Short takes: Resiliency, Ryan and turnovers carry Falcons
Thomas DeCoud, here tackling Ryan Mathews, had two interceptions and one fumble recovery.
(I’ll be posting the column soon on today’s Falcons’ win over San Diego, which will focus on quarterback Matt Ryan. Until then, here are my three “short takes” on the game.)
• 1. This was an impressive win on many levels, but no moreso than in the resiliency they showed. They were playing on the road in a short week after a physically punishing win over the Denver Broncos on Monday night, yet they flew to the West Coast and dominated San Diego from the opening drive. It’s only three games into the season but this might have been the strongest sign yet of how good the Falcons can be.
• 2. The Falcons will need to be able to run the ball effectively at some point. But it hasn’t been an issue yet, primarily because of quarterback Matt Ryan. Michael Turner was not a factor when the team built a 20-0 halftime lead — he had only eight carries for 15 yards for a 1.9-yard average through two quarters — but by then Ryan already had thrown for 208 yards and three touchdowns. In Turner’s defense, the offensive line didn’t create many holes. The Falcons can only hope that when Turner’s fourth-quarter touchdown run in mop-up time will signal some sort of break-thru for both he and the line.
• 3. The Falcons are winning in part because they are not beating themselves. The defense forced four San Diego turnovers (including two interceptions and a fumble recovery by safety Thomas DeCoud) and now has 11 takeaways in three games. The team’s only turnover this season was a fourth-quarter interception thrown by Ryan, which leaves the team with a net of plus-10 in turnover differential. DeCoud’s three interceptions already this season are only one short of his career high (four last year).
– Jeff Schultz
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124 comments Add your comment
Yo Vince
September 23rd, 2012
7:48 pm
The best start to finish game I’ve seen from my Birds in a while. Oh yeah, Aints still suck
Mark Richt
September 23rd, 2012
7:49 pm
Kiss my ass
SCFalcon
September 23rd, 2012
7:50 pm
Just savoring the wins and the lack of trolls…………..
Post-It
September 23rd, 2012
7:51 pm
Hey Seen… I know you’re trolling even though you’re not posting. Another pitiful performance by your team today. Hope you were there to witness it!
Yo Vince
September 23rd, 2012
7:52 pm
Ya’ll leave J S S alone. He has to be negitive
Matty Bicep
September 23rd, 2012
7:53 pm
Choke is a coward.
Post-It
September 23rd, 2012
7:53 pm
Jamal Charles!
Yo Vince
September 23rd, 2012
7:54 pm
Anyone that thinks Matt isn’t great, is a total freakin idiot. Love the new coaches. Gonzo is a beast. Where are all the stupid Aint fans?
Post-It
September 23rd, 2012
7:54 pm
Matt Cassel!
Getaway
September 23rd, 2012
7:55 pm
Ok, I took a lot of flack for defending DeCoud and applauding his re-signing. But I saw that ball hawk in him. So, can we give the man, so props now?
DeCoud and Moore, on the rise…
Matty Bicep
September 23rd, 2012
7:56 pm
Yea, Matty has taken it to a new level. Just look at the niners, aints, feebles, and understand, it just aint that easy. EVERY team in the NFL has top level talent. It is about the HC, and QB. Props Smitty and Matty Ryan.
Big Crimson 75
September 23rd, 2012
7:58 pm
21 unanswered by the Chiefs today!!
Mike Vick is terrible. No QB in the NFL has more weapons at his disposal than Vick.
The Eagles are 2 & 1 in-spite of #7. Imagine if Matty Ice had Shady McCoy to take some pressure off.
Matty Bicep
September 23rd, 2012
7:58 pm
Yo, Matty is not great, yet. If today was his last game, where would he rate? But he has potential, and is showing some incredible growth….He is the best QB in the NFL at this moment, but greatness requires SBs, and he has not yet gotten that, but I think he will.
Yo Vince
September 23rd, 2012
7:59 pm
The Aints, faint, caint, taint,
Matty Bicep
September 23rd, 2012
7:59 pm
Get, it is Nolans D. Our scheme puts the safetys in the position to make plays. The days of the cover 2 are over.
Larry
September 23rd, 2012
8:00 pm
Just saw “Seen” and his mate “Hiram” embracing in misery while sipping PBR’s and chewing some pork rinds.
It’s really kind of sad watching these two little ladies crying a puddle over in Hiram.
JSS
September 23rd, 2012
8:02 pm
Ha ha, oh here comes Larry… I knew you could not resist the temptation… And even as I have not even come in your direction and good conscience asked you not to contact me, yet you do… So, do you really want to open that can of worms? Last chance….
jfreak13713
September 23rd, 2012
8:03 pm
Good win! Got to run the ball better because so far they have gotten a lot of turnovers and that not likely to continue at it current rate. With that said I’m not sure how any teams stops the Falcons especially if they can get a solid running game going.
