Falcons win (but run before somebody changes their mind)
Falcons' real stars came on defense, like this fumble return for a touchdown by Jonathan Babineaux. (Curtis Compton/AJC)
Sometime after the game’s first pass went off Roddy White’s hands and turned into an interception, and Michael Turner was stuffed for no gain and then dropped a pass on the Falcons’ second and third plays, and Matt Ryan (five interceptions) mutated into some unrecognizable being, it probably occurred to everybody: This wasn’t going to be one of those games when we would all fawn over the Falcons’ offense.
“We were kind of sleepwalking through the first quarter,” coach Mike Smith said.
Sleepwalking? Actually, that would’ve been improvement. Curly mixing up the cake flour with the dynamite powder is when things kind of went sideways.
Five interceptions. Six turnovers. A coach who forgot the challenge rule and as a result was penalized and potentially lost an overturn of a fumble.
They won anyway.
This is kind of like a Big Foot sighting. Don’t believe that grainy footage that seemingly shows a scoreboard reading: Falcons 23, Arizona 19? Understandable. Half the players in Atlanta’s locker room probably didn’t believe it, either.
The other half play defense.
“It goes against the law of averages,” Tony Gonzalez said.
If you were a Falcons’ player Sunday, you skipped showering after this game, ran to your car and sped home before some giant hand descended from the heavens and a voice cried out: “Hold everything! A plague of locusts and parting the Red Sea, that’s crazy enough. But even I have my limits.”
Ryan threw five interceptions (three in the first quarter) but the Falcons pulled out a win. This happened for two reasons: 1) The defense was great for much of the day, and until eight minutes into the fourth quarter had provided the team’s only touchdown (Jonathan Babineaux’s fumble returned after a sack and forced fumble by John Abraham); 2) Arizona, except for wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, doesn’t have an offense so much as it has a vaudeville act.
The Cardinals entered the week ranked 31st in offense and scoring. And now we ask: How bad must Jacksonville be?
The Cardinals were gift-wrapped six extra possessions, started five drives in Falcons’ territory (the 9, 18, 35, 16 and 23) and still came away with only one touchdown (13 points off turnovers).
Ryan became the first quarterback to throw five interceptions and no touchdowns and win anyway since Bart Starr in 1967.
“I’m in good company,” Ryan cracked.
Run, Falcons. Run fast.
They are 9-1 with a three-game lead in the NFC South and six games remaining. They have the added advantage of not having to wait for BCS rankings to come out because the NFL standings include no human element or computer rankings. Otherwise, the word, “ewww” probably would be spit out somewhere.
John Abraham laughed. “The only thing we have to worry about is as long as we can put something in the left side (win column) and not the right side, we’re fine.”
Abraham sacked Arizona’s Ryan Lindley in the second quarter just as Lindley was trying to pass. The ball came loose and everybody stood around, thinking it was an incomplete pass, until Abraham screamed, “Pick it up!” So Babineaux picked it up and ran into the end zone. The play was ruled a touchdown and it stood up on appeal, giving the Falcons a 13-10 lead.
Ryan put together one great touchdown drive. That’s all he needed. With Arizona leading 19-16, he completed four of five passes for 54 yards. Running back Michael Turner scored from the one-yard line (honest) for the lead with 6:40 left. Checkmate.
The Falcons escaped. So did Smith. In the third quarter, he threw a challenge flag in hopes of overturning a fumble by Jason Snelling. But all changes of possession are automatically reviewed and throwing the red flag is an automatic unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Strangely, the NFL also nullifies the challenge, effectively saying, “No replay for you!” (Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi” would’ve been a great replacement official.)
“We’ve got to find a way for the coach to not throw the challenge flag at the wrong time,” Smith said. “I can assure you that one will be addressed very quickly.”
He’ll put himself in timeout. Not that it matters. Style points don’t factor into final scores or standings in the NFL. For that, the Falcons are thankful.
