Are the dropped passes a concern?

David S. from Griffin, Ga.

Hi! Great that they are back in charge of the south, but one thing I noticed in the game was the dropped balls. Especially noticeable in the opening drive. Is there something in his delivery that makes receivers have to adjust to it? The Pitts’ flub particularly comes to mind.

The question is a totally fair one, David, but I am also a little hesitant to make a mountain out of a mole hill. The reason I say that is not to minimize the importance of drops, because they do matter and catching the ball is necessity for NFL wide receivers, but because of what you, yourself, pointed out.

After going back and rewatching every snap on offense, I tallied three drops in this game. That’s not a crazy amount, especially considering this was the first game with a new quarterback. Two of them came on the opening drive. The first was the Ray-Ray McCloud on the opening offensive play for the Falcons. Given that this was Michael Penix Jr.’s first NFL pass, it’s an unfortunate mistake that comes with a ton of extra scrutiny. The second was Drake London’s dropped pass just a few plays later on a designed play out to the flat. The third came in the second half on a very similar play to Charlie Woerner.

Atlanta’s receivers have actually talked about having to adjust to Penix’s left-handed delivery. As a lefty, myself, I always heard from friends about how the ball looked different when I threw it compared to everyone else. So, I can tell you that is very much a real challenge. However, the players did put in a lot of extra work last week to get ready for Penix’s first start, and it’s hard to argue with the results.

The Pitts play I think comes down to a player trying to make a play and it ultimately backfiring. He is clearly trying to extend the ball in a split-second decision where I think he felt he was closer to the end zone than he actually was. It’s a tough mistake to make, but, personally, I’d rather have a guy trying to make a play than not. He’ll need to learn from that mistake, though.

One final note that I’ll add here. As someone who grew up watching Michael Vick, I also couldn’t help but notice the number of passes his receivers seemed to drop. I’ve never confirmed this, but I truly believe it had to do with the velocity of his passes. Penix’s passes had noticeably more zip on them, and two of the drops in this game happened on short throws. To me, that signifies a…