Atlanta Falcons ineptitude reaches new levels in blowout loss
By Adam Zippan
The Atlanta Falcons have reached new levels of ineptitude. Today’s humiliating, beyond embarrassing, and inexcusable 43-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys might have been the icing on the cake.
Just when we thought the Atlanta Falcons might have possibly turned the page after last week’s huge win at New Orleans, today’s blowout loss should be a harsh dose of reality.
This Atlanta Falcons team is clearly going nowhere this season, and probably next season as well. This is the harsh reality of the situation, no matter how delusional some fans might be.
Today’s 43-3 humiliating defeat just might have been one of the worst defensive performances in franchise history. This is coming from a lifelong fan of 40 years who’s witnessed far too many humiliating blowout losses, specifically throughout the entire decade of the 1980s.
Atlanta Falcons ineptitude reaches new levels in blowout loss
Overall, and in total, the overly soft, swiss cheese-like Atlanta Falcons defense today had a whopping one tackle for loss and one pass defended. Hard to believe that an NFL team can actually be so fruitless and produce so little in a 60-minute game.
What continues to be an ongoing, weekly issue, the pass rush was once again non-existent. Not a single sack…again.
It’s quite comical that coming into today, the Falcons owned the final wildcard spot in the NFC. As Jim Mora uttered the famous immortal words: “Playoffs…are you kidding me, playoffs?!”
Even if this team somehow does manage to maintain the final wildcard spot and squeak its way into the playoffs, in all reality this team is going nowhere fast, especially with this defense.
Not to mention that Arthur Smith was badly outcoached today in all phases. Former Falcons coach and current Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn got his revenge in a major way.
What’s even more frustrating is that nobody on this entire team today showed any kind of fight or emotion. From the entire coaching staff to the entire roster top to bottom, nobody seemed to even care.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that there was no way the Dallas Cowboys would come out and perform like they did last week in their loss to Denver, especially at home again.
Yet, for some mind-boggling reason, the Falcons were totally unprepared to play. That ultimately falls on Arthur Smith’s shoulders.
It would be nice to witness just once a single player on this roster yell, scream and/or argue with a teammate, or even a coach on the sidelines. Not to encourage such conduct, but when things invariably go awry, somebody needs to step up and be a leader.
The real leader of this team is Matt Ryan. There is no sugarcoating it, though — he was terrible today. The entire team was. The play-calling on the first two drives was very good and they were moving the ball.
For some inexplicable and overly-aggressive reasons, they lost all momentum when they failed to convert on a fourth and seven in the first quarter.
That was the beginning of the end of this game. On top of that, Arthur Smith’s play-calling was atrocious at best after that failed fourth-down conversion.
Arthur Smith was calling conservative run plays on first and second down when they were already in a big hole. The game might have still been in reach, had he called plays for Ryan to remain in the pocket instead of rolling him out and throwing incompletions.
Kyle Pitts was heavily involved in the game plan on the first two drives of the game. It looked as though he was due for another huge game.
That, along with all momentum went out the window when the Falcons decided not to kick a field goal and take the points with the best kicker in the league.
Regardless, there was zero competitive spirit today from anybody. Players need to be held accountable for this embarrassment.
Perhaps the Atlanta Falcons front office and coaching staff need to respond harshly in some way this week. To take such a massive step back and regress like this today, is utterly inexcusable and unacceptable at an NFL level.
Numerous such players who continue to contribute nothing to this roster and fail to make plays on a weekly basis include Mike Davis, Donte Fowler, Jr., Erik Harris, Duron Harmon, and Fabian Moreau.
Sadly, the Atlanta Falcons have such poor personnel to work with, have very little depth, and very little talent on this roster. This mostly equates to the defensive side of the ball.
The offense today should not get a free pass either, especially the wide receivers. They continue to fail to create separation.
This debacle today was not an aberration by any means. It is a true indication of how inept this entire roster is.
Being in cap purgatory doesn’t help matters either. Alas, this will most likely carry over into next season at the very least.