The Falcons are in trouble

We need this guy healthy

The Falcons have lost 3 of their last 4 games. They have fallen at Dallas, at New Orleans and at Carolina. Suddenly the Falcons cannot win a game on the road. We can’t kick a FG, we can’t make a big defensive stop and we can’t complete the critical passes that we need to complete. The sky is falling.

Major Issues:

Quarterback Play- Matty Ice has gone cold over the last several weeks. He’s playing with happy feet and is not taking his time in the pocket. He is thrown 10 picks in his last 5 games. He has to settle down, let the game come to him and make the throws that he knows he can make.

Injuries- The injuries are mounting for the Falcons. First it was Harry Douglas going down in the pre-season. Then first round pick DT Peria Jerry was lost for the year. Starting CB Brian Williams followed. Jerious Norwood has been banged up all year and hasn’t made an impact. OL Sam Baker has been out for a couple of games. Now Michael Turner has a high ankle sprain just as he was coming on strong. There is a chance that both Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood will miss this week’s game.

Road Woes- the Falcons can’t seem to catch a break away from home. We’ve had a couple of winnable games on the road that didn’t go our way (Carolina, New Orleans) and we’ve had some that got away from us (Dallas, New England). The good news is that only 3 road games remain on the schedule.

Jason Elam- Elam has really hit the wall this year. He’s missed 4 FGs under 50 yards. He’s 3/6 from 30-39 yards. 3 of 6! That’s awful. I feel that his missed FG in the Carolina game lost us the game. We still could have made plays that would have won us the game but that was the turning point that led directly to the loss.

Defense- The defense has stopped making big plays and big stops. At the beginning of the year guys like Mike Peterson, Kroy Biermann and Brian Williams were making big plays and getting turnovers. Williams is out with an injury and it just seems like the defense isn’t making the plays when they need to. We don’t have a ton of talent on the defensive side of the ball and we have weak corners but we need guys like John Abraham, Mike Peterson and Eric Coleman to step up and get some turnovers/big plays in the coming weeks.

That’s a lot of issues that we have right now. The silver lining is that if the season ended today we would actually be in the playoffs. Atlanta has the same record as Green Bay and the NY Giants but currently own the tie breakers against those two teams. The Falcons play at New York this week. I don’t think I have to say how big that game is for both teams.