After three exhibition games, what do we know about the 2019 Atlanta Falcons?
After finally playing most of the starters, coach Dan Quinn and his staff can make some evaluations against NFL competition. It’s clear that they still have questions across the board after dropping their third game of the exhibition season on Thursday, a 22-10 home loss to the Jets.
The starters will get more action when they face the Redskins at 7:30 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Offensively, the passing game, even without Julio Jones in the preseason, appears solid. The Falcons’ rushing attack and the rebuilt offensive line are still works in progress.
“It’s been good,” quarterback Matt Ryan said about putting together the offense under returning coordinator Dirk Koetter. “We had some extra time at the beginning of training camp, which was good for us.”
The extra time has allowed the coaching staff to slowly install the offense in practice.
“We’ve kind of taken our time with the install,” Ryan said. “I feel like we are getting to the end of it, which is good for the players, but there is a lot of volume to it.”
The Falcons can turn their focus to the running attack now that Devonta Freeman has returned to action. He made his return against the Jets after playing just two games in 2018 because of knee and groin injuries and a season-ending sports hernia surgery.
“Our guys have to be on top of what they are doing,” Ryan said. “It’s great for us to rep all these things that we are going to use at different points throughout the year so that we can have that tape, have that recall when it comes up in the regular season.”
The offensive line received a stiff exhibition season test from the blitzing Jets. Ryan was on the run too much and was sacked three times in his limited action.
Perhaps the line would be better with James Carpenter (hip flexor) at left guard and tackle Kaleb McGary (heart procedure) at right tackle. Jamon Brown started at left guard against the Jets and was fine.
Rookie right guard Chris Lindstrom, who is seeing NFL blitzes for the first time, and right tackle Ty Sambrailo, struggled the most.
“Sometimes that's good,” Quinn said of facing so many blitzes. “Sometimes it's not good. (Against the Jets), not so good.”
Quinn liked that Ryan receiving some practice getting chased around the pocket. He made some nice throws on the run, two that were dropped in the end zone.
“That's part of playing the position,” Quinn said. “You don't want him to get hit, but we need that readiness for him. He's as dialed in as he ever has been.”
Getting the running game going and better pass protection is at the top of Falcons’ to do list.
“I think to a certain extent, you want to go out there and you want to get into a rhythm and play well,” Ryan said. “We’ll use a lot of the things we are going to use throughout the year. I just don’t think in these games you game plan as extensively as other games throughout the year. From that standpoint it might be more vanilla. It’s less about what they are doing and more about what we are working on and trying to accomplish.”
While Jones doesn’t plan to play during the exhibition season, he has started to ramp up his preparation up for the regular season. Jones, who’s recovering from a foot injury, is back to running routes full speed.
“It feels great, being back out there running around, running routes,” Jones said. “It’s football. I’ve been doing it for so long. I just love to be back out there just running around catching the ball and having fun.”
Ryan was pleased to see Jones blazing through his routes last week.
“(The) connection is good,” Ryan said. “It’s been good for him to get himself back to the point where he can run. It’s been a lot of hard work.”
Defensively, the Falcons’ first team, which is missing middle linebacker Deion Jones (foot injury), had an uneven performance.
Safeties Ricardo Allen (Achilles) and Keanu Neal (knee) returned to action against the Jets. While defensive end Takk McKinley and Vic Beasley made plays against the Dolphins and Jets, respectively.
Quinn was pleased to see Beasley close in on quarterback Sam Darnold for a sack against the Jets.
"Yeah, we've been working hard on that," Quinn said. "Just the top part of the rush where you don't get pushed by, how do you work underneath, not get pushed by. ... I love the speed that he and Takk and Adrian (Clayborn) have coming off the edges with."
On special teams, kicker Giorgio Tavecchio has struggled. He’s missed three field goals from 54, 52, and 52 yards in the exhibition season. Quinn said the team still has “trust” in Matt Bryant’s replacement.
The punt coverage team did a decent job against the Jets, but the kickoff coverage allowed the Jets to average 30 yards on two returns.
The Falcons gave rookie returner Marcus Green an audition against the Jets. The NFL game is still moving too fast for the Louisiana-Monroe product. He averaged 19.5 yards on two kickoff returns and six yards on three punt returns. With Kenjon Barner out with an ankle injury, Green would be the returner if the season started today.
“We're trying to get as many evaluations as we can,” Quinn said. “We think that's such an important part of the (exhibition) season, to get looks (at the potential returners).”
Green didn’t wrap up the job.
“We're going to keep pushing to try as many and as often as we can to be bold in that area,” Quinn said. “We'll continue to do that.”
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