Go Falcons!
Yo Vince
September 23rd, 2012
8:03 pm
Bicep, what are you smokin? He has turned a total train wreck team into a winner. The joke to the leader. I’ve been a fan since the beginning of the franchise, and this is as good as it has been. PERIOD
Falconsfanforlife
September 23rd, 2012
8:19 pm
We are no longer the Dirty Birds, We are now the Atlanta Angry Birds!
DawgNole
September 23rd, 2012
8:26 pm
ramguy68
September 23rd, 2012
7:19 pm
@DawgNole Never should have let Vick (mr interception) get away venom,
Make that Mr Interception/Mr Fumble
__________________
Not my post, but you’re right.
Answer this
September 23rd, 2012
8:27 pm
JSS the tough guy blogger! He will beat you up with stats he pulls from google Larry. Better be careful…last chance! Lol! He has so many files he can open up of all his post (the ones that make him look like a tough guy) and tell you off. But the real deal is that fans were in the blogs putting both feet in his angus. He just shut down. Watch now he is waiting on someone to say something so he can come up with one of his ( or he thinks ) I am superior and smarter than all of you bloggers post! Lol. Take a look at the old blogs during the game and guys were just laying into him. Yet he still won’t admit that he said the Chargers would drill the Falcons this week…think he said something about the Chargers running game and Rivers and a good D. But he wont admit it…he will just keep spewing venom and try to be the blog bully……angry little man! Lol.
DawgNole
September 23rd, 2012
8:28 pm
Dirty Boyd
September 23rd, 2012
7:23 pm
Get ready for a week of national hype. SI cover jinx level hype. Stay grounded. You will not go 16-0.
____________________
Sound advice.
Getaway
September 23rd, 2012
8:28 pm
Falconsfanforlife, I caught that, too! I’m way past done with the Dirty Birds thing anyway. This team ain’t that team.
Post-It
September 23rd, 2012
8:30 pm
JSS… I think you really are Joe Tess. Both of you are equally unintelligible.
Yo Vince
September 23rd, 2012
8:31 pm
JSS and Choke are rubbing baby oil all over each others fat bloatted butts
DawgNole
September 23rd, 2012
8:31 pm
P Rose
September 23rd, 2012
7:40 pm
Bandwagon fans? Atlanta fans have suffered longer than those in any city in America. Those of us who have stuck by the Falcons and Braves through thick and thin are anything but bandwagon fans, compared to fans of the Cowboys, Steelers, Yankees and Red Sox — especially those who don’t even live in those cities. Atlanta fans have more right to be happy about a winning team than they do. Bandwagon? Go sell it somewhere else.
____________________
Excellent post.
rivercard
September 23rd, 2012
8:34 pm
Hate to speak too early , but so far Pat Hill is nothing short of a miracle worker. That OLine was horrid. While it still has a ways to go, the improvement is really encouraging.
Nolan and the D very impressive so far. That D needs a nickname.
dmr
September 23rd, 2012
8:36 pm
I would love to see PHILLIP RIVERS vs. JAY CUTLER in a POUTING CONTEST! The two biggest head case quarterbacks in the NFL! When things don’t get their way, their facial expressions are priceless!
Yo Vince
September 23rd, 2012
8:36 pm
As they prepare for some sweet old man lovin
rivercard
September 23rd, 2012
8:39 pm
dmr – you are so right, although I give Cutler a clear victory. Would hate to be a teammate of either one.
Larry
September 23rd, 2012
8:43 pm
JSS,
Yes, I’ll open the can again…you’re nothing but a bitter, indignant, arrogant man and it shows in every one of your posts. Worse still, somehow for some oddly perverse reason, Jeff Schultz seems to like you even though you do nothing but incessantly disparage the team he gets paid to be objective about, and has banned me and others for far less insulting comments.
The worms are out!
JSS
September 23rd, 2012
8:46 pm
@ Larry…
You asked for it… This will be “delicious!”
Matty Bicep
September 23rd, 2012
8:47 pm
Yo, Ryan has been very good, and, through 3 games, is the best QB in the NFL, but to be great, he has to do it in the post season…..But he has really stepped it up to a new level, I am glad he is our QB, and I think “greatness” just a matter of time.
Answer this
September 23rd, 2012
8:47 pm
Get him Larry….the Angry Birds and the Rise Up Nation has your back!
JSS
September 23rd, 2012
8:50 pm
Post-It
September 23rd, 2012
8:30 pm
“JSS… I think you really are Joe Tess. Both of you are equally unintelligible.”
