Enemy Reaction 2020: Atlanta Falcons

You may have noticed that the game threads on Coral were a bit messed up on Sunday. Unfortunately that means I can’t do Enemy Reaction this week under the normal format. After racking my brain to find an appropriate alternative I realized that combing through Discord servers is just going to be too much of a hassle and I’d have to do a lot of uh... editing to get rid of some stuff that’s not likely suitable for print.

I’m not doing any game thread screenshots as a result so instead you get a tweaked version. For future Seattle Seahawks wins, I do not really foresee this being a problem but it’s also dependent on the team they beat.

“Fire Dan Quinn” in sad Falcons tweets

The Falcoholic’s headline

Dan Quinn’s seat is already hot (Jeff Benedict, Blogging Dirty)

While the talk of firing Dan Quinn is premature, any fan, player, and front office employee have to understand why “Dan Quinn” was trending in Atlanta on Twitter Sunday night. We are tired of buying into this team as a legit contender only to have the wool pulled over our eyes and the rug be pulled out from under us.

Most working adults have had that one boss/manager that they would run through a brick wall for and that is allegedly how the Atlanta Falcons roster feels about Dan Quinn. However, they actually have to show that on the field and stop talking about it in the locker room and to the media.

[...]

The offense put up nearly 500 yards of offense Sunday afternoon – miss me with the “garbage time” nonsense, though, more on that in a later article. The defense was terrible, again. For a defensive coach who is on his third defensive staff in six years only forcing the Seahawks into (2) three-and-outs yesterday is atrocious.

Coaches love to claim that they make the biggest improvement from week one to week two and with the Dallas Cowboys up next, changes to the defense have to come quickly. If the Atlanta Falcons start 0-3, Dan Quinn may not make it out of September.

The Falcons are in trouble if the secondary still can’t cover (Michael Cunningham, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Six defensive backs on the most current two-deep depth chart were drafted by the Falcons. Half of them were picked 58th overall or higher. And yet the Falcons spent much of last season struggling to play tight coverage. It happened again during Sunday’s 38-25 loss to Seattle.

Once Russell Wilson was done with them, the Falcons had the NFL’s worst Week 1 pass-defense mark in the Football Outsiders efficiency rating (adjusted by game situation and opponent). Wilson is great. But I’m betting Dak Prescott, a lesser QB than Wilson, will have similar results Sunday if the Falcons can’t close the space between his passes and their targets.

Prescott, like Wilson, is a mobile QB who throws a good deep ball. Unlike Wilson, Prescott has a top-tier wide receiver, Amari Cooper, and a deep group of pass catchers. The list includes running back Ezekiel Elliott, who is hard to get down once he catches the ball.

[...]

Player tracking data confirmed what my eyes told me. According to Next Gen Stats, Wilson completed 22 of 23 passes with two touchdowns against man-to-man coverage. None of Wilson’s 35 passes were thrown into a tight window, defined as less than one yard of separation between receiver and defender.

Seahawks 38 Falcons 25 - Opponent audio recap with Falcons announcers Mike Conti and Dave Archer, PLUS 49ers audio from their loss to Arizona (via Sports Radio KJR)

Post-Game Video Rant: The Seahawks could’ve scored 100 points! (The Man known as Slita)

Enemy Preaction: New England Patriots

Hopefully next week I can provide you the full Enemy Reaction that you’re used to getting. Until then, thanks for reading and go ‘Hawks!