Here are five thoughts from viewing the Falcons' 28-10 preseason loss on Thursday night to New England at the Georgia Dome:
1. Biermann looks like a starter. The crushing hit on Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is sure to make highlight reels and it's starting to look more and more like the Falcons are not going to be able to keep defensive end Kroy Biermann a secret for much longer.
Coming off five sacks last season, Biermann has had a sack and a forced fumble in each of his first two preseason games. He started on Thursday against New England and that is looking more and more like it will be the case as the regular season gets closer and incumbent Jamaal Anderson, who has not matched Biermann's production, is not only hurt but also seems as if the team is planning to move him to tackle.
Asked if Biermann is pushing for a starting job, head coach Mike Smith said, "no doubt about it."
"Production is what it's all about and Kroy is definitely making a statement with his play in these first two ballgames," the usually circumspect Smith said.
As for himself, Biermann seemed determined not to take any credit for his play, deferring it to defensive line coach Ray Hamilton and teammate John Abraham (who looked good with a tackle for loss and in drawing a holding call).
When pushed, the Montana product said the fact that he was in his third year and that "it just takes time" was part of the reason for his play.
"I've got a long ways to go here," he said, but then added, "I also feel I've gone a long way, so we'll see."
He might not have much farther to go to a starting spot when the season opens.
2. Battle for back-up QB. From the time that Matt Ryan left the game after the second series with 4:45 left in the first quarter, John Parker Wilson played the entire rest of the game until Chris Redman handed the ball off for the night's final three plays.
Smith was being tight-lipped on whether that means that the Falcons are simply trying to develop Wilson or whether he's being given an opportunity to unseat Redman as the No. 2. It seems like it might be the latter.
"I don't believe you can have too many quarterbacks and Chris is an experienced quarterback, he's played in this league, he's started games," Smith said. "John Parker Wilson was a college free agent and we felt it was very important for us this preseason to get him some game experience to see where he fits in in terms of our quarterback depth."
Last year the Falcons appeared to give D.J. Shockley a chance to win the No. 2 job but instead he played his way off the team. Parker is doing more with his opportunity. He threw the team's only touchdown pass on Thursday and overall was 14 of 25 (56 percent) for 98 yards, as he seemed to reinvent the dink-and-dunk. He also had an interception on an ill-conceived fourth-down play (more on that later). That hurt his quarterback rating, as he fnished with a mark of 61.8.
Overall, he ran the offense fairly efficiently with a fair number of rookies around him. This story does not appear to be over.
No. 3 Douglas returns to the field. As Harry Douglas was playing his first game since, as he put it, his rookie year, the Falcons appeared to want to get him the ball as much as possible. He was targeted four times -- more than any of the team's wide receivers.
He caught two passes for a total of 13 yards and took two pretty good hits, including one that broke up a catch from New England's Jonathan Wilhite.
"It felt good playing on my knee," Douglas said. "It's going great. I felt like I was cutting good. I felt a little rusty, but there are little things you learn from and brush up for next week and go on."
Douglas said it was good to "have contact like that, get back in the swing of things."
"I look at it as a good thing," he said. "I needed it. I needed to be out there. Hopefully, I can get a lot of reps, get the feel of things out there again."
They're going to need him. With starter Michael Jenkins out with a shoulder injury, the Falcons need skill at that spot.
4. Worrisome signs from the field goal unit again. Out of loyalty, the Falcons probably stuck with esteemed veteran Jason Elam for too long last season and his missed kicks might have cost them at least two games -- and those two games might have put them in the playoffs.
Having cut Steve Hauschka last week, the Falcons appear to have cast their lot with Matt Bryant. But Bryant missed a 47-yard field goal wide right (he was 1 for 2 on Thursday) and then a bizarre sequence ensued later when the Falcons toyed with kicking a 54-yarder.
They sent punter Michael Koenen, who handles kickoffs and has attempted long field goals in the past, out on the field with the apparent intent to try the kick. But then the Falcons called timeout and decided to go for it on fourth-and-13 instead. The guess is here that the Falcons had not used a holder other than Koenen in practice and did not want to baptize Bryant as a holder on the fly.
Smith appeared embarrassed by the situation and used sarcasm to deflect it -- a big turn-about for the usually stoic coach.
"Well, Michael Koenen has kicked long field goals," he said. "We thought it was a decision at first where we thought we might go out and try it. I thought better of it and I thought it was a more prudent thing to work on our fourth-and-13 play. You just never know if it's going to come up during the season."
Wilson threw his interception on that play, misreading the defense. The Falcons don't want to mess with the situation again.
5. What's with the sputtering first-team offense? The Falcons' first-team offense is probably infuriating fans so far in the preseason as it moves down the field with lightning speed, then sputters in the red zone.
Since they're not game-planning and a number of key players have been out of each of the two games -- Douglas and Jenkins in Game 1, Jason Snelling in Game 2 and No. 2 running back Jerious Norwood in both -- they deserve a pass on this one.
The Falcons had to settle for a field goal on their opening drive in part because of an incompletion on first down from New England's 34. First-year running back Antone Smith (in for Norwood) was lined up in the slot and appeared to be the hot read when the blitz came, with a defender steaming in on Ryan unblocked. Ryan threw in Smith's direction, but Smith did not turn around for the pass and it fell incomplete. The Falcons ran for six yards on the next play and couldn't convert third-and-4 and settled for a 46-yard field goal.
"You know what, we got kind of a tough look from them," Ryan said, not wanting to blame Smith for a missed signal. "We made a line call and those kind of things are going to happen. They happen and you have to adjust from that."
Asked if those are the kinds of things the offense needs to correct in the next few weeks, Ryan responded, "Yeah, those are the kinds of details that we need to continue to improve upon."
If they don't, you'll see more sputtering and that does not translate into points.
