Preseason week 3: Titans 27, Falcons 16

Having barely gotten started, PC2013 will wrap up with a preseason peek at the Rams' week two opponents, the Falcons. As a bonus, the Rams also play the Titans this season, so a little double-scouting here, but focus will be on Atlanta. When we last saw the Falcons, they had the best regular-season of any NFC team at 13-3 and claimed the #1 seed in the playoffs, but nearly got beaten at home by one NFC West opponent before caving in the NFC Championship to another. On its face, that tells you the Falcons need to get more physical to successfully finish off a run to the Super Bowl, so who do they add?

See above.

Let's see how that new guy fits in, then, and try to guess how much the Rams are going to miss him...

FIRST QUARTER
Steven Jackson immediately rumbles off left tackle for 12 yards and grinds out another first down off right guard after a short completion to Tony Gonzalez. Atlanta's running no-huddle, and Matt Ryan hits Julio Jones for 10 more. Roughing the passer by Bernard Karmell Pollard moves ATL all the way to the TEN33. Alterraun Verner's had tight coverage on Julio Jones but gets five yards for getting too tight. (Roddy White not playing in this game, btw.) After a 2-yard gain, Jackson gets a great fullback lead block by Mike Cox on a draw and gets 12 more. Imagine this, Jackson not getting met in the backfield every other play. ATL's down to the 6 after another Jackson carry and a screen. Only 7 Titans in the box. 3rd-and-3, Tennessee's first blitz of the night succeeds after the left guard misses his assignment. Sack by Moise Fokou, FG by Matt Bryant. 3-0 Atlanta

Even without White, that drive's the whole problem about playing Atlanta. You're going to have to be able to play man against their receivers, and even when that succeeds, you're going to have to gamble to get enough heat on Ryan.

Tennessee's big offseason offensive line investments don't pay off on their opening drive. Peria Jerry blows up a delay handoff to Chris Johnson, and Sean Weatherspoon strings out a sweep that the rest of the Falcon D is all over anyway. Third-and-long, the Falcons blitz Thomas DeCoud over RT and dog another safety over LT. DeCoud flushes Jake Locker, who gets blasted while scrambling and loses the loaf of bread he was carrying. Falcon ball.

Oh great, they have a defense, too.

Jackson avoids a tackle in the backfield but has enough room to bounce outside for 3. 35 yards for him already. Nice leaping catch by Harry Douglas for 15. Ryan getting luxurious amounts of time and hits Jones for 8 more on an out route. Just 7 in the box here but Tennessee stuffs Jackson on 2nd-and-2. Vernon holds Jones again for another penalty, but the Titans keep them out of the end zone again, with Coty Sensabaugh blanketing Douglas to break up a 3rd-and-goal pass. Front four got nice pressure on Ryan there to force the pass and the FG. 6-0 Atlanta

I'd feel better about Atlanta's red zone problems here, but Roddy White's been out, and Tony Gonzalez had just barely returned to camp at this point. The o-line has had a couple of hiccups in the red zone so far. Hardly a weak link, but it may be a chink in the armor.

RG Chance Warmack gets Johnson a nice gain by pancaking Jerry. Jerry helps string the next play out well but gets sent to the ground again at the end. Shonn Greene converts the 3rd-and-1; this time it was RT David Stewart wiping out Jerry. Hey, I think we've found a weak link. Tennessee's weak link, though, is still when they take to the air. 3rd-3, trips right, nobody gets open and a dog LB blitz gets Locker to force one incomplete in a crowd to TE Taylor Thompson. Punt away.

Falcons pick up a blitz pretty easily and Jones burns Vernon right off the line for a 40-plus yard gain. Atlanta back in FG range in a blink.

SECOND QUARTER
Back-to-back penalties, though, including on Jones for a push-off, send Atlanta back out to midfield. Jacquizz Rogers picks up a dog LB blitz to let Ryan hit Gonzalez for 11. Rogers' very nice blitz pickup the next play is wasted when Jones drops a sideline pass. 3rd-long, Jason Snelling leaks out wide open after BLASTING a blitzer to the ground, but he's too slow and the Titans close on him easily. Atlanta's camp leg Jeremy Shelley is wide right from 46; Titans ball. Still, the Falcons have one of the best backs in the league at picking up the blitz in Jackson, and don't even need him to do it!

Locker gets a blitz pickup from Johnson and hits Kenny Britt across midfield, followed by another nice gain to Britt down to the 30. Atlanta D has been French vanilla at best. From my notes from last postseason, I know I wasn't very impressed with their interior line, and I'm still not. That's also the new Tennessee interior line flexing its muscle. Johnson explodes down to the ten with the fullback sealing Kroy Biermann off nicely and Thompson stoning a linebacker. Play-action draw on 2nd-and-goal sets up Nate Washington to beat rookie Robert Alford on a post slant for a TD. 7-6 Tennessee

The Falcons can still be run on. In my limited scouting, the Seahawks and 49ers did it in January, and the Titans are doing it here.

Toss left to Jackson for 3; nothing really special about it, but that play usually only got about a yard for him in St. Louis. Next play is a pass to Steven in the flat that gets nothing; pretty sure good edge rush from RT forced Ryan's hand there. Titans only rush 4 on third-and-long, but they're all really firing. Strong edge rush forces Ryan to try to step up, but Derrick Morgan sacks him and Jurrell Casey strips the ball out for a fumble that Ed Hochuli disallows because Ryan was ruled in the grasp. Justin Blalock getting beaten on the play at LG really broke down the pocket.

Locker to Thompson for a pretty easy 15 with only late rush in his face. Thompson got open underneath the zone from out of trips formation. Greene gets a big hole for 8 as Thompson pins Jonathan Babineaux and Warmack mauls a LB on the pull. Andy Levitre pulls on 2nd down and Greene bangs out the 1st. Play action to Greene gets Washington open on the sideline for 16. Locker has all night to throw from the ATL41 after play action again, but has no one open and slides for 3. The whole Falcon d-line wins on 2nd down and Biermann trips Greene up for 1. Locker's 3rd-down throw is wild and out of bounds with everyone covered again, but it's first down Titans after a late hit by Jerry. Peria or pariah? Thompson splits wide and is all alone for a 5-yard comeback. So now that Jared Cook is gone, the Titans are using the TE a lot? Weatherspoon and Biermann help stuff another Greene carry, and the Falcons sack Locker on 3rd-and-4 with everybody covered yet again. That started as a 3-man rush with Biermann dropping back, but he closed in when Locker tried to scramble and got the sack. Titans settle for a chip shot FG. 10-6 Tennessee

Tennessee's approach really does look like the way the Rams are going to have to attack the Falcons, so it's good to see it working thus far. They finally got it going on offense with successful physical running that set up play-action.

Jackson gets about 4 off right tackle. Nothing special there, but that was usually a 2-yard play in St. Louis. 4-man rush gets nowhere and Ryan hits Jones for 15. Jackson and the fullback leaked out on the play and both looked wide open, too. Falcons using less play-action than I'd expected; I thought they usually loved that. Jason McCourty has Jones covered on 2nd down, but Jackson turns a checkdown into a first down at the TEN45 at the 2:00 warning. Falcons had everyone else going deep there. That's all the farther they got; a Drew Davis drop was followed by a sack and an incompletion. Both pressures came over RT Lamar Holmes. Morgan, who looks linebacker-fast, whipped him on 2nd down for a sack, and a stunt on the right side surged into the backfield and flushed Ryan on 3rd down. Holmes, who's replacing now-Dolphin Tyson Clabo, is just a 2012 third-round pick who didn't play last year. Took long enough, but I believe we have found another weak link.

Washington beats Alford deep; Alford was one of my favorite corners in this year's draft, but right now, he's a weak link. The next play, though, either Warmack screwed up an assignment or Stewart thought he had a blocker behind him who wasn't there, and Biermann pretty easily cruises up the B gap and sacks Locker before he knows what hit him. Quick out to Britt beats Alford again and puts Tennessee in long FG range. Alford breaks up a deep end zone pass for Britt to force a long Rob Bironas FG. 13-6 Tennessee

The Titans, who blitzed on their last sack of Ryan, do so again after the kickoff and get Ryan again to end the half. Holmes got whipped again on the outside, and Ryan had nowhere to go because Mike Martin put Blalock on the ground, and kept coming to get the QB.

So the Falcons surprisingly head into halftime with only six points. White's absence and Gonzalez barely having been in camp are certainly big factors; the receivers behind them did pretty much squat and had Ryan constantly looking for Jones. Jackson contributed about what you'd expect. Their main issue looks like the right side of the offensive line, which could be a lot bigger than everybody on the Falcon bandwagon realizes.

THIRD QUARTER
Starters are staying in and keeping me out of speed mode. Another big seal the fullback on Biermann springs Johnson for 20 to midfield on a 3rd-and-1. That pull to Biermann's side has worked every time the Titans have tried it. Corey Peters finishes off a big series by blowing up a 2nd down screen and sacking Locker on 3rd down after steam-rolling Warmack. The whole Falcon d-line won on that play, even Osi Umenyiora, whose name has barely been called tonight against Michael Roos. Calling Jake Long!

After a couple of Jackson runs for about 6 yards, pass protection officially becomes a concern in Falcon country as Casey gets to Ryan easily for Tennessee's fifth sack. Just a 4-man rush, but Holmes and RG Garrett Reynolds couldn't handle a stunt and Casey split them. Again, the reduced options at receiver for Ryan this game are a significant factor, but Atlanta can still expect that right side to get attacked relentlessly all season.

The entry of Ryan Fitzpatrick into the game with 9:00 left in the 3rd officially puts us into speed mode...

* Fitz's first pass, though, is a 56-yard bomb to Michael Preston inside the 5, burning Alford with Atlanta's first-string D still on the field. Alford also gets beaten for the TD, so maybe don't ask me in the future about who'd be a good corner to draft. 20-6 Titans. Then again, I also liked Coty Sensabaugh a couple of years ago, and he looked good all night. After another Falcon FG made it 20-9, Alford got brief revenge when Fitzpatrick threw a terrible interception right to him on an attempted slant pass.

* Rogers continued to stand out in blitz pickup, springing Dominique Davis for a 40-yard scramble in the 3rd. The Falcon linemen are bigger liabilities in blitz protection than their backs are.

* Tennessee's got a nice up-and-coming young secondary, but looked pretty awful as Darius Johnson waltzed through them for a 41-yard TD off a simple drag route to make it 20-16. Corey Lynch looked so bad blowing the tackle on that play it's easy to understand how he ended up on the waiver wire at the end of camp.

* Alford topped off an awful night by getting beaten on a slant for a TD again, for our final score of 27-16, this time by the 6'5", 213-lb Preston, who went on to make the Titans' main roster. He was signed as a free agent out of Heidelberg University in 2011. (The one in Ohio, not the one in Germany.) He spent all of '11 and most of '12 on Tennessee's practice squad. Hey, maybe practice squads do develop future prospects.

* Ryan was only 11-for-19 with an 80.6 passer rating; Locker was 11-for-13, 134.9.

* With 5 tackles and officially a sack and a half, Jurrell Casey noses out Preston for POTG.

* Expect attacking Biermann with pulling-guard plays and attacking the right side of the Falcon o-line to figure prominently in the official RamView preview of the Rams-Atlanta game. And if Alford's on the field, you're throwing at him almost automatically.

* The Titans' biggest deficiency right now is clearly their new jerseys, which have the unfortunate effect of making them all look like they have massive pit stains. That was probably the NFL's worst uniform even before the sweat effects were added. Time to re-design that uniform; the helmet has always been awful.

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