Week 1 Thoughts

And now to the games that actually matter. Not a pretty win, but I'll take an ugly win over a loss any day. We shut down their running game, and Atlanta's only viable recieving target was White. Do that to an offense and they're going to have a hard time putting up points. Which they did.

First Half

- Reed's numbers: 4.2 (4), 4.05 (3), 4.02 (7 yards deep, touchback), 4.3 (9) 4.07 (-1, though should be pointed out I got a bad angle of when the kick started).

- 3rd and 6, 8:33 in the 1st quarter: First 3rd and long, go five wide with Dixon. He has two receviers to his left, but never looks in that direction against a three man rush. He decides to try to run instead, missing a wide open Randle El.

- An interesting wrinkle to the FB dive. We had Pouncey seal the NT to this left while pulling Kemoeatu to Pouncey's spot. Flozell attempts to get to the second level and take out the MIKE. The scheme really didn't work, just a minimal gain where the MIKE tackled Redman, and I think this requires a more athletic RT, but it's different than your normal "hat on a hat" power blocking scheme.

- 3rd and 4, 4:53 in the 1st: Defense brings heat, Dixon reads it, and sees El open on the slant, but the throw is too low. His passes had a tendency to nose dive. Hopefully just chalk it up to first game jitters or trying too hard (As Tomlin said).

- Gay and Madison were gunners.

- 3rd and 7, 3:58 in the 1st: Falcons ball. Harrison doesn't get the sack, but drives their RG back a good four yards. We're continuing to move Silverback around, this time him coming from the strong side. Tough for offenses to plan against so much movement, and if one lineman fails, the whole play falls apart.

- We continued to show a lot of presnap TE/HB movement that I saw in the preseason.

- Matt Spaeth hadn't gotten this many offensive snaps in a long, long time.

- As reported, Ike did not shadow the #1 WR like he did last year. Ike was the RCB with McFadden working as the team's LCB.

- Early in the 2nd, on a 3rd down throw to Randle El that was complete but short of the marker. Dixon moved out of the pocket despite the fact there wasn't a rush, and the Falcons only brought a couple guys (I think three). This actually created more pressure since the ends can disengage and chase him down without going through the tackle. Dixon rolling out also took half the field away.

- Lots of I-Form with David Johnson at FB.

- One thing I did like from Dixon. And it came on the interception, oddly enough. I liked his body language as he walked off the field. Didn't show that "woe is me" attitude. He trotted off with his chin up.

- Hampton's injury occured here: 1st and 20, 3:59 left in the 2nd. It was on the dump off to Norwood that he picked off the grass. Hampton pulls up lame at the end of the play.

- Hoke replaced him and contrary to what I thought before, Eason did not play NT.

- Didn't really care for us running the draw late in the firvt half after completing a first down to Heath that brought us into Falcon territory. Guess we figured that we could try to counter any potential blitz, and if it didn't work, we could call a timeout and still have two left. It didn't work, and that's what we did. Still didn't like it.

- Near interception by Abraham. This might be the most disappointing play of the day from Dennis. If you recall, this same exact thing happened to him last year against Baltimore when Kruger picked him off. Both times, the end dropped back into coverage and walked right into a slant. I'm guessing that wasn't an accident on the part of Atlanta's scheme. Looks like Dixon locked onto Ward once he saw the nickel back blitz, and never saw Abraham. Should have been, at the very least, a long return the other way. It can be a tough read, no doubt, but I would have liked to see Dixon learn from his mistake last year. Think Baltimore won't try it again Week 4?

- Bouncing off of the last point, this happened in the second half but an appropiate place to put this note. I think we made an adjustment to this play. We ran something very similar to this on the Flozell false start only this time, Ward runs a quick slant as opposed to a longer slant/post route the first time around. This would force Dixon to see anyone dropping back in coverage and would likely let Ward have inside position on any defender. Dixon's pass ended up being a slant to Randle El, and the Falcons were on an all out blitz this time around but as stated, it got called back on the falst start.

- Gotta agree with the announcers. Coolest timeout ever by Tomlin. It should have been followed by a giant explosion and rock music as Tomlin walked into the tunnel in slow motion. Make it happen, Hollywood!

