The immediate reaction was pretty harsh, as the Falcons offense did absolutely nothing and the defense gave up several long drives with many miscues. The starting offense had just one series, which was derailed by two penalties. I'm not going to say that preseason games are meaningless. They do matter - a lot. But it's not the score that is important. What really counts is who plays well, who doesn't, and how easily the issues identified can be corrected. If your starters are outclassed, that's a problem. If the starters do well, the second unit holds its own, and the third and fourth stringers are outclassed, you simply blow it off as preseason football. When the guys who aren't going to make your team lose to the guys who aren't going to make the other team, the score is irrelevant. Dan Quinn and his coaching staff like to use preseason to evaluate rookies. Sure, other teams do that too. But Quinn will go so far as to have practice squad candidates mixed in with the first and second units just to see how they hold up. It's great experience for the rookies and a good evaluation opportunity for the coaching staff. The obvious downside is that situations like last year's third exhibition game, which saw undrafted rookie DBs trying to defend against Carson Palmer, don't bode well for the final score. With that in mind, on to the game... Both teams went three-and-out on their first offensive series. And that was the end of the night for most of the Atlanta starters. For the offense, Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman didn't play at all. Matt Ryan, Mohamed Sanu, Tevin Coleman and four of the five starting linemen came out after that very first series. Calvin Ridley, Austin Hooper, and both right guard candidates (Wes Schweitzer and Brandon Fusco) came out soon after that, along with top backup WRs Justin Hardy and Marvin Hall. Second tight end Logan Paulsen came out one series after that. So if it seems strange that the offense put up a goose egg, that's the main reason - the backup quarterbacks spent virtually the entire game throwing to the #6 and later WRs, the backup TEs and the #3 and later RBs while working behind the backup linemen. Swing tackle Ty Sambrailo was held out of the game due to injury, so even the first quarter saw the #4 and #5 offensive tackles in action. Who struggled for the offense: backup tackle candidate Austin Pasztor may have lost his "lock" on a roster spot. He was last year's #4 offensive tackle and was re-signed for 2018. But he's only on a minimal one year contract, so there are no negative salary cap ramifications if he doesn't make the team as the tenth overall offensive lineman. The team might decide to keep only nine, so he's competing not only with the other linemen but also with the backup TEs, WRs, RBs, and defensive players for one of the final roster spots. For most of the night, the running back candidates were ineffective. Draft pick Ito Smith is likely to hold the #3 RB roster spot, but he opened his preseason campaign with zero yards rushing (on only 2 attempts) and one reception that lost two yards. Returning RB candidate Terrence Magee (practice squad) had 3 yards on 2 carries. Undrafted rookie Justin Crawford outdid him with 3 yards on 5 carries, though he did contribute in the passing game with 4 receptions. Several of the backup WR candidates also had nights to forget. Taj Williams, Christian Blake and Lamar Jordan had no catches on the night, while late round draft pick Russell Gage (expected to be a special teamer) was never even targeted. Who shined for the offense: rookie quarterback Kurt Benkert immediately brought the offense to life. The team was still unable to score, and some drops, throwaways under pressure, plus a tipped pass that became an interception combined to hurt his final stat line. All the same, the Falcons only had three offensive plays go for 20+ yards for the entire game. All three were passes by Benkert. Two of those were caught by undrafted rookie wideout Devin Gray. He also had the fourth longest play (thrown by fourth QB Garrett Grayson) plus another reception from Benkert to lead the team with 83 yards. Fellow undrafted rookie Dontez Byrd made the most of his outing as well, catching both of his targets for 35 total yards. Marvin Hall is likely in the hunt for the #4 overall WR spot (competing with Justin Hardy for that role). Hall wasn't a significant factor on offense, but he did make an outstanding tackle in kick coverage as part of the first unit coverage team. The coaching staff is also trying him as a candidate for the KR and PR roles, but his best value on special teams might be as a gunner on the punt coverage unit. It was a similar story for the defense. The entire starting secondary, nickel corner Brian Poole, and starting linebackers Deion Jones and DeVondre Campbell came out after that initial three-and-out defensive series. Pass rushers Vic Beasley and Takk McKinley played one brief rotation into the second series, giving them a whopping four snaps each for the game. Grady Jarrett also played just the one extra rotation, participating in five total snaps. That's eight of Atlanta's key defenders who came out with the game still scoreless. The coaching staff used the rest of the game to try out prospects such as first year safety Tyson Graham (44 snaps), undrafted rookie linebacker Anthony Winbush (39 snaps), returning practice squad lineman J.T. Jones (41 snaps), and players from the last two draft classes. Who struggled for the defense: the big news story is that last year's second round pick, linebacker Duke Riley, did not fare well in this first preseason game. He struggled last year, but coaches and teammates have praised his efforts throughout the offseason saying that he is showing tremendous improvement. Unfortunately, that didn't materialize this week, presenting the big question of who the Falcons should use as their third starting linebacker if Riley turns out not to be up to the task. Backup safety Kemal Ishmael has played some linebacker and would be the most experienced candidate (though not the only candidate) outside of a late transaction. Note that Jonah Trinnaman (11 snaps played) is the only rookie receiver on