On the list of ugly interceptions from Falcons’ quarterbacks this season, this one is up there near the top. This interception is based on carelessness. As turnover-prone as Heinicke has been over the course of his career, it’s normally from taking shots downfield and wanting to get the ball to his primary playmakers. A quarterback with years of experience should know the nuances of those coverages. Matt Eberflus’ defense primarily plays zone coverage, with a mixture of Cover 2, Cover 4, and Quarters. Edwards is reading Heinicke’s eyes the entire way and positions himself to make the easy interception. While he wants to push the ball past the first down marker on third and eighth to London rather than throw underneath to Jefferson, the passing window isn’t there for the throw to be completed. With the pass protection being on point, he should be able to survey the field to decide if a passing window is there. The veteran quarterback struggles to throw with anticipation and read coverages well. He wasn’t going to get away with staring down his first read in the middle of the field again without being punished. Heinicke threw multiple dangerous passes across the middle of the field last week against Indianapolis, including one that should have been intercepted by Zaire Franklin, yet fortunately avoided a turnover. You can’t have a capable vertical passing game while being so dysfunctional before and after the snap, something that has been the case regardless of who is playing quarterback. It’s no surprise the only three passing plays over 50 yards this season have occurred from screens to Jonnu Smith and Tyler Allgeier and an impressive individual effort from KhaDarel Hodge on a dig route. A combination of poor communication and understanding before the snap, to go along with erratic accuracy, sums up the Falcons’ passing game this season. The opening is there, yet for the second consecutive week, Heinicke overthrows him on what should have been a touchdown. Van Jefferson gets behind Kyler Gordon on an inside go route. For all the confusion, this play should have resulted in a touchdown. They simply improvise and try to make themselves open. Heinicke doesn’t see their confusion, leaving all three players unaware of what type of route they should run. They don’t know what adjustment was made at the line of scrimmage. Look at the confusion before the snap with Pitts, London, and Patterson. The amount of pre-snap penalties, wrong routes run, and self-inflicted mistakes have made it evident. There has been plenty of discussion about how the offense lacks attention to detail. This play epitomizes the Falcons’ season. There will be far more important topics to discuss about the Falcons. You can view the previous ones against the Panthers, Lions, Jaguars, Texans, Bucs (away), Titans, Vikings, Cardinals, Saints, Bucs (home), and Colts to get a deeper insight into how the team fared in past games.Įditors’s Note: There will not be a season finale GIF review if Arthur Smith is fired next week. This is the twelfth GIF game review of the season. It was an alarming performance for a team that could be moving towards a head coaching change next week. They allowed several explosive plays on the ground and through the air defensively. They had no semblance of a drop-back passing game. The Atlanta Falcons were outplayed on both sides of the ball. There is nothing positive coming out of this loss against Chicago outside of a couple of nice plays. That was at least one positive takeaway in both defeats. Even against playoff-bound teams in Detroit and Jacksonville, they held strong defensively in both matchups. What they haven’t done is get completely outplayed on both sides of the ball. Arthur Smith’s team has managed to lose in various ways, none of them enjoyable. There have been embarrassing losses against one-win teams. There have been infuriating losses caused by the team self-destructing offensively. There have been painful losses decided on the final drive.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |