Who’s to Blame for the Falcons’ Third-Down Disaster in Berlin?

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga – The Atlanta Falcons cannot seem to get on the same page on offense. Whether it is play-calling or execution, the team has regularly struggled with efficiency this season.

In Berlin, those issues came to a head on third downs – a continuation of a worrying trend for this Falcons offense.

Michael Penix Jr. struggled on Sunday, completing just 42.8% of his attempts for 177 yards and a touchdown. He dropped back to pass on all eight of their failed conversion attempts, where he was sacked three times (with one fumble) and completed just 1-of-5 passes for negative four yards.

Head coach Raheem Morris defended his young quarterback on Monday, saying the rest of the offense has “got to play better for him and around him.”

“We’ve got to get everybody on the same page, everybody has to be the same way,” Morris said. “We just talked about that first third down of the game, where his command is great, his check is great, and we’ve got to get it and execute it, and then we’ve got to see how that can play out after that. But all of those things have to be on us. They’ve got to be on us as coaches, it's got to be on us as players, it's got to be on us as the quarterback, the head coach, all of us.”

The example Morris cited here came in the first quarter during their first third-down attempt of the game. The Falcons were at midfield, and the Colts were gearing up to send some pressure.

Penix appears to identify the blitz, but the play clock was about to expire. They snapped the ball, and Colts defender Camryn Bynum was a free rusher on his blindside. Penix was caught staring down tight end Kyle Pitts on the other side, and Bynum managed to punch the ball out for a sack fumble.

From the head coach’s explanation, it would appear that Penix did change the play, but Pitts did not run the correct route.

“We’ve got to execute what Mike [Penix]'s saying, what he's telling us to do,” Morris said. “We’ve got to get those things done from a communication standpoint, from – whether it be Mike, whether it be us listening, whatever the cases may be, that we can get those things done, because it was a clear look, something that we’ve worked on, something that we’ve practiced, and we’ve got to execute.”

Another example of that came in the second quarter when the Falcons snapped the ball, and all but left tackle Jake Matthews appeared to be aware it was coming. He stood frozen while Laiatu Latu shot past him, getting pressure on Penix almost immediately. The young quarterback had to step up in the pocket before being sacked.

Other moments were on the young quarterback.

A perfect example came when the Falcons were driving in their first possession of the second half, Penix and this offense again faced third down. Penix had an open Pitts, but he underthrows his tight end, and the ball is knocked away.

Morris explained that it is a play that players have to “make for your quarterback every once in a while,” but it is up to the quarterback to give his guy a chance. Penix didn’t, and the Falcons would settle for a field goal.

On several of these third downs, nobody is open, and then the pass protection just breaks down.

What doesn’t help anything is the fact that the Falcons’ average down and distance on third-downs were seven yards from the line to gain. Converting none of your attempts is inexcusable, but this offense has to help itself on the earlier downs.

They appeared to go away from the run during possessions, but that perception was likely exacerbated by Penix’s plummeting efficiency in the second half. He completed just three of his 10 passes in the fourth quarter, and they all came on their touchdown drive. The Falcons punted or ran out of time on their other four possessions in the fourth quarter and overtime.

There is rarely, if ever, a single person to blame for offensive struggles. The play-caller and quarterback will always carry more of the attention, but there are a lot of people who can shoulder some of that. They didn’t give themselves a chance, but that’s not just one person.

That’s on everybody.