Falcons fans have been here before, so they know the eventual pain this team inevitably causes. The new regime was supposed to help alleviate that hardship, but the process of losing heartbreakingly is becoming cyclical.
Due to Arthur Smith’s conservative approach, poor clock management, and a porous defense, Atlanta would eventually lose a game they had an 88% chance of winning.
The Falcons have a bevy of issues on their hands, and there will be many things to correct on the defensive side of the ball. For the most part, the offense played decently, outside of the second-to-last possession and Smith’s questionable decision-making. A big part of that was the offensive line keeping Matt Ryan clean for much of the day — sacked only once.
The line still isn’t great, but the offense showed signs of life this past Sunday because of the job they did. The only WFT defender who made noise is Jonathan Allen, who had at least five pressures by my count. The rest of Washington’s ferocious defensive front was mostly held in check, except when defending the run.
The Falcons offensive line was stonewalled for much of the afternoon, unable to get any push on Washington’s defensive front. Jake Matthews was horrendous in the run game, though he looked his exceptional self in pass protection. Kaleb McGary has seemingly reverted to his rookie form, and the actual rookie of the group had another poor outing.
According to Pro Football Focus, Jalen Mayfield not only had the worst offensive grade on the team (29.8), but he also had another jaw-dropping pass blocking grade… 14.6!
Mayfield has improved each week he’s been in the league, and last week against the Giants, the rookie third-round pick had a good game. He deserves praise for the quick improvement he made, given where he started in the season opener.
Still, we have to be honest with ourselves, and Mayfield was bad again this past week, specifically pass blocking. Not only has he given up four sacks through four weeks (the most in the league), he’s committed five penalties. Against Washington, a penalty eventually resulted in a stalled drive.
The coaching staff might be pleased with aspects of his game that he’s improved upon, but there has to be the assessment and decision that comes with Josh Andrews returning. Before the Washington game, Andrews was eligible for the first time to be activated off the IR, but he wasn’t ready. However, if one more week of rehabilitation got him to that point, Smith and the staff would have an interesting decision to make.
This would be a difficult week for Andrews to make his return, given the team has to travel across the pond to play the Jets in London. The staff would have to be pretty unsatisfied with Mayfield to play Andrews in a situation like this. I would expect Mayfield to start against the Jets for continuity purposes along the offensive line, but if trends continue, Andrews could start by Week 6.
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