Rewind: Ryan’s precision passing pays off
Falcons defensive end Ray Edwards is all smiles walking on to the field after defeating his former team, the Vikings, 24-14 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011. Curtis Compton / ccompton@ajc.com
The game that was
The Falcons, for the second outing in a row, did not show the requisite killer-instinct of a championship level team. They built a big lead against the Vikings and then let them hang around before pulling out a harder-than-necessary 24-14 victory.
What we learned
1. The short passing game works. To combat Minnesota’s strong front seven, the Falcons worked their short passing attack and Matt Ryan was lethal. He completed 27 of 34 passes for 262 yards and three touchdowns. The Falcons sprinkled in a little of their no-huddle attack to set tempo. Ryan spread the ball around to seven different receivers and would have had his third straight 300-yard game if Julio Jones would have hauled down a long pass and not have interfered with a defender.
2. The goal-line defense is stout. The defense responded when pressed against the wall after Percy Harvin’s record-breaking 104 yard return. It was the longest non-scoring play in league history. Owens had enough energy left after chasing down Harvin to sack Christian Ponder on first down. Safety Thomas DeCoud and middle linebacker Curtis Lofton were credited with stops on second and third down before Sean Weatherspoon shot a gap and dropped Minnesota running back Toby Gerhart short of the goal line.
3. Roddy White rounding into Pro Bowl form. For the second game a row, the Falcons moved White around and ran mostly out of three wide receiver sets with one back and a tight end. He was targeted 13 times and caught 10 passes for 120 yards and a touchdown. On one play that the Falcons ran a lot last season, White went in motion and came storming out of the backfield and into the flat. Ryan passed to White while he was on the move. White turned the play up field for a big gain.
Injury report
Cornerback Kelvin Hayden (dislocated toe) did not play because of injury. Cornerback Brent Grimes (knee) started the game, but left in the second quarter, while cornerback Dunta Robinson left the game, but returned to the action. Linebacker Stephen Nicholas (thigh) left the game in the third quarter and did not return. Wide receiver Roddy White (shoulder) left the game, but returned. No other injuries were reported by the Falcons.
The numbers game
4
The defense came up with four sacks, one short of their season-high of five in the opener against Chicago. Weatherspoon, Owens and defensive end Lawrence Sidbury (two) provided the sack attack.
10
Weatherspoon led the defense with a team-high 10 tackles, including a potential game-saver on a fourth-and-goal from the 1 in the fourth quarter.
50.4
Punter Matt Bosher’s averaged on five punts.
174
Tight end Tony Gonzalez caught nine passes for 69 yards. He has caught at least one pass in 174 straight games.
79
White has caught a pass in 79 straight games.
Sound bite
“When you get up, you definitely want to keep your foot on their throats.”
–Linebacker Sean Weatherspoon on the Falcons lack of a killer’s instinct.
Loose ends
Harry Douglas’ 27-yard touchdown catch was the Falcons longest play from scrimmage. . . Running back Michael Turner was held to 60 yards on 19 carries. . . The Falcons did not create a turnover for the second time in their last three games. . . Atlanta’s defense held the Vikings to 64 yards rushing on 24 carries. The Falcons are allowing 83.5 rushing yards per game, which ranks second in the league behind San Francisco (75.5).
What’s next
The Falcons (7-4) will face the Houston Texans (8-3) at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Reliant Stadium. This will be just the third meeting between the two teams. The series is tied at 1-1.
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
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185 comments Add your comment
CGD..
November 28th, 2011
1:36 pm
mke
November 28th, 2011
1:25 pm
“That was a big win against a team that has won two games all season. As long as we play teams with losing records we should be fine”
LMBO!!!!!!!
Michael M.
November 28th, 2011
1:42 pm
No he stopped a touchdown kickoff run back but the Defense actually stopped them from scoring !
How did you like that beautiful deep pass Ryan put into Jones breadbasket he dropped when he was falling down yesterday.
Ole noodle arm has more noodle than you thought he did huh? And don’t say he cant throw because he put one right in front of Roddy White’s hands and Roddy missed it by a step !
mountain_jim
November 28th, 2011
1:44 pm
Keith – from where are you certain that the whistle had blown?
The commentators only inferred it by no challenge, you could not hear it on replay, and Harvin did not hear it and thought he had scored and wanted his coaches to challenge.
Anyway, I am a Falcon fan of 38 years – not a ‘hater’ at all imho, but I feel I have earned the right by now to call em like I see em – The stats don’t lie, Falcons have lost 8 out of 11 3rd quarters and you would hope our head coach would learn something and adjust from that.
