The Falcons’ third-down woes have been documented early in this up-and-down season. Such an issue it became that the team dedicated extended portions of practice to the key down last week.
The Falcons were 6 of 15 on third downs in the 25-20 win over the New York Jets at rain-soaked MetLife Stadium on Sunday. At 4-3, they will continue the extra time this week as they prepare for their NFC South opener against Carolina at 1 p.m. Sunday at Bank of America Stadium.
The official stats list the Falcons as 5 of 14 (36 percent) on third down. The 15th attempt includes a first down made from a Jets defensive holding penalty on third down.
The Falcons passed the ball almost exclusively on third down Sunday. Of the 15 plays, 14 were called passes. Just one was a called run. One of the called passes turned into a Matt Ryan scramble run under pressure.
Of the nine failures, there were four drops, one pass thrown short of the first-down marker and four incompletions.
“When you see it, boy, would we like to have a couple of these drops back,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “For us, that was one where we thought we could have had a good day. We were into it.”
Quinn said he was fine with the third-down play-calling.
“I thought from a design standpoint, it was good,” Quinn said. “I’m sure the weather had some effect on it. ... I thought we really could have had a good solid day. But you’ve got to own those opportunities, too. There is no (excuses) in our world. You have to make the play.”
One of the issues concerning the Falcons’ third downs has been that first and second down are not going well. On Sunday, the Falcons had just two third-and short situations (1 to 3 yards) and they converted on one. They had six third-and-mediums (4 to 6 yards) and converted on three. They had seven third-and-longs (7 yards or more) and converted on two.
“That’s been a point of emphasis for us to be better in those situations,” Ryan said after the game. “While we weren’t perfect by any stretch, we made some really good plays in those situations when we needed them.”
The Falcons biggest conversion came on third-and-5 with 3:26 to play. Ryan hooked up with wide receiver Mohamed Sanu for a 15-yard gain to keep the clock running.
“At the end of the game, that third-and-five route where we hit Mohamed (Sanu) to pick it up to be able to run it to 2:16 and have them call a timeout was huge,” Ryan said.
The only called run play was ordered by Quinn on third-and-8 with two minutes to play. Tevin Coleman picked up seven yards on a draw play.
“We thought we had a good look at on a draw, but we just didn’t hit it like we wanted,” Quinn said.
The Falcons don’t believe the offense is far from clicking on third downs. Still, the missed chances have hurt sustained drives.
“We just have to continue working on it and continue to get better, but we were opportunistic in those situations,” Ryan said.
Quinn also said he was satisfied with the large pass-to-run discrepency.
“Sometimes it could depend on field position,” Quinn said. “Do you want to put yards on a punt? Other times you may want to hit one in the mid-range and go for two downs, fourth and manageable.”
The extra work on third downs will continue.
“Some of our periods that we added (last week) were just Falcons (first-team offense) against Falcons (first-team defense) competing in man-to-man coverage, playing aggressive,” Quinn said. “For sure it had a factor and it’s something we’ll continue to do.”
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