Snorting powder cocaine has that effect, try detox… In about 18 months you’ll might be to do your A-B-C’s and go potty alone…
JSS
September 23rd, 2012
8:52 pm
Ha ha, sonny stay in your lane… This is grown man blogging… You’ll pee your pants…
Answer this
September 23rd, 2012
8:55 pm
BTW Schultz
Larry has a point…kinda disappointed with how you allow this guy so much freedom……just saying.
Coach T
September 23rd, 2012
8:56 pm
glad to see Julio return to game..huge concern there….toughed up and came back after
murderous hit…..hope he is well….
Answer this
September 23rd, 2012
8:57 pm
Hey angry little man tell us again how the Falcons were going to lose today….stick to subject no need to talk about drugs and that crap…..tell us again about all your stats and insight on the Falcons who you have picked against for the last two weeks! Or was it three? Go ahead tell us.
JSS is a Troll
September 23rd, 2012
9:02 pm
Uh-oh everyone… the big fat journalistic failure is going to “show us all.”
He’s going to show EVERYONE just how smart and better and wonderful and amazing he is.
Stand back, JSS the Troll MUST speak, MUST pontificate, MUST go find a bunch of facts and stats and half-truths that always seem to mysteriously fit his narrow, frustrated world-view.
Stand back, people… JSS the Troll will have your attention and demand you bow to his brilliance, for you are beneath him. You are beneath him and he will crush you underneath the boot heel of his mind!
JSS is a Troll
September 23rd, 2012
9:05 pm
It is amazing that Jeff, usually pretty fair and balanced with the blog, allows a smug, arrogant, self-important blog bully like JSS to continue to act like a douche without any spankings.
At least send him back down into his basement without dinner, Schultzie, so he can continue to live his sad, sad, frustrated, failed life.
I mean, I know the rest of us have jobs to head to in the morning, and JSS just has a full day of whining about how his brilliance is unappreciated by all us “normals” in the world, and how he’ll get even one day and be on top of the world, not the abject failure he currently is.
Mattie Ice
September 23rd, 2012
9:12 pm
Thank god vick is gone. He would never have a season like this or be a leader like MR is
DawgNole
September 23rd, 2012
9:13 pm
JSS is a Troll
September 23rd, 2012
9:05 pm
It is amazing that Jeff, usually pretty fair and balanced with the blog, allows a smug, arrogant, self-important blog bully like JSS to continue to act like a douche without any spankings.
______________________
Same applies to MCR–next to whom JSS is downright civil.
JSS
September 23rd, 2012
9:15 pm
You idiots curse people, insult peoples mother’s and father’s, slide along the ground like snakes and disgrace folks who have nothing to do with blogging and you think Jeff Schultz, Bradley, or Ledbetter are giving someone leeway? You are nuts, Larry got himself banned because he acted like a 3 year old telling people to sodomize themselves and worse… And instead of being a man and growing up and moving on… No, he has been waiting because he was man enough to come on and just understand why his team kept getting their dreams dashed… And don’t let his little problem with playing race matters be forgotten… He just can’t help him self, he was born with a big ole trait of 1920 in his mind!
Now some of you are just hopeless, you spend each day praying this team can win because you have an inner shame of their failures… The rest, it is personal, the three years of being wrong is killing you (inside and out)… “They’ve gotta win, I’m sick of JSS!” Y’all let the school yard butt whippings that you used to jump into gangs to administer to poor invalid kids, the weak, and deers away from a pack follow you to adulthood… I’m laughing at all of you… Not a dime of good sense in the group of you! Is that condescending enough for you?
So unlike your little group of Saints fans that may have gone lick their wounds, you picked the wrong one… Dogs, tear gas, and fire hoses didn’t scare me in utero and you bottom shelf thinkers aren’t capable enough to get the job done in my adult life!
So you conduits to stupidity, tie on your feedbags and call your nurses to change your adult diapers, Secretariat is in his prime!
phil
September 23rd, 2012
9:19 pm
Lol…..
drew
September 23rd, 2012
9:20 pm
Not namings names, but somebody is an arrogant, narcissistic, deuche.
Great game!
LOL at the Aints
September 23rd, 2012
9:25 pm
JSS,, Who is going to read alll that Bilge,, LOL,,, Go Birds,, someone touched a nerve, Ha!
LOL at the Aints
September 23rd, 2012
9:27 pm
@ JSS,, someone has had too much to drink, and it aint me,, (no pun intended) LOL
LOL at the Aints
September 23rd, 2012
9:29 pm
Here is the fact JSS,, as long as the Falcons keep winning,, you’re going to catch He##,, LOL