Falcons take look in mirror on bye week

Flowery Branch – The bye week won’t be a time for the Falcons’ coaching staff to pat itself on the back for a 4-2 start.

Head coach Mike Smith ordered an evaluation of the first six games to target areas for improvement. Offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey and defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder handed out the assignments for what Smith called a “self scout.”

“We’re going to have to look at all aspects of our football team,” Smith said. “Offensively, some of the things we know we need to do better is that we need to be better in our red zone efficiency.”

The Falcons have scored just eight touchdowns on 20 trips inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. They’ve also added eight field goals.

“Of course we’d like to score touchdowns, but we want to score points,” Smith said.

With tall receivers in Brian Finneran (6-foot-5) and Michael Jenkins (6-4), the Falcons haven’t gotten them in mismatches with shorter cornerbacks on fade routes in the red zone.

Detroit did it to the Falcons, when Jon Kitna hit the since-traded Roy Williams on a fade route over Brent Grimes in the season opener.

“That’s one thing that we could do more of down there in the red zone,” wide receiver Roddy White said. “Other than that, we’ve got a lot of plays that work. We just have to execute and stay out of third and long.”

The defense is also going to get a closer look.

They want to reduce the opposition’s third-down conversion rate (35 of 82 for 42.7 percent). Only Kansas City (49 percent), Jacksonville (49) and Cincinnati (46) have higher percentages.

The Falcons may look to blitz more on third downs to force the ball out quicker. Defensive John Abraham is the only player with more than one sack and none of the linebackers or defensive backs have recorded a sack.

Smith is hoping to find some answers for why the defense seems to taper off after good starts.

“You can see that in our four wins, we’ve played outstanding defense in the first quarter,” Smith said. “We want to look at what we have to do to sustain that throughout four quarters of a football game.”

In all Falcons’ victories, they have held the opposition scoreless in the first quarter and allowed the offense to build leads.

“We’ve started out great,” safety Erik Coleman said. “We just want to keep that going throughout the game and not have any drop off.”

Of the special teams units, the punt return team will get some major scrutiny.

“I think we are improving over the last couple of weeks, especially on our kickoff return,” Smith said. “Jerious Norwood has had two explosive returns.”

Punt returner Adam Jennings had a one big return of 37 yards, but is averaging just 6.8 yards on 19 returns with five fair catches.

“We want to look at our punt return unit and see how we can be more efficient there,” Smith said.

While looking for areas to improve, the coaches will also keep their eyes on the depth chart.

“We’re always evaluating the depth chart,” Smith said. “What our players are doing on the practice field? What they are doing on game tape?

“It’s just a matter of us going through the process and evaluating it. It’s always open competition. We are not going to be afraid to make changes if they are warranted.”