5 concerns after the Fins vs. Falcons game

I was at the Georgia Dome to watch this game today, and it was not pretty.  I must say, I was surprised at the amount of Fins fans I saw there.  There were at least 2 areas that were all aqua and orange, along with many Dolfans scattered around.  But anyways.  We're 0-1.  We started 0-2 last year.  Plenty of time to turn it around.  But there was a things that I noticed this game that concerned me.  Things that we will need to fix soon if we want to contend.

5. Lack of the Wildcat

We only used the Wildcat on 2 or 3 plays today.  No, I wasn't expecting it 20 or 30 times, but maybe at least 8 to 10 times.  It was one of the most effective offenses last year when we ran it, so I am puzzled as to why we did not use it more.  I feel like we should use it more than we used it today.

4. Special Teams

I counted at least 3 times Ginn took a kickoff out of the endzone only to end up at the 15 yard line at the farthest.  You can probably put some of this on the blocking, because at least 2 of them were only 2 or so yards into the endzone.  You either have to block better or realize your guys can't block so don't take it out.  Bess did an ok job on punt returns, but there wasn't much to work with there.  He pulled one great spin move right after catching one to avoid a tackle, which was a good sign.

3. Pass Blocking

Pennington was getting pressured way too much in this one.  Every time he dropped back, he was rushed to get it off.  The line did alright run blocking, so they definitely need to work on the passing side of it. 

2. Pass Defense

Matty Ice tore us up today.  Short, medium, long, it didn't matter.  Great protection from their line and our secondary just couldn't cover Gonzalez and White.  We also couldn't contain them when they dumped it off to Turner or Mughelli, who scored a TD on a pass.  We did fine stopping the run, which was expected.  I wasn't expecting us to shut down their passing game, but I wasn't expecting them to tear us up either. 

1. Chad Pennington

Yes, I am questioning the almighty Chad.  On TV, you might not have noticed how many open recievers down field he missed.  I lost count.  He NEVER took a shot downfield.  Our only long pass was Pat White overthrowing Ginn.  To go along with missing open recievers, he never even looked downfield.  Every play, he would look at the tight end, then the running back, then choose one and dump it there.  Sure, he didn't have the best protection so not much time, but come on.  At least check to see what's going on out there.  The only time he threw one more than 10 yards was on 3rd down or 2nd and very long. 

So there are my 5 concerns from this one.  Our run game and defense did alright, and Camarillo had one amazing catch.  Other than that, not much positive here.  We lost 19-7.  Should have been 26-7 if Elam hadn't missed 2 field goals and one extra point.  But it's the first game.  15 more to go.  If we can fix these things, then we should be alright.