— Jeff Schultz
Busy times … earlier blogs you might’ve missed
• Short takes: Ryan awful, defense great, win important
• Georgia’s new reality: From on the brink to BCS title possibility
• Upsets launch Georgia into BCS title picture (updated game column)
• Short takes: Murray wakes up the offense
• Weekend Predictions: Dogs, Jackets, Falcons and the lust triangles
• Falcons’ flaws aren’t worse than any other NFL team
• College hoop kings provide rare thrills for Atlanta
• Falcons’ startling admission: Ray Edwards was a blunder
• Will SEC get team to BCS championship (answer below) (with video)
• Georgia wins SEC East, and looks like threat to Alabama
• Richt is coaching through pain (because he fell off a swing … honest)
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255 comments Add your comment
JSS
November 19th, 2012
12:02 pm
Ah, the wolfpack is up… Spilling the same silliness that has them deluding that they have a domination…
66, you’ve supposedly seen them all from Ryckman, White Shoes, Deion, Metcalf, Dwight, and Rossum in a Falcons uniform? There has to be a dedication to “risk-reward” in a return game… This team does not have it… Simple as that, you will not see it until they decide it is a priority and say to Douglas or Franks: “take chances!”
Kramer
November 19th, 2012
12:14 pm
I was at the game and agree we looked terrible on offense. I give Arizona some credit though with their blitzing and laying some nice hits on Matt. That all said, would you all have preferred we lost and bitch that we are 8-2? We should have lost and we didn’t. The Texans should have lost yesterday to the 1-9 Jags but, did not. I wonder what their fan base and writers are saying today?
JSS
November 19th, 2012
12:15 pm
Now for the jerks who cry troll but always inject themselves in matters… When you are in a bar at closing time preying on certain women by your own admission, you admit that you’re a sleaze… That’s your deal…
I didn’t “acquire” anyone I slept with that way… I was lucid (and so were my partners)… Too many women out there (with sexual appetites) to have depend on low self-esteem, drugs, inebriation to get sexed up…
As far for the woman who I’ve known for 5 and a half years, and have dated the last 18 months and asked to marry me 11 months ago… It is called courting by the old folks, when you get to know someone, you’ll be surprised what you find alluring… And for the little boy trying “rise up,” first you need to grow up…
Clowns
November 19th, 2012
12:15 pm
Was this the Arizona Cardinals that BEAT the Patriots in Foxboro? That’s what I thought.
This is the NFL, they all get paid. Any week, any team, any time.
The Steelers have lost to Oakland and Tennessee
The Giants have 4 losses and got curb stomped by Cincinnatti.
The 49rs were just tied at home by a Rams team that got smoked by the Jets
The Aints have already managed to lose 5 times including an impressive home loss to the Chiefs who haven’t held a LEAD in a game until last week. The septic tank aints also managed to lose at home to the Redskins. Both beaten on the road by the Falcons.
Are the birds playing their best?…..no. And they’re STILL 9-1.
Atlanta can lose this weekand and next……….the Succaneers and Aints will still be looking up in the standings.
Eric
November 19th, 2012
12:19 pm
What’s really going to be funny will be the deafening silence we hear from Saints fans after the Falcons beat them next week!
JSS
November 19th, 2012
12:36 pm
@ ijonathan…
You can always tell the age of bloggers who grew up in the era of the post Nixon attempt to eliminate the pension system with individual retirement accounts or the deferred income savings masquerading as a pension (401K and 403 accounts)… I said “pensions,” not individual retirement or deferred income savings… Ask any person with a real pension pre 2007 what happened when someone tried to get money from such an account…
Matt "CHOKE" Ryan
November 19th, 2012
12:45 pm
CHOKE 1 and done is your destiny…..Don’t tempt fate….
HA HA
Matt "CHOKE" Ryan
November 19th, 2012
12:48 pm
5 picks vs a 4-5 team on a five game losing streak…..
HA HA
Matt "CHOKE" Ryan
November 19th, 2012
12:54 pm
30-24 48-21 24-2……….
Those are not Mega numbers…..ha ha
The Truth
November 19th, 2012
1:09 pm
JSS – WTF? No one cares about your supposed sex life or your take on retirement. Last I checked, this is a Falcons football discussion. Unless you have a take on how to get the running game going, bust Lawrence Phillips out of the pen, or hide Michael Turner’s helmet, STFU.
Falcon Fan
November 19th, 2012
1:19 pm
@jss
Old people making out…eeeeeeuuuuuuwww.
We’re all impressed.
Answer This
November 19th, 2012
1:22 pm
Ask the soon to be how “grown” I am………..
