Report card: Falcons’ grades for win over Redskins
Atlanta Falcons running back Michael Turner carries the ball into the end zone for the winning touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Washington Redskins in Landover, Md., Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012. Atlanta defeated Washington 24-17. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
C — Running backs: The Falcons had 28 rushes for 83 yards (3.0 per carry). Michael Turner ran well late and scored the game-winning touchdown. He finished with 67 yards on 18 carries.
A — Receivers: Tony Gonzalez and Julio Jones turned in big games. Gonzalez had 13 catches for 123 yards for his 29th 100-yard game. He also had his 99th touchdown reception, which tied him with Don Hutson for eighth on the NFL’s all-time touchdown reception list. Jones had 10 catches for 94 yards and a touchdowns. Harry Douglas continued to block fiercely in the run game.
A — Offensive line: The unit gave up just one sack and three quarterback hits. On most plays, Ryan had time to scan the field.
B — Defensive line: The unit did a good job maintaining their rush lanes against Robert Griffin III and kept him from breaking loose on some runs. Defensive end Kroy Biermann was used to drop into coverage on some defensive calls.
C — Linebackers: Sean Weatherspoon led the team with 11 tackles. Stephen Nicholas had four and Akeem Dent had two tackles. Washington’s Alfred Morris rushed 18 times for 115 yards.
C — Defensive backs: The secondary blew a coverage that allowed Washington a 77-yard touchdown. Dunta Robinson had a strong game with two pass breakups and an interception. Thomas DeCoud continued his ball-hawking ways with another interception.
A — Special teams: During the coin toss, kicker Matt Bryant was still testing out his cleats. The extra work led him to change to his long-spiked cleats on the wet track. They were key to getting proper footing on his 53-yard field goal. Bosher had a net average of 38.5 yards on six punts.
A — Coaching: You have to give the coaches credit for sticking to the game plan. The Redskins rope-a-dope strategy helped them take a lead into the fourth quarter. The offense kept chipping away until they outscored the Redskins 17-7 in the final quarter.
NEXT UP: The Falcons (5-0) host the Oakland Raiders (1-3) at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Georgia Dome.
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[...] in Week 5, but when they needed to score, when they needed to make a play, some more… Report card: Falcons’ grades for win over Redskins – blogs.ajc.com 10/08/2012 Atlanta Falcons running back Michael Turner carries the ball into [...]
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Loyalfalconfrmthemississippi
October 8th, 2012
8:41 pm
True that bro no respect for our falcon on the international network and espn this media completely overlooks our teams success every year
Mike Franklin
October 8th, 2012
8:46 pm
Sure wish there was a thread for Texans @ Jets… those boys from Houston remind me of the Falcs… fast and hungry. Wish we had road unis like theirs… something other than white.
D. Orlando Ledbetter
October 8th, 2012
10:19 pm
Sean – You can blow coverages. That pulled their grade way down. Dunta Robinson had a A-plus. He was balling.
Esquire
October 8th, 2012
10:43 pm
PMC
October 8th, 2012
11:29 am
Nothing good comes from posting during a game. Especially watching this team. Just enjoy the sausage once it’s cooked.
***********************************************************
The trolls take their weenies raw.
give me a break
October 8th, 2012
11:09 pm
giving ryan a C+? give me a break. How do the receivers and tight end (the other end of the passing game) get an A and the QB get a C+? The pick part of the pick 6 rest with the o-line that can’t keep a defenders hands down. Ledbetter’s grading system = D- Give me a break.
Mora less Petrino
October 9th, 2012
2:07 am
Outscoring your opponent five games in a row, A+++++!
JosephDaKoolest a.k.a No Answer For Julio
October 9th, 2012
4:26 am
I agree with most of the grades execpt the QB maybe he should have gotten a B-.Everybody thats on Michael Turner STOP IT…..The Falcons are passing more this year than they have in the past. Lets not forget under Mike Smith we have always been top 3 in the league in rushing. Michael Turner has always been top 3 in the league in terms of rushing yards and TD’s. I hate the blown coverage. But it is still early so I definitely expect the defense not to have anymore blown coverages. I like the record and we can always improve but, please yall act like we are susposed to be perfect. And Cleveland Ave Turk you a fool lmao. Go Falcons!!!! The Real A Town Got Your Back!!!!!!
Col
October 9th, 2012
5:17 am
A little harsh on Ryan – another 4th Qtr comeback achieved. Whilst he did suffer a few errant passes this week – the first all season to my mind – I still counted 4 dropped passes. A little hard to punish the receiving corps however – as the drops were from Turner, Rodgers and oh my two from Joe Hawley – back to C/G next week please Joe…. 5-0 and the Raiders at the Dome coming up…!!!!
RG3
October 9th, 2012
6:39 am
Did anyone get the license tag of that truck?????
RG3
October 9th, 2012
6:40 am
@#$%&*@?#@**
Samuel
October 9th, 2012
7:00 am
The grades were fair there were alot of mistakes made on both sides of the ball. The good thing is the Falcons can score points. Now if they shore up stopping the run the sky is the limit. If you looked at the Jets and the supposedly best team in football- the Texans last night, If the Jets had an offense that could consistently score points they made have won the game.