Did Harvin score a second time? He thinks so
http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/134573208.html
ATLANTA – For what it’s worth, Percy Harvin agrees with all of you who think he crossed the goal line.
Unfortunately for the Vikings and their fans — many of whom rushed to Twitter to express their angst — Harvin wasn’t able to get coach Leslie Frazier’s attention to challenge the ruling that Harvin was stopped inches short of the goal line on third-and-2 with the Vikings trailing by 10 points and under five minutes left in Sunday’s 24-14 loss to the Falcons at the Georgia Dome.
“I was trying to tell Coach to hurry up and challenge it,” Harvin said. “But he had a million things going through his head at the time, so I moved on to the next play.”
CGD..
November 28th, 2011
1:49 pm
“Falcons have lost 8 out of 11 3rd quarters”
Yep and they also only have 1 win(Detroit) against winning teams thus far…
Yeah, SB contenders alright! lol
Michael M.
November 28th, 2011
1:50 pm
Ole Percy tried to carry the whole team on his shoulders out there for sure the whole ballgame !
I couldn’t tell where he was at in that pile of mass of football players yesterday on the replays and I was watching it on 55 inch screen.
Michael M.
November 28th, 2011
1:58 pm
Anyway you look at it boys , this is what counts so take a good look below !
Atlanta Falcons 24 ——————- Minnesota Vikings 14
Bird Dawg Country
November 28th, 2011
2:00 pm
Take that performance, by Matt, all you Ryan haters and shove it where the sun don’t shine. How’s Philly and the run first dummy doing? Not so good…hehehehe
Michael M.
November 28th, 2011
2:00 pm
That is all ……………….and over and out ! LMAO
Later Taters !
Falconfan 24_7
November 28th, 2011
2:00 pm
The Saints will lose three straight games starting tonight against the NY Giants, then to the Lions and Titans.
Matt Ryan is good enough!
Bird Dawg Country
November 28th, 2011
2:01 pm
Percy Harvin smoked too much weed at FL and couldn’t make those 3 extra yards yesterday.
Falconfan 24_7
November 28th, 2011
2:03 pm
We play who we play knuckleheads. We do not make our own schedule. Go figure.
Bird Dawg Country
November 28th, 2011
2:04 pm
Gave old Percy another headache
Mike Smith
November 28th, 2011
2:10 pm
Ray Edwards, Why are you wearing Vikings colored pads under your jersey?
CGD..
November 28th, 2011
2:21 pm
must win in Houston and must win in New Orleans..
A very tall task for this staff and Melt indeed…..
Fal-cons= fools gold
CGD..
November 28th, 2011
2:28 pm
Hey Dawg lets see if Coach clean shot and his very talented QB in Ryan can participate in 5 NFC championships and 1 SB over the next several years….
DONT HOLD YOUR BREATH CAUSE THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!
THAT KOOL-AID TASTE SO GOOD DONT IT? LOL
ANDY REID GAVE IT A GREAT RUN UP IN PHILLY AND OWNED THE FAL-CONS OVER THOSE YEARS….
HOW BOUT THEM FAL-CONS? CRICKETS……………..
In consistent BloGGer
November 28th, 2011
2:34 pm
Christopher Owens is a liability. The one touchdown he saved was a trade off for two he allowed.
CGD..
November 28th, 2011
2:40 pm
mountain_jim
November 28th, 2011
12:29 pm
“Mike Smith should be asked to address this:
Falcons have been outscored in the 3rd quarter in 8 out of 11 games, by a net difference for all 11 games of 59 points. Only against the Colts and Tenn did the falcons outscore opponents in the 3rd.”
@Jim that is a troubling sign of things to come for this franchise..
That embarrassing loss to Greebay in the playoffs at home last year had the Falcons get totally man handled in that 3rd quarter…But that game was over right before the half anyway…..
Of course this QB cant come from behind due to his accuracy troubles…The coaches are coaching to Matt’s strengths not his weakness .. Let me spell it out hes a turnover machine…That’s why once Coach Smith builds a lead he becomes very conservative in the 2nd half to keep this dude from throwing another int/pick six……….
mountain_jim
November 28th, 2011
2:45 pm
Sure CGD, you troll.
CGD..
November 28th, 2011
2:52 pm
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Sorry Delusional Fal-con Fanatic! (SDFF) lol
LexLuther
November 28th, 2011
3:19 pm
No doubt Owens saved that win…the bigger impact may not be known for a few weeks. BVG is easy to adjust to as we saw in the 3rd quarter and the offense stalled in the 3rd when we went back to Mularkey calling in the huddle.
