I was excited for this game, though to be honest I never saw us winning it. Mainly I wanted to see how week looked coming out of the bye-week. Would there be an improvement on the offense, will the defence be strong… sadly the answer to both these questions was “No, not really.”

The defense wasn’t the unit we’re used to seeing and gave up yards to Michael Turner because of really shabby tackling. And the offense capped out – again – at 17 points, which just isn’t enough.

The offensive line continues to shuffle and change as injuries take their toll. I’d be surprised if Jason Campbell even knows the names of the 5 guys in front of him next. Obviously he’ll remember Casey Rabach – not just as he puts his hands on his rump quite a lot but the refs call it out every week. Usually after “Holding” and before “10 yards”.

Anyway… 3 things I liked this week:

  • Matt Ryan’s response to Landry’s late hit. Just tapped him to say “no biggie” and carried on. The fact that Hall decided to make a big thing out of it was a bit pathetic. Ryan and Landry (the actual hit aside) both showed how that should have been dealt with.
  • Ladell Betts. I’ve been hard on him in the past, and he’s not Portis (not a 2006-2008 Portis anyway) but he was out there giving it some. Well played son.
  • Campbell to Yoder. That was a great play. Campbell moved and waited for the play to come. Didn’t force it, pumped and then flicked a great throw to Yoder who made a brilliant catch to get his feet down. It capped a decent drive where we looked like a team again.

    • And 3 things I didn’t:

  • Chris Cooley and Cliton Portis on the sidelines. That’s not good, at all.
  • The tackling. Jesus people, this was Michael Turner! Why was Landry falling at his feet? Dante Hall still plays like he’s got his fingers taped together – he seems unable to hold onto anything or anybody.
  • First Half scoring woes. Yeah, they’re still here.

    • Image Credit: The Suss-Man (Mike)