SeenThisB4
October 9th, 2012
8:56 am
I’m bbbbbaaaaaacccccckkkkk! My beloved Saints are back on the winning track! We are now 1-4 with 12-4 staring us in the face. Chalk up yet another record for Brees, he’s is with out a doubt the best QB in NFL history. I was at the game and had passes to the locker room, Brees reach in his croch and gave me his cup…mmmmm I have it hanging from my Pinto rear view mirror. Works good as an air freshener too. GO SAINTS!!!! 12-4 baby…YEAH!!
DR. FALCON
October 9th, 2012
10:08 am
TONY G., IS A MACHINE! MATT RYAN, THOUGH DESERVES AN A-! IF JULIO CATCHES THAT DEEP BALL IN THE 1ST QTR., RYAN WOULD’VE HAD OVER 400 YDS! HIS 18TH, 4TH QTR. COMEBACK, SPEAKS VOLUMES! CALL IT LIKE IT IS, LEDBETTER! WE ALREADY HAVE 3 ROAD WINS! THAT IS HUGE IN THIS LEAGUE!MATT RYAN, MVP! SUPPORT OUR QB!
btwarren
October 9th, 2012
10:09 am
This is not college football where style points matter. The W is all that matters in the end. The Falcons went on the road and played outside in the rain. Last year they would have lost this game, see game at Tampa. They showed the NFL that the knock on them being a dome team is no more. The Falcons can and will throw the ball, a lot I might add, even in the rain. Formula for success in the NFL, win your home games and half your road games. So far Falcons have done just that.
People want to annoint the Texans the better 5-0 team. Looking at their schedule,they have played the same caliber of teams the Falcons have and they too could have lost that game last night against the Jets, but what happened, late INT sealed the victoy, just like the Falcons. They Won and that’s what matters.
BK
October 9th, 2012
10:09 am
great game sunday, i am looking forward at being at the game sunday against oakland.. RISE UP ATL!!! LETS MAKE IT 6-0 ROLLING INTO OUR BYE WEEK…………….FALCONS FOR LIFE
Mikey
October 9th, 2012
10:11 am
A fair assessment with a couple of exceptions: Ryan’s performance was far from a “C”. He fumbled a snap and threw an interception so he did make 2 unforced errors in the game. However, aside from that, he threw with precision and used his brain to select the right play/receiver nearly every time. He ended up with 52 passes, nearly 350 yards and two touchdowns and without his precision and exceptional QB ability, the game would have been lost. The O-Line still needs work. Their pass blocking held up pretty well against a marginal defense but got crushed on most running plays. Ask yourself how running backs like Turner, Rodgers, Snelling get limited to 2 yards per carry. There is a brick wall right in their lane on most plays. If blocking doesn’t improve, we will just have to run a different variety of plays. The line has not been able to consistently support running between the tackles. I also think the secondary did a stellar job except for the one BIG mistake. The misscues are relatively easy to fix and I trust that the coaching staff is ON the case. If they just continue to improve at the pace they have demonstrated, they will be hard to stop. Without these few misscues, they would have been dominating. GO FALCONS! YOU ARE RISING UP!
single white dove
October 9th, 2012
10:29 am
C — Linebackers: Sean Weatherspoon led the team with 11 tackles. Stephen Nicholas had four and Akeem Dent had two tackles. Washington’s Alfred Morris rushed 18 times for 115 yards.
D-LED?,
Didnt Spoon take RG3 to the woodshed???? That would surely deserve a C+?
SeenThisB4
October 9th, 2012
11:00 am
That last post was an imposter…..I’m the real dummy
D. Orlando Ledbetter
October 9th, 2012
11:05 am
single white dove — Yeah, perhaps a C-plus would be in order for that additional information.
rock
October 9th, 2012
11:38 am
How is DB Brent Grimes recovery progressing?
TalkReal
October 9th, 2012
2:12 pm
The cheerleaders wee very hott. A tough game was expected and a tough game we got, I wou have liked to see R2D2 stick around for the conclusion. Good win,keep improving and make sure the defens doesnt tae plays off. Julio still a work in progress but taking strides forward.
TalkReal
October 9th, 2012
2:14 pm
It’d be so disrespectful to not ven mention Tony G’s contribution to the outco of that game. Tony was mvp of that game and boy I hopehe sticks around for atleast another season even after we win the superbowl. True star veteran with true star veteran moves that never fail. Watch and learn kids.
William Andrews
October 9th, 2012
3:20 pm
Actually, I’ll give Ryan a solid B and the receivers a B+. Ryan would have had two 50+ yard completions had Julio held on to the ball. He could have easily been 36 of 52 for 420+ yards. Not complaining about Julio as he made an incredible catch and I believe his hand is still an issue.
We’ll be fine, but Ryan put the ball in his hands twice on bombs and he dropped them. Looks very similar to Roddy White his first couple of years and I have all the confidence in the world that he will be even better than Roddy in the coming years.
Mo
October 9th, 2012
3:30 pm
When Peters comes back next week he’ll be taking most of Akeem’s snaps. He and Peria on the field together is going to be awesome.
because you're mine
October 9th, 2012
4:28 pm
Is JJ’s hand a problem still? Sumfin just ain right.