Fracus at Flowery Branch-- Hope this is not true !

[HAWKEYE]

This posted on Hawks Real Gm board.

We're hearing that there was a huge blowup in Falcon-land after Sunday's Loss To The Giants, and that the problems spilled over into monday.

The issue arose shortly after the 27-14 loss to the Giants, when defensive coordinator Ed Donatell got in offensive coordinator Greg Knapp's face regarding the inability of the offense to sustain drives, which resulted in the defense being on the field for far too long. Word is that Donatell blamed several injuries sustained by his troops on the poor play of the offense, because the defensive players were exhausted late in the game.

We're told that on monday,Arthur Blank summoned Donatell and Knapp to his office, and that Blank wouldn't allow head coach Jim Mora inside the room until Blank had a chance to talk to them. After the four met, Knapp was angry- and the word is that Knapp is openly blaming the performance of the offense on the limited passing skills of Michael Vick.

Stay tuned -- this could get ugly with backup Matt Schaub eligible for restricted free agency after the season.

[bootsybug]

am i the only one who feels this should be on a falcons blog?

[joannes3000]

There's been plenty of insightful Falcons posts here. That's pretty bad to hear, though. I hate to see what looked like a promising season getting undermined by a bunch of finger pointing.

[mrhonline]

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am i the only one who feels this should be on a falcons blog?

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No, you're not. At the very least, it should be in the "other sports" forum.

[DJlaysitup]

They were just talking about it on790thezone and had the Falcons PR guy on. Falcons are denying that it ever happened (but then mentioning that "emotions are high" after a tough loss like that) - so maybe profootballtalk.com wasn't exactly correct - but it's likely that there are some strained nerves at flowery branch.

I can somewhat see the defensive coordinator's point of view. He gets paid to have the best defense he can and he needs the offense to do something in the 2nd half to keep his guys fresh so they don't get worn down and run over...especially with all the injuries they have.

(I would move this thread to other sports but I don't know how),

[CBAreject]

Knapp is a good OC. He has made the Falcons into the top rushing team despite a mediocre OL. My only knock on Knapp is that I think he tries to get too much out of Vick. Knapp has not been able to adjust the offense to accomodate a QB who is a well below average passer.

Vick will cost Knapp his job. Knapp will cost Mora his job. Who knows about Donatell? His defense has been darn good when healthy. The only way Donatell will lose his job is if his players get hurt. He knows that, and he's piss mad at the pathetic offense for holding the ball like 7 minutes the whole 2nd half. Blank probably doesn't like this finger-pointing, though, so he may clean house after this 8-8 or 9-7 season we're about to have is over.

[macdaddy]

I ridiculed Mark Bradley for his comments about the Hawks but he is dead on about the falcons. You can't totally blame Vick. He could pass just fine under Reeves and now all of a sudden he can't??? The system is broke. The whole league knows how to defense our passing game.

[gutz]

Knapp sucks as an offensive coordinator! He doesn't run any good pass plays. No slants, no deep routes hardly, and no hitches. Our offense is so predictable. Plus our receivers SUCK! Shoddy White doesn't need to be starting period! Lelie has to be the starter from here on out. Jenkins dropped a perfectly thrown TD from Vick in the endzone that hit his hands. Vick is not the problem here. ITs this garbage west coast offense implemented by Knapp and our two #1 WR picks that are now officially BUSTS!

[TheDude]

the problem with an offense that runs as much as us is that, like Vick has said, he doesnt have enough throws to get into a rythm...you should only run THAT MUCH if you cant do anything else (a la bears last year).. and if you can't do anything else, you're gonna have problems.

[HawksFan87]

Anyone who thinks Knapp is a good OC coordinator is a idiot, he sucks. And I am so tired of him, Let's not get on the jokes we have starting for us a WR they drop everything coming their way. Vick should have about 8 or 9 TD's right now if they would stop dropping the passes. People say he needs to step it up well if the darn Receivers would hold on to the ball it would be a whole different situation. Donatell has no reason to blame anybody as bad as that defense played yesterday. The could'nt stop Tiki at all they lost us this game not Mike Vick.

[HAWKEYE]

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They were just talking about it on790thezone and had the Falcons PR guy on. Falcons are denying that it ever happened (but then mentioning that "emotions are high" after a tough loss like that) - so maybe profootballtalk.com wasn't exactly correct - but it's likely that there are some strained nerves at flowery branch.

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Any truth to the report that Blank himself was on 790 The Fan to deny this?

[Eddielives]

Can you disagree with someone and not call them an idiot. There are plenty of football experts that will tell you without hesitation that Knapp was a great acquisition by the Falcons. Watch how you deride anyone for disagreeing with you. You only make yourself look bad in the process.

[joannes3000]

I'm not sure if Knapp has as much to do with our ground game as Alex Gibbs does. He was the one that brought over the zone and cut blocking scheme from his Denver days.