Falcons need to stop saying and start doing

I am one who is always tired of coaches who say that they need to improve and get better and they don’t. That’s what I’m starting to feel with Falcons coach Mike Smith. He has said numerous times this season when the Falcons have lost that the team needs to get better, but it doesn’t seem like they do. The Falcons are 2-3, but they have not well in none of the five games that they have played. They have been too inconsistent for a team that has Super Bowl aspirations and the talent that they have. It just doesn’t make sense to me when people say that they have to get better, but the results never come.

The Falcons latest loss was at the hands of the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night. The Falcons came out on offense, and looked like the offensive team that everybody predicted them to be. They were explosive and moving the ball very effectively, Mike Mularkey was calling the right plays and the Falcons were executing them to perfection. That is why the Falcons had a 14-0 lead on the Super Bowl champs. On the Falcons next seven possessions it was a different story. It was all punts and interceptions for the Falcons offense that all of a sudden could not move the ball, and struggled to get first downs. They became predictable and receivers could not get open and Ryan started to get pressured a lot. When you are up by 14 points and you have a defense on the ropes like the Falcons did with Green Bay you have got to keep your foot on the pedal, and they did not do that.

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The defense I felt had a good game plan on Aaron Rodgers that they executed well in the first half as Green Bay only scored 6 points. Again though going back to the offense they could not sustain a drive and the defense was on the field way too much in the second half and it proved costly as Rodgers got into a rhythm and the Falcons had no answer for him. The Falcons could not get consistent pressure with there front four, and when they did blitz Rodgers they could not bring him down and that allowed Rodgers to buy more time for his receivers to get open.

After the game Mike Smith did his usual press conference, and it almost sounded like a broken record player. He said, “We have to play better.” My question is will we ever see it. Five weeks into the season he is still saying the same thing he did in Week 1, and it has not shown on game day that the Falcons players have got his message. This is the time the Falcons need to stop saying we have to get better, and start doing it. If you want to be championship contenders you make the adjustments the next week, you don’t wait until mid season to finally play better that is not how it works. This is the time where Falcons fans want to see results, because they have heard you talk about it, but now they want to see it. The question is can the Falcons deliver.

By: Steven Virden
ProFootball-fans.com Atlanta Falcons Correspondent