Game story: Falcons outmuscled by Giants, 24-2
Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul (90) takes down Atlanta Falcons running back Michael Turner (33). AP
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Much to the dismay of the Falcons’ front office and despite their best efforts, the Falcons are not a championship level NFL team.
The Falcons were defeated by the New York Giants 24-2 and rudely escorted from the playoffs at MetLife Stadium before a raucous crowd of 79,909 fans on Sunday.
After playing a gutsy first half, the Falcons were treated like imposters trying to crash a glitzy Broadway party in the second half.
New York wide receiver Hakeem Nicks mocked the team’s tradition by doing the Dirty Bird dance after a 72-yard third-quarter touchdown and the festive Giants fans at the stadium spent parts of the fourth quarter chatting, “Hey, hey hey…Good-bye.”
Last season, the Falcons came out of the regular season winners of the NFC South. Because of some major offseason moves they were considered by some to be a Super Bowl contender.
They spruced up the offense by trading five picks to move up 21 spots in the draft to select wide receiver Julio Jones. They also signed defensive end Ray Edwards, cornerback Kelvin Hayden and safety James Sanders.
But things didn’t gel during the season as the Falcons tried to get more explosive and get to the level of offensive powerhouses like Green Bay and New Orleans.
Edwards never provided much of a pass rush, Hayden ended the season on injured reserve and Sanders was a dependable reserve.
With the offense searching for its identity and the defense remaining weak against the pass, the team was not able to climb to elite status in the conference.
With the stinging defeat, the Falcons were eliminated in their first game in the playoffs for the third time over the past four seasons.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank was hoping for a breakthrough with a playoff win this season.
“I don’t think the team took a step back, but I think obviously we’re disappointed,” Blank said.
It was the first time the Falcons made the playoffs in consecutive seasons. However, with the defeat, the Falcons have not won a playoff game since beating St. Louis, 47-17, on Jan. 15, 2005 in the divisional round.
“We struggled in several areas of the ball game,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “They won the battle of the line of scrimmage and that was one of the ‘musts’ we had to accomplish and we didn’t get it accomplished.”
The Giants, the NFC East champions, advance to play the Green Bay Packers at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
The Giants shut down the Falcons rushing attack, harassed quarterback Matt Ryan and stopped the Falcons on two key fourth-and-short situations.
“They did win the line of scrimmage and there is no doubt about that,” Smith said. “It was very evident as you watched the ball game in person. [When] we watch the film, I think we’ll see that being confirmed.”
The Falcons needed to run the ball in order to open up their passing attack. Running back Michael Turner was held to 41 yards on 15 carries.
With the run held in check, New York’s talented and athletic defensive line could rush Ryan with abandon.
Ryan, who completed 24 of 41 passes for 199 yards, did not have enough time to pass the ball deep to his fleet wide receivers, who were held up at the line of scrimmage by the New York defensive backs.
“Their front four played very well,” Ryan said. “That’s kind of what we expected. . . we were in a rhythm at some points and just didn’t make the plays on crucial third and fourth downs when we needed them to keep drives going. I think that’s probably why we stalled out a little bit.”
The Giants led 7-2 at halftime as both offenses struggled early.
The Falcons went into their no-huddle attack on their third possession and started to move the football. They put together three first downs to move from their 10-yard line to the Giants’ 25. The drive stalled when Ryan was stuffed on a fourth-and-1.
After a holding call on Giants guard Chris Snee on first down, New York quarterback Eli Manning was being chased in the end zone by Sanders and committed an intentional grounding penalty. The Falcons were awarded a safety to make it 2-0.
The offense couldn’t take advantage of a short-field after a 21-yard punt return by Eric Weems and were forced to punt after the drive stalled at New York’s 41.
The Giants offense finally came alive. They converted on two third downs and running back Brandon Jacobs broke loose for a 34-yard run down to Atlanta’s 15-yard line.
The defense stiffened and held the Giants to fourth-and-1 from the 5. Jacobs was hit in the backfield by middle linebacker Curtis Lofton, but spun forward for the first down. On the next play, Manning tossed a 4-yard touchdown pass to Nicks, who had gotten inside of Dominique Franks, to make it 7-2.
The Giants went ahead 10-2 on a 22-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes with 7:55 left in the third quarter.
The Falcons were on the move again. They drove from their 21 to New York’s 21. A third-and-15 pass to Roddy White came up inches short of the first down. On the fourth-and-inches, the Falcons went to an empty backfield as they tried to spread out the Giant’s defense. From that passing formation, Ryan ran another quarterback sneak and couldn’t find a seam as his line was overpowered again.
