The Atlanta Falcons offense has cost the team another game, and a lot of the blame must be on Kyle Shanahan.

The Atlanta Falcons offense has hit a wall. They started the season on a tear, Matt Ryan, Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman were all looking like All-Pro’s and their offensive coordinator was looking like a genius.

Over the past five games, the Falcons have gone 1-5 and the offense has been woeful. Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan is the person to blame.

Sure, Matt Ryan has had some terrible turnovers and I’m not letting him off the hook but his offensive coordinator is not helping him at all.

Shanahan has shown himself to be stubborn. He refuses to allow Ryan to run the no-huddle offense, something the team has excelled with in the past because he wants to control the offense. He has said that his job is to get the ball to Julio Jones, which is great because he is the best receiver in the NFL, but football is the ultimate team sport he has to get others involved.

For Jones to be the first read on just about every pass play is insane. It also appears he does not allow Ryan to call audibles at the line of scrimmage.

I have noticed that Ryan no longer changes the play to get the offense out of bad run calls when the defense crowds the line. This is something you may expect an coordinator to do with a rookie quarterback but not a veteran like Matt Ryan.

Shanahan has the ability to be a good play caller if he would just stop being so stubborn. He needs to mix the offense up because it has become stale and easy to stop. He needs to mix in more screens, deep throws, some no-huddle and allow Ryan to audible out of bad calls against defensive alignments.

If the offense continues to flutter, the Atlanta Falcons will fail to make the playoffs.