After having a night to digest a Falcons loss we can go back and now see what went wrong. For one thing the dominant offense that had been so prevalent all year got outplayed in the second half. The narrative at the half was how much more athletic the Falcons were than the pats but that seemed to all disappear in the second half. Julio Jones was the only Falcons receiver to dominate in the second half while in the first half 6 different Falcons caught the ball. The unstoppable multi tool offense of the Falcons was shrunk to one and that one was Julio Jones. Jones made his case that he is the best receiver in the game, even in double coverage making game changing plays. The patriots eventually caught on though and forcing Matt Ryan to hold the ball began to blitz heavily. Said Logan Ryan after the game “if you’ve ever played Madden at that point (in the game) we were in engage eight, punt block, send everyone mode.” It worked the Patriots forced Ryan to make uncomfortable throws and get the ball out to shorter routes preventing first downs.
Tom Brady was the MVP but his offensive line made it possible. Arm chair analyst Chris Jensen said “Im convinced it’s not defenses that win championships (in football) its offensive lines.” I thought that over and agree. The Patriots line worked over the Falcons dominant first half pass rush and neutralized them to their less threatening regular season form. With time and space Brady just out played the Falcons secondary which couldn’t hold the receivers as they did in the first half. Its also helpful the Patriots stopped making the costly drops that put them down big in the first half. The Patriots fixed self-made mistakes on offense and that’s what really made a massive difference in the first half. Bill Belichick showed once again he is the best at making in game adjustments to the game plan.
Of all the things that went wrong for the Falcons perhaps the biggest was they ran into a vengeful Tom Brady. You can point out a lot of things but if the Falcons played like they did against any other team in the second half I’m convinced they would have won. Instead, they ran into a human sniper named Tom Brady who was on a mission to put no doubt in anyone’s mind that he is the best to ever play signal caller in the NFL. Tom Brady put a hurt on a bad Falcons secondary that was able to mask there weakness in the first half with a dominant pass rush. The Falcons corners just could not jam the receivers long enough for the pass rush to affect Brady. If you give Tom Brady time he will tear you apart.
So what’s next? For the Patriots the offseason plan seems simple, Trade Jimmy Garappolo to the Browns for the 12th place in the first round and a second rounder this year and next. Use that 12 pick to grab a pass rusher and one of your second round picks to draft a QB. In free agency improve the pass rush and look to grab one more cheap weapon for Tom Brady. For the Falcons, the plan is much more complicated. You must first find a replacement for Kyle Shanahan, that is a taller task then it sounds, arguably Shanahan was the only reason Matt Ryan was this good. You have to put Ryan into the right system for him to have success. Without Shanahan Ryan is an average at best Quarterback. The Falcons then need to retain guard Chris Chester and DT Johnathan Babineaux. Then the secondary must improve signing Cowboys CB Brandon Carr or CB Trumaine Johnson from Los Angeles would greatly improve this defense. Once the secondary’s in place a pass rusher like James Pierre Paul ,who has expressed interest in testing the free agent market, would be a good place to go.
In all reality the Falcons will have a massive hill to climb to get back to this game. They feel like the Panthers of last year to me explosive offense one year fall off the cliff the next. Whatever happens you have to feel sick for Atlanta, this is the end of an era for them, and just the beginning of one for the Super Bowl Champions.