Three plays later, Nicks caught a 12-yard pass at the Giants’ 33, faked out safety Thomas DeCoud and then out-ran five defenders for a 72-yard touchdown to make it 17-2. That’s when he started dancing, doing the Dirty Bird dance that was popularized by the 1998 team that reached the Super Bowl.
On New York’s next possession, Manning tossed a 27-yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham with 9:55 left for the game’s final points.
“Hopefully, this is a lesson learned going into next season,” said tight end Tony Gonzalez.
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
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86 comments Add your comment
ole bird
January 9th, 2012
8:20 am
clean coaching house all good guys do not think outside box so darn predictable.
new stadium are you kidding me=fix the team first then support will be there.
so so so bad yesterday in all phases of game.
Tommy Nobis
January 9th, 2012
8:22 am
I run a place that could use your broken down car. Just push the thing out the door and we will pick it up.
McNasty
January 9th, 2012
8:45 am
You know Mike Martz is available as OC with his quarterbacks coach. I would seriously take a look there. Geting him may be the only good thing from yesterday. I can’t think of any good DC’s available.
KCG
January 9th, 2012
8:52 am
If you ask me this loss is on Matt Ryan. He has reached his ceiling. I’m so off his bandwagon now that I wouldn’t be upset if the Falcons called Brett Favre in the off season.
tidog
January 9th, 2012
8:54 am
Martz is an aggressive play calling OC. The problem i see is his propensity to throw deep developing patterns, qb needs a strong arm, o line has to dominate scrimmage. The Greatest Show on Turf was big play down field attack. The line had to give Warner and his bunch time for downfield routes. It always going to come back to line play, whether you are a run first team or throw first team.
tidog
January 9th, 2012
8:59 am
KCG your opinion is recieved well but i just didn’t see Ryan having time to do much of anything. Most of what the aftermath experts say is the Giants defense dominated the game.
Big Dude
January 9th, 2012
9:04 am
Forth and inches and we line up with NO BACKFIELD! Only a skinny QB who is supposed to bull his way through all that beef. I think that says it all…. Get rid of M.M.
McNasty
January 9th, 2012
9:05 am
tidog – you may be right but he has aggressiveness & creativity that you can build around. We have to have a OL makeover anyway
McNasty
January 9th, 2012
9:10 am
From the D3 Birdcage 11/14/11 after 1st Aints loss
McNasty
I want an apology! The aints can literally come to our home piss on us and take pictures. Our team, the one that WE pay for, in no way shape or form defends us like men. It seems that the purposeful amnesia (I can actually spell this and I’m not getting paid)about last year backfired. They were out of control emotionally and acted like they were in high school, not professionals.
Fact, the coaching staff nor Matt Ryan is of elite status. A 12 yard pass to Gonzo to win the game is basic, if you can control yourself and not overthrow because being a champion comes naturally. I have no faith in the CS to maximize his sub championship talents in a successful systematic nor schematic way.
Everyone in Flowery Branch has to de-pedestalize and demand more of MR and make no guarantees of the falcons being “his team” Maybe a little sincere competition @ QB may help
I am tired of all the post game calmness and same old rhetoric. “We need to execute, they are a really good team, we need to make plays, etc….” Somebody needs to break something and show some passion. I guess the players don’t get to see the drunk aint’s fan parading with umbrellas and trumpets in a line to humiliate Atlanta Fans in our stadium.
I think MS might be too easy on these guys. There needs to be more team disciplinary action. Fines, privileges, sanctions or whatever.
The aints are better coached but we have more talent.
I bet you the aints would have gone for it on 4th. also. However they actually have more than one play to get 6″ and it certainly would not have been into the heart of the other teams best defenders.
The status quo is not acceptable
Ignore the fans anymore and it will be at ownership’s own economic risk.
