Atlanta Falcons: Red Flags Remain Evident After Week 4 Win over Seattle Seahawks

An NFL road win is always an achievement. In that sense, I should be happy with the Falcons' 30-28 victory over the Seattle Seahawks yesterday.

In actuality, I'm pretty disappointed.

The Falcons let a 27-7 third-quarter lead dissipate, and barely managed to keep the Seahawks out of manageable field goal territory. There were positive takeaways from the game, but they were overshadowed by the negatives.

The Positives:

Julio Jones is a star in the making. With Roddy White limping around, Matt Ryan is looking Jones's way more and more.

Sean Weatherspoon is a stud. Along with William Moore, he is going to be the leader of the Falcons defense for years to come.

Matt Ryan's confidence is improving. Continuing his momentum from the fourth quarters of the Eagles and Bucs games, he is showing real poise in the pocket. Last night, we even saw him finally connect on the long ball with Julio Jones.

There are still plenty of things to fix, but I am a lot happier with Ryan's play now than I was two weeks ago. 

The Negatives:

I have to disagree with Corey Fincher on his praise of the offensive line. True, Matt Ryan had a lot more time last night. But, the Seahawks' pass rush was ranked 29th in the NFL through Week 3, according to Football Outsiders.

Pardon me if I'm not impressed by the supposed neutralization of this elite unit. 

Meanwhile, the line was absolutely terrible in run blocking, particularly in the second half. Michael Turner had 26 carries for 70 yards, for 2.6 yards per carry. His one big run, a 21-yarder for the first TD of the day, came on a great block by third-string TE Michael Palmer.

In the second half, he was stuffed time after time. The line needs to do much, much better. Harvey Dahl has been sorely missed.

On a similar note, the running game is just generally not functional. Turner will get his occasional big runs and TDs to pad his stats, but most of his carries this season have been for little to no gain.

Part of this has to do with the line. Part of it is on Turner, who's just not as quick and explosive as he used to be. And part of it is on Mike Mularkey, who seems to only ever call the same two run plays.

Either way, the Falcons need to reevaluate the way they plan their run game. You can't keep putting your QB in second- or third-and-long situations every series. 

Before the Buccaneers game, I wrote that Mike Mularkey needs to be more inventive with his playcalling. Thus far, he has not answered my call. The Falcons' scheme on Sunday was as dull and predictable as ever.

In the first half, the Falcons were able to overpower the Seahawks due to the sheer talent differential between the two teams.

At halftime, the Seahawks coaches made adjustments. The Falcons' clearly did not. Every single series in the second half looked the same: Turner up the middle for no gain on first down. Another Turner run, or a short pass on second down. Target Tony Gonzalez over the middle on third.

I swear, every formation was either a two TE or a bunch. I was calling out the plays from my couch, and you can bet the Seahawks knew exactly what was coming. Mularkey needs to be far more creative in his game-planning and playcalling, or the kind of stagnation and collapse we saw in the second half will become a pattern.

In the same article, I criticized Brian VanGorder for continually using a soft shell defense that allows opposing QBs to march down the field unimpeded. I wrote that after the Eagles game, in which Mike Vick did whatever he wanted, and then his backup Mike Kafka came in and abused the Falcons secondary in his NFL debut.

Yesterday, the Falcons made Tarvaris Jackson look like a Hall of Famer.

I refuse to believe that the problem is talent. Brent Grimes is a Pro Bowler. Dunta Robinson is an accomplished CB in this league. Will Moore, James Sanders and Thomas DeCoud are solid safeties. John Abraham and Ray Edwards know how to rush the passer.

The problem is the scheme.

The Falcons were up big, and VanGorder felt perfectly comfortable using a 3-3-5 scheme that gave Tarvaris Jackson half a lifetime to find a receiver every time he stepped back in the pocket. Of course he looked good. Almost every NFL QB can look good when rushed by three guys.

Unless VanGorder starts designing plays that put pressure on the QB, allowing the Falcons' secondary playmakers to do their job in man coverage, the Falcons defense will continue to get lit up.  

My Conclusion:

As the Super Bowl Champion Packers roll into town next week, the Falcons coaching staff will need to find some quick solutions to the issues I outlined above. Mike Smith needs to take command of his staff and force the agenda.

Otherwise, the Birds are looking at deja vu all over again.