Last Sunday was a disappointing game that revealed a lot about the current state of our team. I’ll put my hand up and say I got ahead of myself in the last blog. One must take accountability when they are wrong. However in my defense, I still do not think the Falcons are a good football team. But, that takes me to the majority of this blog’s topic. At the moment, we are not a good football team either. I do not consider us a playoff team and fear we may be in for it with how the rest of our schedule is looking. We have a lot of problems that need to be sorted out fast.
Luckily, our biggest issue will be the first to solve itself today. We have Jayden back. The Mariota experience was fun while it lasted. Despite not playing the best football, he still managed to put up 27 points last week which when a backup quarterback is in you really can’t ask for much more. We could have been like the Bengals who can’t even score a touchdown right now. It will be very nice having Jayden back. I’ve missed watching him play football. Hopefully, he still has some of that magic from last year because it’s looking like we will be needing some of it again.
This season is shaping up to look like last year. We are going to need to score 40 points a game in order to beat decent teams. From here on out, I will be taking the over everytime we step on the field. We once again are plagued with one of, if not the worst defense in the league. We let Michael Penix, who didn’t score a single point against the Carolina Panthers, throw for a career high in passing yards. We had him looking like Prime Tom Brady. We at least picked him off making one of my picks last week a winner. Our defensive line was incapable of generating pressure or stopping the run. Our lone sack came from Frankie. We let Bijan go for 181 all purpose yards. Everything about the defense was bad. So far, there have been no signs of anything changing. I’m putting Joe Whitt on a short leash. I do wonder when it gets to the point where DQ takes over defensive playcalling. I imagine that could take place very soon.
It doesn’t help that our secondary can’t cover anyone. Marshon Lattimore might be the worst corner in the league. I think it has actually gotten to the point where he is in the conversation with Forbes and St. Juste regarding who is the worst of the three. I would like to see him off my football team sooner rather than later. Everytime a ball is thrown downfield it is always him being targeted and it essentially always works out for them. I’ll hand it to the teams we play. They’ve found a good game plan and if it’s going to work every time why would you not do it. The other full proof game plan is targeting Bobby in coverage. I feel like a broken record. It’s been the same thing every week. I’ve declared a state of emergency for our defense. We need help and a lot of it.
On the other side of the ball, our offense was at least watchable. Dan Quinn still doesn’t know how to call a timeout before halftime. Although, this time around it worked out because the Falcons had almost no time on the clock to do anything to end the half. I still am having a hard time understanding why Bill isn’t the lead back. Everytime he touches the ball something good happens. He averaged 6.7 yards per carry with a long of 16. I think he’s earned the right to carry the ball 15-20 times per game. At this point you’re just doing this team a disservice not utilizing our best option. Luke McCaffrey can’t stop getting in the endzone as he found paydirt for the third game in a row. The kid put up 210 yards of all purpose offense. At least someone is stepping up while Terry is sidelined. His situation is something out of the Dan Snyder years. I thought all of that was behind us. And for Deebo, he did what we’ve all come to expect. That guy is so good at football.
One thing I’ve learned so far this season is that there is a direct correlation to us winning and Kliff wearing sunglasses. We are 2-0 when he has shades on and 0-2 when he doesn’t. For that reason, I think he needs to start wearing shades every single game regardless of venue, weather, and time of day. He simply calls better games when he has some tint in his vision. Today in Los Angeles is projecting to be sunny. Kliffs gonna need some shades which means our offense will be alright. It might also help just a little that we are getting Jayden back.
A few things to help be a little more optimistic. Sam Cosmi is likely coming back soon. That will be a big help to the offense line. Other than the Packers game, the line has done a good job so far this year. But, it never hurts to get back your guard who is rated as one of the best in the league. Terry’s injury isn’t as bad as all of the twitter doctors were saying. We will hopefully be getting him and Sam back on the field in the next few weeks. Also, we signed another old washed up wide receiver, Robbie Chosen. I actually don’t hate this. We’ve had some good experiences with washed up receivers these past two years. Hopefully, he continues that trend.
Now to starting raining on the parade, we play the Chargers today. They are a very good team and are coming off a very bad loss nobody expected them to take. Justin Herbert is going to be extra fired up after a rookie posted a picture of his girlfriend before his first career start then went onto beat him. I don’t have the highest expectations for this game. I just don’t see how our defense stops their offense. The Chargers have injury issues of their own as they have lost both of their studs at tackle. This should makes things easier for our defensive ends and ideally not give Herbert the luxury of standing in the pocket all day. But, with our current pass rush I doubt what I just said actually happens. I’ve already said this but I’ll say it again, we will need to score at least 40 points to win this game.
I expect the over to be a very easy winner in this game. If we get to see Jayden play, then I have no worries that our offense will put up points. I hope this is finally the game Bill becomes the guy. I will be taking his over rushing yards. To be honest, at the moment I’m staying away from our moneyline, but in a likelihood I will be betting it right before the game starts. Getting away from the heart is tough. It’s especially tough knowing Jayden will be under center. Also, Luke first touchdown. It’s funny because the bit has turned into an actually realistic bet the past few weeks. Today is the day.
I have more opinions on how bad it is right now but I’ll save my opinions for a later date if they are still necessary. A win today alleviates everything. I will be back to thinking we are a good football team and will make the playoffs. That is the beauty and pain of the NFL. You get a full week to be happy or sad and completely overreact to everything you watched for 3 hours the prior week. The tone of the next blog will be similar to this one if we drop another one. I hope that isn’t the case. These are much more fun to write after wins. With that being said, wishing everyone a good Sunday. Apologies for the late post. This week got away from me. Looking forward to writing again next week after taking down the Chargers.
Photo Credit: Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)