WE NEED A VOICE AS FANS
Who’s with me, we don’t need to be the only ones to Rise Up!
bob L
January 9th, 2012
9:28 am
my views have softend a little since yesterday, man don’t you know those falcons had trouble sleeping last night, all those missteps haunting them, and that includes the coaches rethinking some playcalling…………….next year, honestly not too excited
Konehead
January 9th, 2012
9:42 am
I can truly understand why a lot of ppl are giving most of the blame to Matt Ryan. I feel he does need some of the blame. Especially when you look at Brees and what he did on forth and short but Ryan balled up and tried push against a brick wall with his buck 0 five weight. Get a heart and grow SOME and jump over the pile. He just doesnt havce the killer instict that Brees, Rodgers and Brady. He waits until the defense gets set when we’re in hurry up offense (if that’s what you call it). when he boot legs to the flats he waits to throw to the open reciever giving the defense time to close the gap/distance between them and the reciever or running back. He needs to get the ball out his hands and let the skill players make plays. He consistenly holds the ball to long on those plays. All must like he holds on from hiking the ball to allow the defense to get set. I just done get it. And for the coaches to see this and NOT say ANYTHING is jus insanity. That’s poor coaching. Now that I given you my reason about the poor play of Ryan, to be fair,I think he can be a lot better if we had a descent O-line. Our O-line has to be the worst in the NFL. They are average at best. They can’t block pee-wee league defensive lineman. I wont keep any of them. For TD to be sucg a good GM and talent finder he surely dropped the ball on our O-line. He had to see that they were garbage at best. And to ignore it thinking we could get away with it is redicilous. Changes needs to come quickly. And I’m not going to even address the defense line and secondary. Other than Abraham, Spoon and Lofton and Bierman (move him to interior line) we need to gut them and start over. Cut our loses and move forward.
aj
January 9th, 2012
9:43 am
Oh Come On! Your lack of any playcalling variation or common sense whatsoever is evidenced by your mealy mouthed excuses this morning.
To quote Hicks in Aliens:“Maybe you haven’t been keeping up on current events, but we just got our asses kicked, pal!”
Konehead
January 9th, 2012
9:50 am
Let’s recap the moves that TD has done and and grade them….
Signing Julio – A
Releasing Dahl – F
Signing Edwards – F
Signing Sanders – F
Signing Hayden – F
Releasing Robinson – C
Signing Rogers – B ( need to use him more)
I know there’s more but that’s what I could think of….thoughts?
coleski
January 9th, 2012
9:57 am
Who in their right mind thought the Falcons would beat the Giants? Did you not remember the Saints game? The same team showed up to play both of them. This Falcon team can’t play the game of football.
Coaches can’t coach, players can’t play, gm can’t pick players, so whats next?
So who are you going to blame. I think it all falls at the feet of Mr. Blank.
Jeffro Bodeen
January 9th, 2012
9:58 am
Falcons and Dawgs show a close resemblance to one another in their approach to and failure in big game situations. Both are in need of, in my opinion, a new offensive coordinator. MM and MB do know that OFFENSIVE does not mean to coordinate in a manner that is not pleasng?? Maybe?? Maybe Bobo is full of Mularkey?? Either way, happy days await the departure of both.
Giant Beatdown
January 9th, 2012
10:03 am
You guys keep bringing up the fact NY’s defense was ranked 27th but don’t realize how much better we’ve played the last 4-5 games. We took GB to the wire & just about shut down everyone else. It’s all about momentum and the Giants have it. Anybody remember ‘07? Now c’mon and root us on!
benchwarmer
January 9th, 2012
10:05 am
At the end of the first have the Falcons ran a hail mary on the last play. The commentator said “now Ryan will show his arm” after the pass the silence from the commentator was deafening. Matty tossed a rainbow sky high just to get it near the end zone. The ball was short and knocked done by the Giants. Falcons receivers were left in the end zone waiting for the ball that Matty couldn’t get to them. A real demonstration of why Ryan can’t/won/t throw deep. He hasn’t got the arm!
lamac66
January 9th, 2012
10:07 am
People want to blame M Ryan
You darn right, unless your Manning or Brady the QB gets the blame when the same thing happens over and over again. Problem is folks have put Ryan in that company prematurely. Matty Ice bluh bluh….
benchwarmer
January 9th, 2012
10:13 am
Of course there is more wrong with the Falcons then just Matty Ryan. The GM forgot that quality linemen are the heart of championship teams. They have done very little right to improve the lackluster bunch on offense. The d-line is aging or ineffective. Management has shown a suprising lack of comprehension here. Even a bull like Turner goes no where without some good big tough men to lead the way. The Edwards signing showed a real lack of knowledge. TD was had.
Freegumbo
January 9th, 2012
10:14 am
It’s time to sit back and the team you love to hate win another SUPER BOWL!!!! GO SAINTS!!!
lamac66
January 9th, 2012
10:15 am
Konehead
January 9th, 2012
9:42 am
I can truly understand why a lot of ppl are giving most of the blame to Matt Ryan. I feel he does need some of the blame.