BooBoo
November 28th, 2011
3:37 pm
I watched the pathetic KC offense, led by Palfo (or something like that), who had thrown three interceptions before the midway point of the first quarter (against Pittsburg), and was 3 and out when not turning the ball over. However, on 3rd and 1 (around their own 39) they tried a direct snap (wildcat) to a running back (something different), which got stopped for no gain. Gutless wonder Mike Smith certainly would not tried anything other than the missionary position run Mike Turned into the butt of his center, in order to get the same results. Mike Smith would not have gone for it on 4th down either, had it been his team, and the Chief’s head coach did not line up and try to go mano-a-mano for 1 yard. Instead, the Chiefs did a wildcat from the punting formation and ran the up-back for 1.5 yards, shifting the punter. First down! Genius! Mike Smith would have punted and watched his punt team let the other team run it back 50 yards. If only Mike Smith would try a fake punt (or unexpected onside kick), even if it failed, it would show the league, “Hey, this guy has balls. He could try anything.” Instead, Falcon opponents know all they have to do is stop Mike Turner in the backfield on third and 1 and the Falcons will give up the ball.
CGD..
November 28th, 2011
3:38 pm
Check that they beat two teams (Detroit and Titans) with winning records this year…
hiramsaint
November 28th, 2011
3:50 pm
matty melt had to play a 2 win team to be called a precision passer. if i was him , and i’m glad i’m not , i would consider that precision passer label against a 2 win team to be an insult but…it is the failclowns
Wow..
November 28th, 2011
3:55 pm
Yes, yes, please fire Mike Smith. THat’s sarcasm folks. He’s only 40 and 19 over the last four years which is a .680 winning percentage. I’ll take that anytime. Some people are just winners, others are Saints fans.
hiramsaint
November 28th, 2011
3:59 pm
sounds like your happy with 0-2 in the playoffs also. atlanta-the city where mediocrity is embraced.
DePort
November 28th, 2011
4:09 pm
Go cheer for another team!!! .. please!! .. I am sick of reading these negative posts … we know the falcons have problems … EVERY team has them … if you dont like it … go cheer for the JAGS or something … get off of the real fans sites!!
joyaman
November 28th, 2011
4:27 pm
Rather than calling out or characterizing other bloggers, I’ll just speak my peace on the current state of the Falcons with a few Q&A responses:
Q: Are the Falcons as currently constituted Super Bowl contenders?
A: Probably not, as they still lack the needed quality and/or depth on the O-line and secondary.
Q: Does this mean that they’ll go one-and-out should they qualify for the playoffs?
A: No. Despite that fact that the Falcons will fall short of last year’s 13-3 mark, this team is more well-balanced (both O and D) and slightly deeper than the 2010 edition and are capable of reaching the conference championship game.
Q: Is the Falcons’ lack of killer instinct a fatal flaw?
A: Yes. Against teams like Green Bay, New England and New Orleans, the inability to hold on to a 3-14 point lead in the second half would almost certainly result in a loss, as it did in the Dome on MNF.
Q: Have the 2011 Falcons already reached a plateau in terms of making progress toward building a championship-contending team?
A: No. The recent flashes of brilliance that we’ve seen on offense appear to be increasing in frequency, rather than leveling off. By season’s end this team may be able to sustain their no-huddle unpredictability and then shift more gracefully back into their slashing ball/clock-control ground game. They just need to lean how to change gears better.
Q: What about the D? Has it reached it’s 2010 peak?
A: The run D is already operating at its peak level, which is fairly high. The secondary doesn’t have the depth or size to take it to the next level and is still the team’s Achilles heel. Injuries here (such as an extended absence of Grimes) could result in a dramatic falloff, which would be the team’s undoing in the playoffs. The pass rush has been sporadic at best, but their personnel are talented enough to take it up a notch in terms of consistency. I don’t see any evidence of it trending this way, however.
= my two cents
HymanSaint
November 28th, 2011
4:30 pm
I like boogers.
Michael M.
November 28th, 2011
4:34 pm
Very well done indeed well stated ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ !
Michael M.
November 28th, 2011
4:36 pm
We will get to see if the Aints are Pretenders tonight….won’t we hiramsaint ?
FALCON YEAH!
November 28th, 2011
4:42 pm
We continue to bring FALCON YEAH and we continue to win! I’m just sayin…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgWA_n6M-DQ
dean
November 28th, 2011
4:42 pm
Aints have beaten 3 teams w/winning records, ATL being one of them. The Aints also hold the title of the only team to receive an ass-whupping at the hands of the St. Louis. The Rams’ other win , 13-12, against sorry Cleveland.
Big Crimson 75
November 28th, 2011
4:50 pm
Samantha — bundle up out there dear. It’s getting chilly. Don’t want you to catch a cold working Peachtree St. tonight.