Answer This
November 19th, 2012
1:23 pm
I have know her for 6 years
just saying………
Answer This
November 19th, 2012
1:25 pm
@Clowns
@ The Truth
HEROS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kramer
November 19th, 2012
1:31 pm
I love it when aint’s fans come on a Falcon blog and talk trash. They will not make the playoffs and then will blame the NFL. Damn kids should not be allowed to play with computers.
Angry Carolina Panthers Pop off in Public, and More NFC South News | :: Sparxxrx LLC ::
November 19th, 2012
1:35 pm
[...] Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wonders if the Falcons raced away from the Georgia Dome Sunday, hoping no one would take their ugly [...]
cdog
November 19th, 2012
1:40 pm
for all of the falcon haters.this kind of game shows me that the falcons has arrived as a good team.in the past, these were the games the falcons would lose but not today.every team in the NFL has these kinds of games at one point.great win birds! lets get ready to go to tampa and crush the buccaneers.
JSS
November 19th, 2012
1:57 pm
@ 1:22 PM…
Answer was Zygote…
Here is the answer to the knuckle dragger still whining about your lack of a running game! That was sealed when they reached for injury prone lineman and fullbacks in the last two drafts… And you clowns are crying because their is no scheme in the world that can overcome a lack of roster depth! Welcome to the National Football League, and the punishment for failure is exposure and early playoff exits! Ask the 1967 Los Angeles Rams how that works!
JSS
November 19th, 2012
1:58 pm
“their” = there
singhisking
November 19th, 2012
2:06 pm
move mclain out side , danta inside , mclure bench , joe howly start , bech turner , start rodger , snelling , antone smith !
Answer This
November 19th, 2012
2:22 pm
Only one CLOWN on the blog and your shoes are to big for your rock side head!
Answer This
November 19th, 2012
2:28 pm
1967……….clown! Stop with your google stats………Not one person (and I dont consider you a person) on this blog gives a FUDGE about 1967. Wake the FUDGE up and recognize AngusMunch!
Paul
November 19th, 2012
2:49 pm
Everyone likes to put down the competition Atlanta has faced, but consider the fact that leading up to every game for the last four weeks has come against “desperate” opponents that had to win to save their season. In 3 of those games ATL came out on top, and should have in NO, as well. This AZ defense is one of the best in the league (tamed Tom Brady as they took down NE) and showed it yesterday. Not only that but their team was well-rested coming off a bye and knew this was a must-win to stay in the NFC West hunt. Good win for ATL despite everything that happened.
LOL at The Aints
November 19th, 2012
2:50 pm
You cannot argue with JSS, He will drag you Down to his level and then beat you with experience, LOL
JSS
November 19th, 2012
3:06 pm
LOL, how is it that you that you comment on things that you have no idea about?
Yeah genius 1967, you clowns want to compare the 0-3 playoff star on paper to a man who only 1 playoff game in 7 years!
And to you yahoos, Starr was playing with a fractured thumb, his grip was a mess… What injury does Ryan have?
JSS
November 19th, 2012
3:07 pm
“a man who only (lost) 1 playoff game in 7 years!”
LOL at The Aints
November 19th, 2012
3:12 pm
See what I Mean, I refuse to take the bait, LOL
JSS
November 19th, 2012
3:18 pm
“Bait?” By the way, that’s a question mark, try associating yourself with its use!
LOL at The Aints
November 19th, 2012
3:27 pm
LOL?
LOL at The Aints
November 19th, 2012
3:34 pm
You’re too easy JSS, dont even have to try to make you look stupid, You do a bang up job of that yourself. And with that, I’m Gone?
JSS
November 19th, 2012
4:25 pm
Well, well, well the Jeff Fish athletic performance trail finally got one on the suspended list!!! “Stupid” that goober!
Answer This
November 19th, 2012
8:04 pm
JSS go do to yourself what I do to the soon to be wife of yours!