Come on now, you know you can’t do that NO MATTER what! But if you don’t you make it painfully obvious now that you are protecting him right?
benchwarmer
January 9th, 2012
10:18 am
“next year honestly, not very excited”
I second that. Looks like another losing spell is about to hit. No line and no draft to help improve.
Matt Ryan
January 9th, 2012
11:03 am
Teebow – Wow! I wish I had my 1st playoff win. But I’m not field general. I’m a powder puff of a quarterback.
lamac66
January 9th, 2012
11:20 am
Ok, by my estimates I say the local radio hosts so far is 20-80 defending Falcons/Ryan.
JONESBORO SLIM
January 9th, 2012
11:29 am
If the Falcons brass desides to dismantle the O-line and D-line…..TELL ME WHO SHOULD GO?…
Joe Tess Fish House
January 9th, 2012
11:40 am
Flacons need 2 reade 4 Tim Teabow.
Kimberley
January 9th, 2012
11:48 am
@Kam The a$$ beating the giants just put on the Falcons, ild be making excuses too. 2 Points? Julio Jones, Roddy White, Tony gonzalez, Michael turner, and all they could muster against a NY Team that, to quote you, “Arent that good”..2 points?! what is that? Im not dillusional like You and Bradley. Im not going to make it look like the birds were the Better team that just had a bad Day… They were HANDLED, it was upsetting to even watch.. the Giants, if they had allowed Eli to throw like 45 times, would have scored 45 points.. it was sickening to watch. The Falcons need to put in work in the off season and i hope Blank was only speaking in generalities with his “I dont think we took a step back” because Mr. Blank.. if youtook any bigger step backwards than that Game yesterday, you might jump in time and end up in 1963.
Jay Dubu
January 9th, 2012
12:05 pm
Braves collapse down the stretch, and don’t even make the playoffs, and the Falcons squeak into the playoffs, but are manhandled.
Let’s hope the Hawks can do better.
All of the ATL sports’ teams have the same personality.
chris
January 9th, 2012
12:06 pm
This is on the O-Line in my opinion. They have struggled all year against decent front fours and yesterday was no different. We couldn’t run or give Ryan enough time to find receivers downfield. It’s as simple as that…we get those 4th and 1’s and it’s a different game.
Jay Dubu
January 9th, 2012
12:29 pm
Bad GM work, bad preperation, and bad coaching.
FalconUGAFan
January 9th, 2012
12:37 pm
@Giant Beatdown Thanks for coming on here and not talking smack. Yes you guys handled us in every way when it counted. I don’t like losses of course, but I think we would all feel a bit better if our team (mainly offense) had actually shown up. The way our guys laid down is what sticks so badly. So, good luck and hope the best for you guys….
Fed UP
January 9th, 2012
1:25 pm
“outmuscled”?
Falcons were not out muscled; As in so many years, the falcon players did not even show up.
All of these years from the 1960’s up till now, you can count the successful teams on one (1) hand.
If I was the owner of this bunch I’d fire every last one of them; players, coaches, management staff. They were born mediocre and they remain mediocre.
GameReviewer
January 9th, 2012
3:03 pm
Urgent message for Mike Smith. We don’t need you watching any more “game film”. Obviously, from your teams past 4 YEARS performances, you’ve learned ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. The teams playoff losses get WORSE and more embarassing each year.
Please submit your resignation or be FIRED.
SirReal
January 9th, 2012
3:03 pm
Blank doesnt even see that the window is closing on this team…
Konehead
January 9th, 2012
4:54 pm
@lamac66: Yes, I think that he ( M Ryan) needs to be given the benefit of the doubt. Until we have a proven O-line then we can’t really place all the fault on him. Yes and I say YES he has got to improve. I addressed some of his short comings in my previous message. He dosn’t have the make up of the other QB’s like Brees, Brady and Rodgers but he’s better than a lot of other ones. If we spend the money on an good O-line and he still under performs then run him out of town with a stick. But i think the man needs a chance with some talen in front of him and not 5th round pics that havent panned out to be nothing more than flab.
Giant Beatdown
January 9th, 2012
8:05 pm
@FalconUGAFan Thanks for the respect and well-wishes, man! I was actually a little worried going into the game because we’d heard a lot about your OL but I was definitely surprised at how it turned out. Thought it would’ve been MUCH closer.