the Jets roster, so Bridgewater and Darnold spent the entire game throwing to veteran receivers like Tre McBride, Charles Johnson, Andre Roberts and Jermaine Kearse against a secondary made up of prospects. As you'd expect, the young DBs had some communications issues in their zone coverages and were frequently beaten by the veteran receivers. But I won't go so far as to say that any of them jeopardized their chances of making Atlanta's practice squad based on this game. For that matter, it's a bit surprising that the Falcons defense only allowed 17 points. Who shined for the defense: last year's fifth round pick Damontae Kazee played some at safety, some at nickel, and seemed to be everywhere on the field. Even more impressive is his dedication to improvement, as he said in an interview after the game that he didn't have as good a game as the TV announcers made it out to be and that he needs to work more on his tackling (he had one missed tackle while shooting into the backfield). Among this year's draft class, third rounder Deadrin Senat looked comfortable in the nose tackle role. Whether he will become the "official" starter is still unknown, but the team will be counting on him to take a large number of snaps in rotation regardless of whether he's on the field for the first defensive snap of the game. Foye Oluokon had a solid outing at linebacker. He's a near-lock to make the roster for his special teams capabilities, but he is learning the scheme very quickly. If he continues to progress throughout the preseason, he might be a candidate to take the third starting LB job away from the struggling Duke Riley. Undrafted linebacker Jonathan Celestin only signed after the third day of training camp and is far behind everyone else in practice reps and opportunities to learn the defensive scheme. That makes his performance even more impressive. He played 14 snaps, had a sack, two other tackles for loss, and an additional QB hurry. The bottom line for Falcons fans: don't sweat the loss or the final score. The players that will matter most in the regular season barely played (or didn't play at all) in this one. Many of the guys who took the most snaps are simply trying to make the back end of the roster and/or the practice squad. You won't see them - even the ones who make it - once the season gets underway. Enough of these prospects stood out in a positive way that the game can be regarded as a "success" in spite of the actual score.
That's what I noticed the most early on. NYJ's offense was clicking and able to take their time offensively. They used their vets and really Atlanta wasn't bother the QB's very much either. Both Darnold and Bridgewater were on a roll as if their lives depended on it and without much pressure they were able to pick apart the secondary. I agree, especially in the 1st quarter of the 1st preseason game, stuff is going to be out of sync and the coaching staff should have a better way to gauge what aspects to hone in on in practice. Bottom line for me. 1 game in on preseason shouldn't sound too many alarms. Usually, game 3 you want to be starting to hit on all cylinders.
Yep, and the Lions were undefeated in preseason in 2008. And closer to home, last year's Falcons went 0-4 in preseason but made it to the divisional round of the postseason. The main reason why this game shouldn't sound any alarm bells is simply that the guys who were on the field for this game aren't even the same guys who will be playing in September. Matt Schaub couldn't lead a scoring drive in the first half with Marvin Hall and Reggie Davis as his receivers, Justin Crawford running the ball and Matt Gono protecting his blind side? How tragic. There's an outside chance that Hall will be the only one of those guys who even makes the roster, and he would primarily be special teams. If Schaub makes it (assuming that Benkert doesn't turn it on and beat him out for the #2 spot, which might actually happen), he'll be invisible once the season begins. I'd guess Gono is one of the leading contenders for the practice squad, and Davis and Crawford are facing serious competition even to make the practice squad.
Dang, you guys got Matt Shaub back? You traded him for two first rd picks a while back. Vick was still on the team about to get busted for dog fighting.
We've had Schaub as our backup for the last three years. The reason we brought him back (as a relatively cheap free agent at that time) was that he knew Kyle Shanahan's system from their time in Houston. Trading him away was a bit controversial here back in 2007, but for those in the know it was understandable. Schaub was already a restricted free agent, and with so much money dedicated to Vick's contract we certainly weren't going to be able to keep him past 2007 anyway. It was a matter of losing him right away or losing him at the end of the 2007 season. That hog-sooey nitwit Bobby Petrino said he "needed more players", so GM Rich McKay went ahead and swung the deal with the Texans. We got two second round picks (one in 2007 and one in 2008) and moved up two spots in the first round in 2007. He has been useful as a backup, as we really did need someone who already knew the scheme. But he's now around 500 years old and seems unlikely even to attempt a deep pass. I say his roster spot is vulnerable. Benkert or someone yet to be acquired would have upside. Schaub doesn't. His current contract (a 2-year deal signed last year) makes him more expensive than the previous contract did as well. Ditching him would save either 2.75 million or 3.25 million, depending on whether a 500k roster bonus has been paid yet. That may prove to be important if the team finds it has some other key need - such as linebacker. To me Duke Riley struggling isn't the big story for the LB group. The real problem is that it MATTERS that he's struggling. They knew he was a raw as hell project when they drafted him, but they don't have an experienced player to round out the starting LB group. So if he struggles or if Deion Jones or DeVondre Campbell get hurt, the defense will have a pretty big hole in the middle level. The cap savings from releasing Schaub could be the key to signing a veteran who gets cut by some other team.