JSS
November 19th, 2012
8:58 pm
^^^^^^^^^
Little Idiot Zombie Blogger
JSS
November 19th, 2012
8:59 pm
Hey Zygote, you’ll never divide enough times to get a chance…
JSS
November 19th, 2012
9:11 pm
And to 66, these are the reasons I wear y’all out…
meme
November 19th, 2012
9:32 pm
septic tank aints wish i could say that
FlySober
November 19th, 2012
9:53 pm
We played a good damn defense! They knew we couldn’t run ~ so they brought the heat! Julio was a decoy and they knew it! Our D looked good agianst the B and C string QBs. I’m not sure whether our anemic running game is a result of Turner out of gas ~ or O-Line can’t tackle ~ or both! It’s a BIG problem that needs to get solved quick! We will make the playoffs but must play better than we did this week or “one and done” again. Our secondary personnel can’t tackle running backs. They should cut their dreads and work on open field tackle skills. Once a back gets past the Linebackers ~ they are gone! Robinson should just simply run the other direction – away from the play. I give Nolan alot of credit in getting as much from this group as he does ~ especially now that everyone is so banged up! This team will have to run and stop the run to get very much further. Mark these words!!!
Fan since 66
November 20th, 2012
12:30 am
JSS, As a matter of fact, yes…I have seen them all. I was at the first Falcon game in Atlanta Stadium. I watched them lose to the Eagles. I was 12 at the time and Johnny Unitas was my hero. After my first Falcon game, however, Johnny took a back seat to my Falcons. I have sat in rain and snow, watched terrible defeats, endured unbelievable disappointments, and still, I love my Falcons. I tailgated with the original Gritz Blitz crowd on Sunday mornings and sat in disbelief in 1980 when Danny White put an arrow through our hearts with the pass to Drew Pearson. I think that is why it bothers me so that you come on this blog and slam my fellow Falcon fans. We love our Falcons, come he#* or high water. We are not the type to jump ship over a bad season (or for that matter, 10 bad seasons). I realize they are not the perfect team, but by God, I love them for trying every week. I have tried to ask you to be civil and not so condescending but you continue to spew your vitriol every week. I guess it makes you feel superior to sit at your keyboard and act as if you’re the only one who can put together a coherent sentence. I wish I knew what made you tick. You seem to be an intelligent football fan, but then you spout forth your hateful comments. I guess I’m the sucker for even responding to your comments, but I can’t let my ‘Birds go undefended.
I still believe these Falcons are the ones that will finally go all the way. If they don’t…well, they are still my team, and I will support them to the end.
And, as Forrest Gump so eloquently put it…” That’s all I have to say about that!”
Go Falcons!
crybaby
November 20th, 2012
12:46 am
waaaaah,waaaah,waaah..I want my momie!
JSS
November 20th, 2012
6:58 am
66, your problem is (and it is a problem) because you never acknowledge that others have invested just as much time as you have in watching Falcons football… Sorry, but the hiring of Petrino was unacceptable. I walked away as a consumer of their product then, NFL football is a business… “Hateful comments?” Man please, a fool comes here daily and disparages my Mother, my fiancée, and anything else his demented mind can froth forth… I won’t even get into the user-name thieves, social deviants, and just plain perverts masquerading around here as Falcons fans… Say what you want about those over the line Saints fans, they were never the starters of the mess that these AJC Blogs have sunk down to… I remember the day that it all started back in 2005 after Katrina… As a then Falcons fan, it opened my eyes to what type of people I was spending my money as a 19 year season ticket holder to associate myself with in AFC Stadium and then the Dome… They might be obnoxious (most times with cause), but they are right about this fact, in your ways, you people are just plain creepy…
“I can’t let my ‘Birds go undefended.” Please, what is this, a Looney Tunes cartoon? Remember the one where Bugs said those exact same lines? It is one thing to support a team, it is another thing to be both unwilling to admit flaws, and even greater to not admit that those flaws truly exists at all!
“as Forrest Gump so eloquently put it…” That’s all I have to say about that!” Sorry to break this to you, but Winston Groom’s fictional character was just that, “fiction.” Eric Roth (he wrote the screenplay) put it better: “Stupid is, as stupid does!” Sums up most of the Falcons supporters on these blogs… You are associating yourself with user-name thieves, men who advocate misogyny, the most varient forms of homophobia, and racism that would make Theodore BIlbo blush! Be proud of your associations there, I’d rather be an outsider…
Fan since 66
November 20th, 2012
7:47 am
1. Never said I had exclusive rights to being a long-time fan. Just stated that I was for a point of reference.
2. Thought Petrino was a huge mistake, and he proved all of us of that ilk that it was. He proved it even more during his stay with the Hogs. I chose, as you obviously didn’t, to stay with the team and support them in their efforts to become an elite, perennially winning team in the NFL. And they’re almost there.
