Smoke and Mirrors?

[Tasher]

Uh-oh.

"This is the classic tale of offensive coordinator’s unit can’t sustain drives which angers defensive coordinator, whose charges are tired because they’re stuck on the field so much due to the offense’s inadequacies. Some reports indicate O.C. Greg Knapp and D.C. Ed Donatell got into a heated argument after the Giants game and were forced to have a meeting with owner Arthur Blank the next day. People I’ve talked to in Atlanta deny the incident happened. And I guess it doesn’t matter if the "discussion" actually took place. What matters is that the tensions between the offense and defense are palpable."

http://profootballweekly.com/PFW/NFL/NFC/N...bauer102706.htm

Here are the scoring drives for Atl vs Pit:

Drive start/# plays/yards gained/score

PIT 22 1 22 Touchdown

PIT 25 6 25 Touchdown

ATL 49 7 51 Touchdown

PIT 26 4 26 Touchdown

ATL 25 6 75 Touchdown

ATL 29 7 64 Field Goal

ATL 21 11 65 Field Goal

Game Time of Possession:

Steelers/Falcons

30:53 36:03

BTW, Atl won the toss in overtime and scored on their first possession... so the 31 min of poss for the Steelers is all during regulation!

So maybe there is something here.

couple of observations: Pitt has had trouble with turnovers ALL SEASON LONG. The Bengals do not have this problem. Even when teams have had success running on the Bengals, this has not automatically lead to a W. Other things have had to conspire to culminate to result in a Bengals loss.

[HoosierCat]

I thought Easterbrook had an interesting take earlier this week.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...terbrook/061024

Maybe you think Atlanta rushes so well because Vick's running ability adds a dimension no other NFL team has. That's surely a factor -- Vick is genuinely fast. But he's hardly the first quarterback who can run (think Fran Tarkenton) or the first who is really fast (think Steve Young). The real reason the Falcons are chewing up the National Football League on the ground is that they are the first team in recent memory to have the sheer brass to use a high school offense.

Some high school teams run almost all the time, but that strategy breaks down against a sophisticated opponent. A few high school teams attempt pass-oriented attacks. But at the prep level, constant passing works only for schools with a combination of superior athletes and the ability to have the entire team together six hours a day in July for a boatload of illegal practices. The basis of most successful high school offenses is a run focus with a quarterback who is himself a running threat; you run, run, run and then use the play action and pass deep. I've heard people complain that high school offenses are too conventional because so many are run, run, run then play-fake and throw deep. There's a reason so many high schools do this -- it works! And now the Atlanta Falcons have brought this philosophy to the NFL.

Sure, every pro football team wants to run, and every team uses the play-action. But the NFL in the last decade has become a short-pass-oriented league. Teams that keep running until they draw the defense to the line, then play-fake and throw deep, are rare. Indianapolis is one -- despite the Colts' pass-wacky image, so far they have run 173 times and passed 131 times. Atlanta is using the high school approach to a fare-thee-well. The Falcons have rushed 219 times this season and passed 148 times. On Sunday, when Pittsburgh crowded the line to stop the run, Vick play-faked and threw deep.

What makes the Atlanta offense more high-school-ish is the rollout emphasis. Effective high school offenses have far more rollout passes than pocket passes. Somehow the idea has arisen among pro coaches that only dropback passes are "real" passes and only yards gained with dropback passing, not yards on quarterback scrambles, help. Rollouts confuse defenses, while simplifying the view for the quarterback, who only has to look at half the field. Long scrambles absolutely break the backs of defenses. The Colts' offense is only semi-high-school because Peyton Manning is almost always in the pocket and almost never pulls it down to run. Vick this season has mostly been rolling out, which helps his read -- he only has to look at about half the gridiron, not scan the whole gridiron and wonder where to throw -- and gives him a better running option since he can get to the sideline and avoid taking a big hit. Since Michael Vick came into the league, his coaches have experimented with having him throw dropback deep passes; having him do loads of designed runs; having him attempt the West Coast short-crossing-route attack; and now they're simply letting him operate a classic high school offense. And just like in high school, it works!

The Falcons run, run, run and then when the defense comes up, they play-fake and throw deep -- and they do it while rolling out. The moment when the opponent has run on five straight snaps, then the quarterback play-fakes and sprints in the opposite direction, is the one every high school coach dreads. This action is so popular in high school because it is so effective, yet is not used that much in the pros. Denver is the only other club in recent years to go high school on a regular basis; last season the Broncos' offense, although it did pass the ball more than it ran the ball, had a lot of run, run, run and then Jake Plummer play-fakes and sprints out the opposite way. (Because Denver is sputtering on offense this season, it's hard to assess what the plan is supposed to be.) NFL teams -- you've tried power-rush, single-back, run-and-shoot, no-huddle, five-wide. Now it's time to try high school! And yes, a quarterback as fast as Vick helps, but as anyone who watches high school football knows, the run-run-run then play-fake and rollout offense can make almost any quarterback look good. So why don't more NFL teams do it? Maybe it's vainglory. Offensive coordinators want people to think they are engaged in super-complex mystical planning that only insiders can grasp. They don't want to borrow tactics from high school, even if those tactics work.

