Atlanta Falcons believe league has book on sputtering offense

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Atlanta Falcons right tackle Ryan Schraeder cut to the chase when discussing the state of the offense.

“They figured us out,” Schrader said.

The Falcons appeared set to take the league by storm and re-write some of the league’s offensive marks while jetting out to a 5-0 record. But since then, the offense has sputtered as the team has won just one of the past four games heading into the bye week.

The only win was a 10-7 affair over the Tennessee Titans and their backup quarterback, Zach Mettenberger.

Things have gotten so bad that first-year coach Dan Quinn wouldn’t go-for-it from the 1-yard line with the game on the line against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

This led to a loud meeting of the key offensive minds after the game as the Falcons’ prime three offensive players held an open summit.

Quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receivers Julio Jones and Roddy White were not pleased with the unit’s showing in the 17-16 loss to the lowly 49ers at Levi’s Stadium. They want to get things figured out before they play host to the revived Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 22 at the Georgia Dome.

They feel that the unit must function faster, may be too predictable and may need to get back to using the no-huddle offense, which has been a staple of the attack during Ryan’s career. The no-huddle also worked and produced their only touchdown against the 49ers right before the half.

“We have to play a little faster as far as getting in and out of the huddle,” said Jones, who has 80 catches and over 1,000 yards receiving. “We just have to play faster.”

White, who only caught one pass for 20 yards Sunday, is being woefully under-utilized. He has 17 catches on the season.

They tried not to criticize offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.

“Kyle has been doing a great job,” Jones said. “Defenses are holding looks and they are switching up at the snap on Matt. I don’t know if it’s making him hesitate a little bit or what. I just feel like we have to play faster as an offense.”

White was clearly frustrated, but careful with his words when asked if the offense has become too predictable.

“We’ve been on film for the last several weeks now.” White said. “We’ve got to mix it up. Find other ways to clean up formations, motion guys and Texas (no huddle) and stuff like that. Everybody is running the same plays in the NFL.”

Ryan, ever the diplomat, said he was fine with the decision to kick a field goal late in the game from the 1-yard line.

“I trusted in (Quinn),” Ryan said. “He made the decision. I felt confident that our defense was going to get the stop. I felt like we were going to have a chance to go down the field and get the field goal and win.”

The 49ers successfully shut down the Falcons’ rushing attack, and Devonta Freeman was not used on the last red-zone drive.

“It was just the way that they played us,” Ryan said. “Obviously, we had play calls designed to use Devonta, but the way that they played us in those situations dictated that the ball go to other spots. That’s just part of the deal when you get into the red zone and when they pressure, you have to use your pressure options. We didn’t find a way to get into the end zone.”

Ryan made a point to mention Shanahan’s play-calling, but seemed to blame the players for not executing the less-than-optimum plays.

“Anytime that you don’t play up to your standard, we are all going to evaluate what we need to do differently,” Ryan said. “But from a play-calling standpoint, I thought Kyle called a good game.

“I think from a player’s perspective, we’ve got to make it work. That’s always the mindset that I have. I don’t think from a player’s perspective that we did enough to get it done.”

The bye week comes at a good time for the Falcons’ offense.

“We have the opportunity to be critical and safe-evaluate what we are doing well,” Ryan said. “I think there have been a lot of things that we have done well through nine weeks. We also have time to look at what we are not doing as well. We can either change what we are doing or try and get better at those things.

“I think it will be a good opportunity to look at what we do and try to improve.”