DPN
November 28th, 2011
4:54 pm
You have to remember this was a big game for the Vikings, they have have the Falcons old quarterbacks coach as there offensive cordinator, they wanted to do good for him so don’t take this game too lightly, they knew alot about the Falcons and they could have got out smarted, you could see the Vikings defense seemed to be guessing at the Falcons plays at times and we still found a way to beat them. I can see the Falcons starting to figure out what they need to be, their still not there yet but if they can continue growing each week they might have a good shot in the playoffs.
Joe Tess Fish House
November 28th, 2011
4:55 pm
Flacons got lucky again. Vikes scored, but the refs blue the call. This team just cant seem 2 put oter teams a way. Again this all goes back to the faled fist round draft pix as well as not sighing the rite free agenst. Instead they get loosers like Donto Roberson and Ray Edmunds. They cost a lot of money yet dont help the team when games.
Michael M.
November 28th, 2011
4:58 pm
Current playoff picture as of this moment :
http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/machine
hiramsaint
November 28th, 2011
5:22 pm
mikey – i think we proved we’re not pretenders 2 weeks ago…at your house as a matter of fact !
terrell
November 28th, 2011
5:28 pm
That might save us a couple of hundred $’s. lol
terrell
November 28th, 2011
5:29 pm
Correction:
Waive LD. That might save us a couple of hundred $’s. lol
MTSeats
November 28th, 2011
6:29 pm
Sit Baker, he’s a backup, at best. Ryan is still smarter than Mooolarkey. This team does not have the ‘kill instinct’, M Smith ?
ohhhYEAH
November 28th, 2011
6:29 pm
CDG
Matty cant come from behind due to accuracy troubles? have you watched this kid since he got to atlanta? He’s got like 15 game winning drives in 3 and a half years. are you smoking crack or jsut trying to stir the pot? i think 27-34 speaks for itself, thats pretty accurate my friend. Yeah, the coaching is terrible the majority of the time, but to continue callin him “Melt” further showcases your ignorance pal. Tell ya what, learn that this game is abot WINNING, not about numbers, ask Tebow. Oh, and im fairly certain the Titans also have a winnign record to the jack@$$ who said only one win came against a team with a winning record. and by the way, The Great Packers have beaten only 4 teams with a winning record. Not many more, idiot, and the Saints have only beaten THREE teams with a winning record. Yeah, your argument looks a little stupid now buddy!
Just saying
November 28th, 2011
6:46 pm
“Trust…Houston will beat the FAILcons hands down! hahahahahaha! GEAUX SAINTS!”
Samatha, why don’t you go back to your dance pole in New Orleans?
ohhhYEAH
November 28th, 2011
6:46 pm
Joe Tess Moron….
even if they had given harvin that “touchdown”, guess what the final woulda been…..thats right 24-21. Stop your b!tching and moaning and save that for the tea parties with your little boyfriends. We WON! Plain and simple, nothing else matters
CGD..
November 28th, 2011
6:46 pm
Hey Yeah got that stick too far up your azz? Take a chill pill..Your dirty birds will get in and get their azzes handed to them again for the 3rd consecutive playoff season….
You said its all about winning! What have they won in 3.6 years?
ZERO PLAYOFF WINS COMPRENDE?
Pull that stick out wash your hands for a change and sit tight cause the Meltdown is coming.. lol
Another SDFF…
ohhhYEAH
November 28th, 2011
6:47 pm
Just Saying….
She was fired, even New Orleans has a limit on how hideous their strippers can be
ohhhYEAH
November 28th, 2011
6:49 pm
oh im completely chill my friend. Im telling you that everything you said up until that last comment was completely idiotic. Had you said anything about being winless in the playoffs Id have had no choice but to agree, because its true. However, that wasnt the argument you were making. No worries though, still a few games left to play. Im sure they can change your mind
Michael M.
November 28th, 2011
7:01 pm
oh my goodness…..talk about some tough hits ” the clean hits keep coming ” on this blog here that is !
lmao, you guys are hilarious !
Michael M.
November 28th, 2011
7:04 pm
Don’t worry fellas, Atlanta will probably win another one next week and upset you with flies in your soup bowl !
ohhhYEAH
November 28th, 2011
7:07 pm
probably. Next week we will whine that we couldnt beat a 5th string QB by 50 points, because their offense is so bad it should mean we score 40 pts on one of the best defenses in the league.
Michael M.
November 28th, 2011
7:10 pm
How you guys that call Matt Ryan a noodle arm like these numbers ?
27/34, 262 YDS, 3 TD
not bad heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?