Falcons vs. Panthers: Handing Out the Grades – Dean’s List Edition

You know the drill. These grades are easy to give out, especially when it's against the Falcons. Make that 11-16 you Falcon beeeotches! When Jonathan Stewart, Musin Muhammad and Steve Smith all score a TD it has to equal a victory the Dean's List.

Rushing Offense:           B

The Panthers combined for 33 rushes for 107 yards, a 3.2 avg, certainly nothing to brag about. The running game did come through in the clutch though when J-Stew scored from eight yards out in their first red zone opportunity. DeAngelo Williams had the longest run of 21 yards as the Falcons contained the Panthers running game.

Passing Offense:           A-

Jake easily had his best game of the season going 20 for 29 for 294 yards and 2 TD's. Moose completely abused the Falcons secondary (8 catches, 147 yards, TD) with young CB Brent Grimes getting picked on. Though this was Moose's day, Steve Smith made his presence felt (6 catches, 96 yards, TD) with an electric 56 yard TD that featured two broken tackles. The icing on this cake is zero turnovers for the offense. I had to throw on the (-) thoiugh for the penalties, including two false starts and two illegal formations. One of those came on the games final kneel down play. I don't think I've ever seen someone screw that up.

Rushing Defense:          B

The Panthers held the Falcons to 23 carries for 118 yards, a 5.1 average. If you take away Jerious Norwood's 40 yard scamper it drops to 3.5 for the remaining 22 carries. Anytime you hold the leagues leading rusher to 56 yards it s a good day, even if it is easily in the season ( I doubt Turner will lead the league in rushing for the season). The icing here is the 7 tackles for a loss, something that surely creates 3^rd and longs and the 2 for 13 (15%) 3^rd down completion percentage the Falcons put up.

Passing Defense:           A

The Panthers hung a 60.8 passer rating on the rookie QB Ryan. Add in 9 points, 2 sacks and 15% 3^rd down completion percentage and the defense had a very solid day. Interesting enough, there were no turnovers in this game for either team.

Special Teams:             D

Starting with the lone positive, K Rhys Lloyd had two more touchbacks on 5 kicks. The glaring negative is special teams essentially gave the Falcons 6 of their 9 points via the Baker bobble and the 12 man penalty on the missed Falcon FG. J-Stew did little on kick offs and Mark Jones averaged 2.5 yards on two PR's.

Coaching:                     A-

I have to start with the passing game plan that used Moose to pick on CB Brent Grimes. It's an obvious plan and the Panthers made it look easy. They even ran something new, a naked rollout and pass to TE Dante Rosario in the flat the Panthers that I just loved. They need to run that play 2-3 times a game. They keenly mixed in 30 rushes to keep the defense off balance, setting up the TD passes. The 3 for 12 (25%) 3^rd down completion rate is worrisome but completely made up by the 14.7 yard average on 20 catches. The icing here is the Panthers ability to absorb the loss of two starters on the offensive line and still not allow a sack, even to the league's leading sack man. The offensive and defensive coaches earned their pay this week.