The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Falcons offense has variety of options
Not yet firing on all cylinders, but looking pretty good.
You can see it coming like a freight train rolling down the tracks.
The Falcons’ offense is going to be special again.
They have just scratched the surface and clearly are not firing on all cylinders after Sunday’s 34-23 victory over the Packers improved their record to 2-0. However, after 34 points — actually 27, because the defense chipped in with a touchdown — the sky appears to be the limit.
New offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian came out on fire against the Packers and their experienced defensive coordinator Dom Capers. The Falcons, working off their game-opening script, promptly marched in for a touchdown on nine plays and 86 yards that took 5:09 off the clock. They scored on five of their first seven possessions.
After opening with a run by Devonta Freeman, quarterback Matt Ryan went to wide receiver Julio Jones, left in man-to-man coverage. Jones took a short pass in the flat and turned it into a 19-yard gain, and you could feel the life pulsing through the offense.
“You know when I get that thing early, it’s going to be a great night,” Jones said.
Ryan seemed surprised that the Packers elected to leave Jones in single coverage.
“You got to come on to me then,” Jones said about having single coverage. “I guess they didn’t learn. The last couple of meetings with them and I put up some pretty good numbers on them, but they continuously keep singling me up.”
Jones torched the Packers with nine catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns in the NFC Championship game in January.
In the 2014 season, Jones had 12 catches for 259 yards and one touchdown against
the Packers.
Why?
“I don’t know, I guess that’s just want they want to do,” said Jones, who finished with five catches for 108 yards Sunday. “I mean, they have a great quarterback over there. Their defense is pretty good, but we are pretty good as well. You can’t do certain things like that.”
Once Jones was flowing, the running backs got things moving and then Mohamed Sanu joined in.
Freeman rushed 19 times for 84 yards and two touchdowns, and Tevin Coleman added 42 yards on five carries. Freeman had two catches for 16 and Coleman had two catches for three yards and a touchdown. Total it, and the running backs had 29 touches and 145 yards and three touchdowns.
“I just feel like that teams coming in, the threats that we have on our team, they have to respect everybody,” Freeman said. “Julio opens a lot of things up. The running game opens a lot of things up. (Mohamed) Sanu, (Taylor) Gabriel, ( Justin) Hardy, the offensive line, our tight ends (Austin) Hooper and Tree (Levine Toilolo), everybody plays a major role on this team.”
Sanu had five catches for 84 yards and the former college quarterback at Rutgers got in the Wildcat formation on a key late third down. He
handed to Freeman on a read-option and the Falcons picked up a key first down.
“That was a big play for us,” Jones said. “We’ve been practicing that play since last year. We have a lot of special guys on this team.”
Jones also respects Sanu’s toughness.
“See, a lot of receivers don’t want to go across the middle,” Jones said. “They are scared to get hit and things like that. We have a lot of rules put in place for our safety and things like that for going across the middle, but Mohamed doesn’t care. He goes across the middle in traffic. He’s a special player for us.”
Jones is lobbying for the rest of the Falcons’ opponents to give him single coverage. “Tell them to keep singling me up. I love it. I just love it,” he said.
Jones knows the offense is still working through some issues and may have a new right tackle in the short-term after Ryan Schraeder sustained a concussion. He was replaced by Ty Sambrailo, who was acquired in a trade with the Broncos on Sept. 1, and the offense was a little less effective.
So, how good can the offense get?
“It’s going to get really good,” Jones said. “We don’t have to worry about the expectations. We’ll be straight.”