Second Half

- I said Eason didn't play NT, but we didn't use a lot of Hoke early in the second half. Opened up with a lot of nickel packages two DEs and no NT.

- Beautiful deep throw to Wallace from Dixon. I know Mike was unhappy about all the running so it was good to have him beat the secondary.

- Not a groundbreaking note, but Jonathan Scott replaced Starks at LT. Worth writing down in case I forget later in the year (Which I probably will).

- Scott's first play in: Abraham gets under him and forces Dixon out of the pocket. Tough assignment.

- 13:20 in the 4th: Dixon almost gets picked by Chris Owens. He stared down Wallace all the way on the comeback out route. Owens, backpedaling and reading Dixon, should have had the pick six.

- Scott has to make successful cut blocks on screens. Almost cost us when the pass landed in the belly of Chauney Davis.

- What better way for Ward to surpass 11,000 yards than by making a circus, one-handed catch?

- A GREAT day from Sepulevda. Not only did he have booming kicks, his net average was just as good. Tons of fair catches. Credit to the gunners for getting down there as well.

- We finally jumped that comeback out route they had been killing us with all day long (Credit to Ryan for being able to do that. Very difficult throw to make once, let alone ten times). Troy made Ryan pay at the best possible time (For us at least). Way to get both feet down too!

- Didn't like the playcall on 3rd and 1 right before Reed's missed FG. We had Flozell cut block. Just run behind your mauler. That's what he is there for. Flozell actually made a good block, and it was the MIKE that came in free to stop Redman, but I don't like the idea.

- I still don't think Warren's snap did Reed any favors. Dan had to turn it around so the laces weren't facing Jeff.

- McFadden with some excellent tackling skills not only on White, but on backs in the open field. Have to be a sound, reliable tackler if you're going to be a CB under LeBeau.

- Timmons was good. Maybe not as good as I orginally thought, but still good. Best play he had wav early in the game when he fought off the block from the TE, shot the gap, and took Turner down in the backfield before he could turn the corner.

- Pouncey with a great game. He's able to chip or pass the defender off, get to the second level and take out a linebacker, and showed strength by getting under DTs and getting them off balanced. He has a mean streak and finishes plays. The more I watch him, the more impressed I am.

- Summary on Dixon. Could have been worse, but it was a fairly sub-par game. For the most part, Dixon couldn't combine Step 1 (Making the read) with Step 2 (Throwing a catchable ball). It was usually only one of those parts.

- Thank goodness the ball didn't touch anyone when Mundy collided with El on the punt in OT.

- Run to win the game: You could take a picture of it and hang it up above the fireplace. Excellent blocks by Ward, David Johnson (who actually shielded two defenders), Heath, and Flozell.

Sacks

1. 2nd and 8, 8:45 left in 3rd, : Abraham gives Starks an in 'n out move and blows past him to take down Dixon.

2. 2nd and 5, 2:05 in the 4th quarter. LE beats Heath, the RE beats Scott, but it's Lofton coming in on a delayed blitz that sacks Dixon. Flozell sees it, but blocks him too high, around the face, and Lofton is able to break away.

3. 3rd and 14, 1:59 in the 4th: Just a three man rush, Biermann beats Flozell off the edge and gets under and past Heath who stayed in the backfield to block. Very similar to a sack in the loss to Cleveland (If you didn't consume enough alcohol to block that game out). Half sack fault to Flozell and Heath.

Sack Counter

Adams: 1.5
Starks: 1
Miller: .5

Injuries

Casey Hampton has a hamstring pull. His status is up in the air, but Tomlin didn't sound very promising in his press conference.

Max Starks has a low ankle sprain. Shouldn't miss too much time, and could potentially play on Sunday. If he can't, Jonathan Scott will fill in at LT with it sounding like Hills getting a helmet over Foster according to Tomlin today. Hills will not start, however.

Leftwich could practice tomorrow. Dixon will start against Tennessee. Tomlin made that perfectly clear.

Chris Scott remains on the PUP. He won't be elgible to come off of it until Week 6. He'll likely move to IR, but we'll cross that bright when we come to it.