WhoDat!656

Falcons have gained 18 yards on screens - NFC South Blog - ESPN

WhoDat!656

I dont know why the link won't open?

The Atlanta Falcons continue to lag behind the rest of the NFL when it comes to the screen pass.

Matt Ryan has attempted just 13 screens, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Kyle Orton and Kevin Kolb are the only other quarterbacks who have played enough to make the list with fewer attempts on screens. Orton and Kolb have each attempted 11. Orton has lost his starting job to Tim Tebow and Kolb has missed time with an injury.

Ryan has completed 11 of those screens, but they haven’t amounted to much. The Falcons have gained just 18 yards on screens and have not scored off a screen.

The screen hasn’t been a big part of Atlanta’s offense since Ryan’s arrival in 2008, but I thought it would be used a bit more this season. The Falcons drafted running back Jacquizz Rodgers, who looks like the perfect guy to throw screens to, but he hasn’t had a lot of playing time.

Most of the rest of the NFC South is using the screen pass fairly often. Carolina’s Cam Newton ranks No. 2 in the league in yardage on screen passes (266). He’s completed 31 of 34 screens.

New Orleans’ Drew Brees is fourth in screen yardage (233). Brees has completed 37 of 40 screens with one touchdown. Tampa Bay’s Josh Freeman has thrown for 137 yards on screens, while completing 19 of 23 attempts.

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halloween 65

I think that other teams have started to pick up our screens when we use Sproles, to me they have prepared well for it,to well. PT runs the screen very well maybe a few more to him wouldn't hurt. I also think when Ivory and Ingram are in other team prepare for the run and it may not hurt to throw a few their way also, at least it would keep the other teams D a little more honest.

foreverfan

PT is the most complete back the Saints have.

Crusader

Most every team expects a screen when PT is back there. Thats were he has done most of his damage over the years.

Srgt. Hulka

I know we've done pretty well on screens the rest of the season, Drew Brees is in 4th place for screen yardage, but in the game against Atlana, they completly shut our screen down. I havn't seen any stats, but I would bet that we had a net loss on screen plays during that game. I was getting agrivated in the second half when we kept on going to the screen and continuing to lose yardage. I even kept commenting on it on the live chat. I hope we get that fixed before we play the Giants.

Beastmode

It's not broken. Atlanta specifically planned to defeat it entirely which left a lot of one on one from what I watched. Colston and Graham are going to win that battle almost everytime. It also kept pressure off Brees.

Srgt. Hulka

Oh I agree completely. It was obvious that that was part of the Falcon's gameplan. And it worked very well. But what's to keep the Giants from doing the exact same thing? Not trying to be a downer here, just playing devil's advocate.

SaintsBro

I have been wondering if maybe Payton is laying off the "classic" Pierre Thomas screen a little bit, putting it back in the tool box, in hopes that people will forget about it and then ZOOM when we really need it, there it will be again. I also think that maybe he's going heavy on the Sproles, and kind of rope-a-doping the later teams in the schedule into not really planning much on Thomas. The Forgotten Man.

Mardigras9

Our screens have been lacking because of poor blocking also.