3. Sinking to the depths of those who belittle you and your family and friends only lowers you to their level.
4. A rivalry between two cities over their teams is often a heated one. However, I agree some of the things said about NO were over the line and I defended the city at the time.
5. The cartoon reference has me scratching my head. Can’t quite noodle that one out. Guess you’re so far above my intellect I need you to explain. I’m the first one to point out the Falcons faults as I see them. Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m wrong. You, on the other hand, are obviously never wrong.
6, Sorry to break this to you, but I read the book by Winston, as well as the very bad sequel. You need to get over the notion that you are the only well-read person on this blog who can throw out what my Mother used to say were “three dollar words”. You remind me of the person who learns a new word from someone, then uses it the entire next week whenever he can, regardless of whether it’s in context or not.
7. “I’d rather be an outsider”…can I have that in writing? (Ha, guess I do!)
I guess I just kinda feel sorry for you that you can’t engage in a civilized discussion of the Falcons, even though I have attempted that on several occasions.
Go Falcons!
Answer This
November 20th, 2012
8:40 am
Wow so many peiple putting the AngusMunch JSS in his place. You speak of others slamming your mom, wife etc….however you get what you give and you are getting the full plate of it JSS. If you kept it football and tried not to be the smartest person in the world with your google stats more FANS on this Falcon Blog would keep it football also. You take more shots than a AK47 and then try to say others are taking shots at your inbreed family! Many times so many people have approached you about being civil and 66 is really being very considerate to keep it about the Birds and not bash you. Yet when we keep it civil you come right back and talk down to others, take shots and then expext others not to do the same. The mark of a FAN is one that does not quit on the team regardless of how many bad decisions they make….I am sure you have never madr decisions you regret! If you not a fan cool…so be it! People dont crash you for that it is for your attitude and your disrespect you give others who voice a passion for the Team. Its proven we can win without you, dont need you! And as a matter of fact let me be the first to say that I am tired of saying ugly things to you…its not worth it. I know you will come back with another ugly thing to say but it does not matter anymore….you are who we think you are. Go ahead take your shots your inside hidden messages that do all the things that you have accused others of doing…..I dont care anymore….just wish you could be a non-fan elsewhere…but we know it wont happen. So be it and yet we still RISE………UP!
Sis-Boom-Bah Humbug
November 20th, 2012
9:32 am
Just to reassure everyone, Coach Smith promises that he is no longer focusing on sitting on small leads in close games. Instead, he has graduated to sitting on the Won-Loss standings.
So give his “process” a little more time, even though the 9-1 record does present the Falcons with the challenge of a big pad to fritter away. With the retrenchment to paleo-conservative game plans, predictable play calling & feature back Michael “Walrus on Dry Land” Turner, the Falcons may well use ALL that pad.
But the impertinent question just won’t go away – Why Stay Stuck on Stupid?
JSS
November 20th, 2012
9:54 am
@8:40…
You are illiterate as a tenet corn farmers in 1750 VA…
Haley Barbour must be your idol?
Smarmy is not civility, and that is what you practice around here… Nothing is more disingenuous in adult behavior other than possibly group think and violence. 66 can be dismissive as he wants of the
JSS
November 20th, 2012
10:00 am
Enter your comments here
Answer This
November 20th, 2012
10:37 am
Point proven from a “illiterate as a tenet corn farmers in 1750 VA”………..nice like I said you are who we think you are! Later loser, keep being the angry little man you are.
Answer This
November 20th, 2012
10:46 am
Speaking of illiterate……….I see your thoughts got cut and then you also dropped in the “post comments here”. You not the sharpest knife in the kitchen internet tough guy! Later meany weenie!
JSS
November 20th, 2012
10:59 am
Oh boogeyman has spoken! Enjoy the annual beatdown gravy training parasite!
JSS
November 20th, 2012
11:03 am
No, the turn off electronic devices command was given…
But you wouldn’t know anything about that trying to ride the CCT everyday right?
Parasite
Answer This
November 20th, 2012
11:07 am
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