Tag: Todd Gurley

Twitter reacts to the Falcons firing Dan Quinn, Thomas Dimitroff

The Atlanta Falcons made a tough but necessary move on Sunday night, firing both head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff after the team’s fifth loss to open the 2020 season.

The Atlanta Falcons made a tough but necessary move on Sunday night, firing both head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff after the team’s fifth-straight loss to open the 2020 season.

While most fans agree it was time for a change, Quinn was about as likable of a coach as they make in the NFL. He surely made his share of mistakes, but Quinn kept the locker room together and always took the blame for the Falcons’ shortcomings.

Dimitroff had his share of success as Atlanta’s GM, but made some questionable moves over the past few offseasons, including spending a ton on offensive linemen Jamon Brown and James Carpenter in 2019. He also gave Quinn an injury-prone, extremely young secondary to work with this season due to previous mismanaging of the team’s salary cap.

Let’s take a look at how the world of Twitter responded to Quinn and Dimitroff being fired on Sunday.

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Panthers: Winners and losers from their Week 5 victory vs. Falcons

Here are our winners and losers for Week 5.

The Carolina Panthers have won three games in a row after defeating the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 23-16.

Here are our winners and losers for Week 5.

Winner: RB Mike Davis

The Panthers have been missing Christian McCaffrey three weeks in a row, but you’d never know it based on how well they’ve played. Backup running back Mike Davis put together another solid game, totaling 149 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown. He was instrumental in putting the Falcons away during a long drive in the fourth quarter.

Loser: Carolina’s run defense

After showing signs of progress the last couple of weeks, Carolina’s run defense came crashing back down to earth in Atlanta. The Falcons offensive line totally dominated the Panthers’ defensive line all game, opening up huge lanes for Todd Gurley and the other running backs. Gurley managed 121 rushing yards and one touchdown, averaging 8.6 yards per attempt.

Winner: WR Curtis Samuel

After a quiet first month of the season, Samuel finally had a breakout game. Early on, he kept finding the weak spots in Atlanta’s zone defenses and made some clutch plays on third down. Samuel finished the afternoon with 36 yards on five catches. He added 28 more yards on four runs.

Winner: WR Robby Anderson

This was another strong outing from Anderson, who looks like the Panthers’ best receiver by a mile. After dropping a pass early on Anderson recovered nicely. He led the team with eight catches and 112 receiving yards.

Winner: WR D.J. Moore

All three of Carolina’s top wide receivers came through, today. Moore was especially potent after the catch. He burned Isaiah Oliver for a long touchdown in the second quarter and racked up 93 yards on just four catches.

Loser: Panthers’ injury luck

While the three-game winning streak is great to see, the Panthers just don’t seem to have much luck with injuries this year. Today, cornerback Donte Jackson re-aggravated his toe injury and had to leave early in the game and was unable to return. Defensive end Brian Burns was also ruled out with a concussion he suffered in the second quarter.

Winner: DB Juston Burris

The Panthers were in danger of blowing their big lead in the second half until defensive back Juston Burris came through with a clutch play. His interception of Matt Ryan in the end zone ended an otherwise-embarrassing drive for Carolina’s defense in the fourth quarter.

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Watch: Todd Gurley makes a house call against the Carolina Panthers

The veteran running back opened the scoring for the Atlanta Falcons against the Carolina Panthers.

Things have not gone well for the Atlanta Falcons this season. They enter Week 5 with an 0-4 record, they have been on the losing end of some horrific blown leads, and head coach Dan Quinn is sitting on the hot seat. But thanks to running back Todd Gurley, they at least have a lead.

For the moment.

The former Los Angeles Rams running back took a handoff from Matt Ryan early in the first quarter and made the most of the chance:

This is a well-blocked play by the Atlanta offensive line on this 3rd and 3 running play. The Carolina Panthers show blitz, but they only have one defender accounting for the A-Gaps pre-snap: rookie Jeremy Chinn. Chinn is listed as a linebacker, but spent his college days playing safety. On this play, Gurley hits the left A-Gap and the blocking sets up perfectly. What pulls another defender out of the play, safety Juston Burris who begins the down in the box, is the blocking design. When the tight end executes a slice block across the formation, Burris, who is responsible for him in man coverage, tracks across the formation with him, taking him out of the play.

A great design and good execution leads to an early Falcons’ lead. Unfortunately, that has not ended well from them in 2020.

Todd Gurley breaks UGA RB in the NFL record

Atlanta Falcons RB Todd Gurley set the record for most touchdowns by a former Georgia Bulldog running back in the NFL

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This past Monday night, Todd Gurley set the record for most touchdowns by a former Georgia Bulldog running back in the NFL. Gurley scored two touchdowns against the Green Bay Packers to bring his career total to 62 rushing touchdowns.

Georgia Bulldog legend Herschel Walker is second on the list with 61 career NFL touchdowns. Not far behind is UGA and Denver Broncos great Terrell Davis (60 TDs). This is an impressive accomplishment, especially considering that Todd Gurley is only 26 years old.

Gurley also has a dozen career receiving touchdowns. He currently has the 46th most rushing touchdowns in NFL history. Emmitt Smith has the most rushing touchdowns in NFL history at 164.

Todd Gurley’s career high in rushing touchdowns (17) came in 2018 with the Los Angeles Rams.

It is not all good news for Gurley. Unfortunately, the Atlanta Falcons have started the season 0-4. Despite the poor record for the Falcons, Gurley’s career accomplishments deserve recognition.