[bengalboomer7]

I thought Easterbrook had an interesting take earlier this week.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...terbrook/061024

Maybe you think Atlanta rushes so well because Vick's running ability adds a dimension no other NFL team has. That's surely a factor -- Vick is genuinely fast. But he's hardly the first quarterback who can run (think Fran Tarkenton) or the first who is really fast (think Steve Young). The real reason the Falcons are chewing up the National Football League on the ground is that they are the first team in recent memory to have the sheer brass to use a high school offense.

Some high school teams run almost all the time, but that strategy breaks down against a sophisticated opponent. A few high school teams attempt pass-oriented attacks. But at the prep level, constant passing works only for schools with a combination of superior athletes and the ability to have the entire team together six hours a day in July for a boatload of illegal practices. The basis of most successful high school offenses is a run focus with a quarterback who is himself a running threat; you run, run, run and then use the play action and pass deep. I've heard people complain that high school offenses are too conventional because so many are run, run, run then play-fake and throw deep. There's a reason so many high schools do this -- it works! And now the Atlanta Falcons have brought this philosophy to the NFL.

Sure, every pro football team wants to run, and every team uses the play-action. But the NFL in the last decade has become a short-pass-oriented league. Teams that keep running until they draw the defense to the line, then play-fake and throw deep, are rare. Indianapolis is one -- despite the Colts' pass-wacky image, so far they have run 173 times and passed 131 times. Atlanta is using the high school approach to a fare-thee-well. The Falcons have rushed 219 times this season and passed 148 times. On Sunday, when Pittsburgh crowded the line to stop the run, Vick play-faked and threw deep.

What makes the Atlanta offense more high-school-ish is the rollout emphasis. Effective high school offenses have far more rollout passes than pocket passes. Somehow the idea has arisen among pro coaches that only dropback passes are "real" passes and only yards gained with dropback passing, not yards on quarterback scrambles, help. Rollouts confuse defenses, while simplifying the view for the quarterback, who only has to look at half the field. Long scrambles absolutely break the backs of defenses. The Colts' offense is only semi-high-school because Peyton Manning is almost always in the pocket and almost never pulls it down to run. Vick this season has mostly been rolling out, which helps his read -- he only has to look at about half the gridiron, not scan the whole gridiron and wonder where to throw -- and gives him a better running option since he can get to the sideline and avoid taking a big hit. Since Michael Vick came into the league, his coaches have experimented with having him throw dropback deep passes; having him do loads of designed runs; having him attempt the West Coast short-crossing-route attack; and now they're simply letting him operate a classic high school offense. And just like in high school, it works!

The Falcons run, run, run and then when the defense comes up, they play-fake and throw deep -- and they do it while rolling out. The moment when the opponent has run on five straight snaps, then the quarterback play-fakes and sprints in the opposite direction, is the one every high school coach dreads. This action is so popular in high school because it is so effective, yet is not used that much in the pros. Denver is the only other club in recent years to go high school on a regular basis; last season the Broncos' offense, although it did pass the ball more than it ran the ball, had a lot of run, run, run and then Jake Plummer play-fakes and sprints out the opposite way. (Because Denver is sputtering on offense this season, it's hard to assess what the plan is supposed to be.) NFL teams -- you've tried power-rush, single-back, run-and-shoot, no-huddle, five-wide. Now it's time to try high school! And yes, a quarterback as fast as Vick helps, but as anyone who watches high school football knows, the run-run-run then play-fake and rollout offense can make almost any quarterback look good. So why don't more NFL teams do it? Maybe it's vainglory. Offensive coordinators want people to think they are engaged in super-complex mystical planning that only insiders can grasp. They don't want to borrow tactics from high school, even if those tactics work.

I really like that analysis. However, it scares me in connection with the game against the Bengals. While vastly improved, the Bengals still arent a great run stopping team. If we can't stop Atlanta with our front seven and have to bring an eigth man in the box, this is exactly what's gonna happen to us and Algae Crumpler will kill us.

This analysis is the exact reason why i want to see a ton of "A" gap blitzes by Ahmad Brooks, while our DE"s play more containment, thus forcing Vick to stay in the pocket and scan the whole field. Our LB's really have to roam and tackle in this game, forcing 3rd and 6+, making Vick throw it downfield, where Deltha, Tory, and JJ are waiting

[w8th]

The Atlanta coaching staff was in Morgantown during the offseason studying the spread offense with West Virginia's coaching staff.. That's where they got the 'spread option" play they have been running. They decided to incorporate it after watching WVU in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia.

Interesting to note the Atlanta leads the NFL in rushing and WVU leads the NCAA.