While the sun didn't make much of an appearance in Atlanta on Tuesday, it did in fact rise and with it came a new opportunity for the Atlanta Falcons coaching staff to as head coach Mike Smith said Monday, "move forward and get prepared to put these guys in the best position that they possibly can be in."
Smith said that righting the ship ultimately falls on him, but that indeed it's a "shared responsibility," embraced by the players and his entire coaching staff, including its coordinators, who met with the media, following Tuesday's staff meeting.
Fittingly, the first phase of the media session was conducted by Falcons special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong, who said he plans to do a better job of putting his players in position to provide the Falcons with better starting field position on Sunday, facing a Baltimore Ravens team that, like the Falcons, has a potent return threat, WR Jacoby Jones.
"He's fast," Armstrong said. "He flat out can run and then, he's got the quickness of a little man. He can make you miss and boom, be gone. He can accelerate too, not only long speed, but he's quick; that's where he gets you."
Next to the microphones was Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, whose group was plagued in Week 6 by penalties, leading to a handful of third-and-long situations, which are converted less than 15 percent of the time, on average. In the coming week, Koetter's group will look to correct the miscues that prevent the offense from achieving the success it wants on early downs.
The Atlanta Falcons are coming off a three-game losing streak and will be taking on the Baltimore Ravens away during Sunday's match-up. Keep an eye on these storylines heading into this week's game.
Dropped passes plagued the Falcons in a loss to the Bears in Week 6. How will the usually sure-handed weapons Matt Ryan has on offense rebound this week?
The Baltimore Ravens defensive front knows how to get to the quarterback. The Ravens defense logged five sacks by five separate players during their Week 6 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
RB Antone Smith has continued to be a shining point on the Falcons offense scoring his fifth touchdown over 38 yards so far this season. Smith's 41-yard touchdown was the lone touchdown for the Falcons in their loss to the Chicago Bears.
The Atlanta Falcons defensive front showed some improvement logging three sacks on Chicago Bears QB Jay Cutler. DE Jonathan Massaquoi and CB Robert McClain each had one and DE Kroy Biermann and DT Paul Soliai split the last.
It has been 20 games since the Atlanta Falcons have gone a game without a turnover. QB Matt Ryan was intercepted during the fourth quarter against the Chicago Bears and it was a close call when WR Julio Jones recovered his own fumble retaining possession for the team.
Both the Baltimore Ravens and the Atlanta Falcons have been injury plagued thus far this season. Atlanta Falcons WR Harry Douglas was inactive for his second straight game while the Baltimore Ravens starting left guard Kelechi Osemele has been out with a knee injury.
This season, fifty percent of K Matt Bryant's field goals were made over 50-yards. During the loss to Chicago Bears, Bryant made field goals of 52 and 54 yards. Bryant has made 8 of his 9 attempts so far this season.
QB Matt Ryan and Ravens QB Joe Flacco both come from the 2008 draft class, both in the first round. Ryan was the 3rd overall pick while the Ravens drafted Flacco 18th overall. Both quarterbacks have had success and become the face of their franchises.
Leading the Baltimore Ravens wide receivers are Steve Smith and Torrey Smith with a combined 800 yards and 7 touchdowns. The Baltimore Ravens offense was on fire against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers scoring five touchdowns in just over 16 minutes, an NFL record.
"Whether it's a run or a pass, we look at a 4-yard pass on 1st-and-10 as a win, anything less than that, you're behind the chains," Koetter said. "You'd love to be in 3rd-and-5 or less in a perfect world... You still have to take your downfield shots, sometimes which might involve a checkdown, sometimes not. It may be a max-protect, where it's all or nothing."
When Falcons defensive coordinator Mike Nolan watched Sunday's game film, he saw his group's performance include three QB sacks, five TFLs (tackle for loss), six QB hurries and three PBUs; he also saw areas that need immediate correction, including the eight explosive plays his group allowed against the Chicago Bears; five of the plays came via the pass, costing the Falcons 197 yards.
To the average fan watching the explosive plays being made, they appear to be the fault of the final player making the tackle; that's not the case. Nolan said each of the 11 defenders needs to communicate and collectively impact the play.
"Everybody has a piece of this," Nolan said. "The pressure on every play, on an explosive play in particular, and one where he (QB) can throw it that far down the field, you want to make sure you get near the quarterback, so that you can minimize those opportunities.... There are 11 guys out there, somebody has a chance to affect it (the play) in a positive way."