Gurley ran for 36 rushing touchdowns during his career at the University of Georgia. Only Nick Chubb (44) and Herschel Walker (49) ran for more touchdowns at Georgia than Gurley. Lars Tate scored 36 career rushing touchdowns as well.

Stat is originally per Dave McMahon:

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VIDEO: Falcons RB Todd Gurley on the impact of COVID-19

Falcons rookie A.J. Terrell returned to the team on Thursday after contracting COVID-19, which caused him to miss the previous two games.

The National Football League has done everything possible to get this season going despite the COVID-19 pandemic. After months of being on lockdown at home, football fans were grateful to see the league return to action in September.

As we’ve seen over the past two weeks though with games being cancelled and postponed, this virus can spread quickly if you don’t take the proper precautions. Falcons rookie A.J. Terrell returned to the team on Thursday after contracting COVID-19, which caused him to miss the previous two games.

Terrell coming down with the virus served as a wake-up call for some of his teammates. Running back Todd Gurley talked about how the players started taking it more seriously once they saw Terrell go through it.

Watch Gurley’s full comments below, as shared by Falcons beat reporter Kelsey Conway on Twitter.

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VIDEO: Dirk Koetter on Falcons’ 4th-quarter play-calling

The Atlanta Falcons lost another game they had no business losing on Sunday, falling, 30-26, to the Chicago Bears in Week 3. 

The Atlanta Falcons lost another game they had no business losing on Sunday, falling, 30-26, to the Chicago Bears in Week 3.

It’s easy to blame the defense for blowing another double-digit fourth-quarter deficit. And while the Falcons’ undermanned defensive unit was partially to blame, this game came down the team’s inability to sustain drives when it mattered most in the forth quarter.

Atlanta’s offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter explained to reporters on Monday that he wanted to run the clock down but the team just didn’t execute. Matt Ryan went ice cold, and the running game stalled out.

Here’s Koetter explaining his play-calling in he fourth quarter, as shared by ESPN’s Vaughn McClure below.

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Todd Gurley goes off in Falcons third straight loss

Former Georgia football RB Todd Gurley goes off in the Atlanta Falcons third straight devastating loss.

Former Georgia running back Todd Gurley went off for the Falcons in yet another demoralizing loss.

Gurley went for 80 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries, putting him at 14th on the 2020 rushing yards list.

The Falcons led by a score of 26-10 going into the fourth quarter but were blanked 20-0 in the fourth, losing 30-26.  This is the second straight week that the Falcons have blown double-digit leads going into the fourth.

It’s definitely nice to see Gurley getting his legs back underneath him with his new team.

Gurley and the 0-3 Falcons travel to Green Bay next Monday to face off in a prime time matchup against Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Jones and the Packers.

Dan Quinn on Falcons’ Week 1 loss: ‘We’re mad as hell’

The Atlanta Falcons were throttled in the second half of Sunday’s 38-25 loss to the Seattle Seahawks and following the game, Dan Quinn just wanted to get back to work.

As a head coach, sometimes there’s simply nothing to say following an ugly loss. The Atlanta Falcons were throttled in the second half of Sunday’s 38-25 loss to the Seattle Seahawks and following the game, Dan Quinn just wanted to get back to work.

And there’s certainly work to be done. The Falcons were shredded by Seahawks QB Russell Wilson, but somehow couldn’t keep up despite three receivers — Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley and Russell Gage — going over 100 yards.

Quinn said he was disappointed in the performance, and that the team was “mad as hell,” but will look forward to getting back on the field next weekend, per team reporter William McFadden.

Falcons fans are somewhat — if not permanently — disillusioned with this team’s lack of mental toughness when the game hangs in the balance. Atlanta went 0-for-4 on fourth-downs, while the Seahawks’ biggest play came on a gutsy 4th-and-5 deep shot that led to a DK Metcalf touchdown.

Looking at the bigger picture, though, this was a tough team to open the season against and the Falcons have plenty of time to fix things. It won’t get any easier with a road trip to Dallas in Week 2 to take on the Cowboys.

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Falcons can’t keep up with Seahawks in 38-25 loss

Here’s a quick look at the major takeaways on offense, defense and special teams from the Falcons’ Week 1 matchup with Seattle.

The Falcons lost their Week 1 matchup against the Seahawks by a score of 38-25 on Sunday, falling to 0-1 on the season. Here’s a quick look at the major takeaways on offense, defense and special teams.

Offense

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The Falcons definitely ran the ball better with free-agent RB Todd Gurley than they did for most of last season. Gurley finished his Atlanta debut with 14 carries for 56 yards and a touchdown.

The problem was most of his production came in the first half and we saw the same one-dimensional Falcons offense in the second half. Overall, the team still struggled to finish drives and went 0-4 on fourth-down attempts.

Quarterback Matt Ryan threw for 450 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Wide receiver Calvin Ridley finished with nine catches, 130 yards and two touchdowns. Julio Jones went for 9 catches and 157 receiving yards.

It was too little, too late again for the Falcons’ offense on Sunday. Sound familiar?

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Calvin Ridley’s TD keeps Falcons alive vs. Seahawks

Calvin Ridley has high expectations of himself this season, and the third-year Falcons wide receiver is backing it up on the field.

Calvin Ridley has high expectations of himself this season, and the third-year Falcons wide receiver is backing it up on the field in Week 1.

Trailing by 19 points in the fourth quarter, Ridley’s 13-yard touchdown catch made it a two-possession game with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. Check it out below, as shared by the team’s Twitter account.

Atlanta’s trails Seattle, 31-18, halfway through the fourth quarter.

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