MVN - Most Valuable Network

Quarterback Not the Problem in Atlanta

As Atlanta battles Buffalo for the “team whose offense does their best to lose a game instead of win it” award, fans and coaches alike look for the solutions to a growing problem. Atlanta is racking up losses and can’t win games that are practically given to them. If it wasn’t for the Bills debacle against the Boys on Monday night, everyone would be spending the next week talking about how horrendous the Atlanta offense looked on Sunday.

That being said, pulling Joey Harrington in the fourth quarter was a terrible decision. You have to have confidence in your quarterback and trust him to pull through for you at the end of the game, regardless of how the rest of the game has gone. PUlling Harrington destroyed his confidence and may have ruined his season after he had looked sharp in the past few weeks. Putting Leftwich in a bad situation also destroys his confidence after a tough loss and could hurt him for the rest of the season as well. Another thing the Monday night game showed us is that even if your quarterback is having the worst game of his career, he is your starter and in this league for a reason, and you must trust him to win the game. Hoping to bring in a “change of pace” or a “spark” is absolutely ridiculous and was a deplorable decision made by the coaching staff.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the worst decision this coaching staff has made this season. The big one was bringing in new offensive lineman and changing the blocking scheme that worked wonders for the Falcons the past handful of years. That offensive line may have not had the best pass protection, but at least it could run block. And now the Falcons are suffering injuries on the line and turning to backups in a new system that isn’t even working with the starters in. Even when Harrington is throwing for 300 yards a game the Falcons are still losing because they cannot run the ball. It is clear the defense has the ability to slow teams down and force turnovers, but Atlanta must show they can keep the ball and take time off the clock. Sustained drives are everything in the NFL. One big knock on Harrington this game is that he did not hit passes when he needed to and made poor throws that killed drives.

That, though, does not mean that Byron Leftwich is the answer. Leftwich is no better of a quarterback than Harrington. When Leftwich was winning in Jacksonville, it was not because of his incredible passing or mobility, it was because of their running game and defense. Look back at those games and notice Leftwich was only throwing for maybe 200 yards a game on a good day. Harrington is the right quarterback for this team right now, and he is not the reason we’re losing games.

So what is the answer for Atlanta? How do we fix a season that is quickly going down the drain? Unfortunately the team can’t just revamp the offensive line and magically run the ball all over everyone. The key is going to be blocking schemes and playcalling. The team needs to take advantage of its tall, big receivers and tight end and throw quick slants and run the ball between the tackles. Focus on getting the ball out of Harrington’s hands and not having to throw every down. Do all of the little things right, keep getting positive yards on first and second down, and let the defense do its thing. This is a team that has the talent to win games.

The good thing is that the NFC South is still easily anyone’s division, even Atlanta. New Orleans looks lost this season and Tampa Bay is as unpredictable as they come. Carolina looks like the class of the division, but they are going to have quarterback issues with Delomme out for the year. Atlanta has the opportunity to make a run and make things interesting, but they must do all the little things right, play smart and continue to win the turnover battle.

Atlanta faces the New York Giants on the National stage Monday night, in a battle of two teams looking for answers on offense. Eli Manning is still trying to live up to expectations with a team that doesn’t seem to be missing Tiki Barber as much as some had thought. It will be a good test for the Falcons, and they will need to show up and play hard if they want to come away with a victory. Unless the coaching staff starts being smart, I don’t see Atlanta winning, but we’ll see what happens this week in practice. Stay locked in with Flying High for all the latest Falcons news.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 at 11:21 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.