Seven months after fizzling in last season’s NFC Championship game against San Francisco, the new-and-improved Falcons returned to some semblance of football Thursday night in the Georgia Dome (which, as it turns out, is still standing).
What the Falcons showed in their first exhibition game against Cincinnati can’t be completely viewed as a completely accurate barometer because, of course, these games don’t count, and they’re generally played and coached like they don’t count. The only people who have good reason to count them are NFL owners, who continue to pocket millions of dollars because they mandate season-ticket holders buy these exhibitions at full retail price, even if the games are equivalents of factory defective suits with one sleeve and three pants legs.
But back to the Falcons and (almost) football.
The Falcons’ offense was missing tight end Tony Gonzalez (who’s in the midst of his preretirement, training-camp lounging in California) and wide receiver Julio Jones (who’s nursing tight hamstrings). But that shouldn’t suggest that Thursday night’s game was devoid of any meaning. Which leads to the offensive line.
The Falcons won’t be awful up front. We’re just waiting for a sign they’ll be decent. Left tackle Sam Baker finally had a good (and healthy) season last season. Left guard Justin Blalock is solid. Second-year pro Peter Konz, moving from right guard, should be good eventually at center, but there’s a significant drop off in experience from Todd McClure (retired).
The issue remains to the right, which is where we knew they would be. In the game’s opening drive, the No. 1 offense ran four running plays, all to the right. The blocking generally stunk. Steven Jackson made 4 yards out of a first-down run only because he stopped at the line in the middle as the Bengals’ defense closed in and cut around right end. But on his next three rushes, facing a wall of unblocked defenders, he was stuffed for no gain, then made four around right end again, then was lost three yards.
The last play came on third-and-2 from the Cincinnati 19 and forced the Falcons to settle for a field goal. Sound familiar?
It’s dangerous to get too caught up with numbers in the preseason. (Certainly, there’s no reason to get consummed over the final score Thursday night: Cincinnati 34, Falcons 10.) Jackson finished with 8 yards on five carries. He didn’t look old. He didn’t look slow. He just looked like he was trying to read blocks that frankly weren’t there.
In another test of the right-side blocking, Jackson also caught a screen pass, which figures to be a staple of the Falcons’ offense this season, but was buried immediately following the catch and stopped for no gain.
Having Gonzalez and Jones obviously would impact the offense, and the Bengals are expected to have one of the NFL’s better defenses this season (they finished No. 6 overall last season). But even with those qualifiers, it wasn’t a good first effort by the line. (Quarterback Matt Ryan looked sharp: 6-for-9 for 89 yards, including a 42-yard play to Harry Douglas. But the offense produced three points in three possessions with him in the game.)
These games are about player evaluation. That never has been the case more than now for general manager Thomas Dimitroff. He and coach Mike Smith must determine if the Falcons need to sign another tackle. (The arrow points yes.) Mike Johnson, who was No. 1 on the depth chart at right tackle, likely is done for the season after suffering a fractured fibula and dislocated right ankle in practice this week, which means the job right now would go to either Lamar Holmes (who played all three series with Ryan) or undrafted free agent Ryan Schraeder.
After the game, Smith said he couldn’t fully evaluate the play of Holmes until looking at game tape. He also said the decision on whether the Falcons sign another tackle won’t be made solely on this game.
“I think some run plays were blocked well and some weren’t,” he said.
Dimitroff, when asked the other day where his focus would be Thursday night, said, “Obviously we’re watching the battle positions. We’re keeping an eye on the offensive line situation. Quite honestly, on both sides of the ball, we want to see how both lines manage. Cincinnati’s a good football team, and they’re a good gauge for us.”
Dimitroff already made inquiries into free-agent Travelle Wharton, a former tackle and guard with Carolina who was in camp with Cincinnati last year but suffered a torn ACL in an exhibition game and missed the season. There are other unsigned veterans on the market: Winston Justice, Sean Locklear, Jared Gaither, Frank Omiyale, Wayne Hunter.
Because Johnson was injured just this week, it wasn’t surprising that Dimitroff and Smith opted to evaluate what they had for one exhibition game before deciding whether a move was needed. This could not have been that comforting.
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