Falcons can lose to bad teams, they certainly can lose to a pretty good one like Baltimore. The only question now might be how far off the track they jump.
Among those watching Sunday was the owner. This was not the season Arthur Blank envisioned, which follows a previous season he didn’t envision. Game weeks, from this point on, will be dotted with speculation about the job security of coaches and personnel decisions. It goes with the territory.
When asked if he would pay close attention to how his players and coaches perform over the next six games, Blank said: “My focus is 12 months a year. It’s not just about the last six games, or the last two games. Is the train moving in the right direction?”
So. Is it?
“That’s the question you have to ask. But I’m not going to sit here at midseason and pick the team apart. They’re doing what I would want them to do, which is have the right attitude, playing hard.”
Even giving the Falcons that benefit of the doubt Sunday, it didn’t matter. It was 24-10. It could’ve been worse. In the first half, the Ravens missed a field goal, fumbled a snap in the red zone, had one possession wrecked by three false starts (in a span of six snaps) and spent too much time trying to throw to the right side of the field against cornerback DeAngelo Hall instead of the left, home of pod-corners Allen Rossum and Omare Lowe.
In the second half, only sympathy stopped the Ravens from scoring on every possession. The first four resulted in three touchdowns and a field goal. The fifth ended with Steve McNair taking a knee in the final seconds on the Falcons’ 17. (Turns out, Brian Billick has a heart.)
Offensively, things remain a mutating mess. Neither Michael Vick nor the offense had a turnover — a plus. But they looked lost. They had season lows in rushing (104) and total yardage (186). They managed only one touchdown for the third straight game. Warrick Dunn remarked on how the team seemed to abandon the running game in the second half. (“That’s a little bit uncharacteristic for us.”)
Vick, who needs to be a difference-maker, wasn’t. Again. He completed 10 of 14 passes in the first half, 1 of 7 in the second. He overthrew Alge Crumpler in the end zone. He also took a 17-yard sack that erased field-goal range.
This Greg Knapp-choreographed offense has only three touchdowns in the past three games after scoring eight in the previous two.
Blank was asked about Vick’s inconsistency. Predictably, he chose to spread the blame. “When an organization performs at a very high level and then doesn’t, it tells me that the capacity [to play well] is there and you have to ask yourself, ‘Why is there inconsistency?’
“We have the right people on board [to fix the problems]. They have to do it, though.”
This makes three straight losses. The problems aren’t being fixed. The schedule says there are six games left. Logic begs to differ.
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