Archive for the ‘Falcons / NFL’ Category

If Julio Jones, Matt Ryan and Falcons can avoid letdown at Detroit, they'll really have something to celebrate. (Curtis Compton/AJC)

(Online readers: I’m taking the risk of posting this before 11:59.59 p.m. Friday on the assumption the world will still be here at 12:00.01 a.m. Saturday.)

DETROIT — Imagine if the world actually ended on Friday after everybody had finally started to buy into the Falcons?

Alas, life goes on. The Mayans are left to seek a refund from their director of world predictions, Danny Sheridan. The rest of us now watch and see how the Falcons react to acceptance.

That was no small victory last week when the Falcons doubled-over the New York Giants 34-0. If they couldn’t quite make up for last season’s 24-2 playoff loss at New York, they at least finally gave a glimpse of their ceiling. Their quarterback, Matt Ryan, came up big in a big moment. Their offensive line neutralized one of the best front fours in the NFL. Their defense, even without safety …

Continue reading If last week’s Falcons were for real, we’re about to find out »

Ndamukong Suh grabbed Matt Ryan's facemask (and did some other things) in last Falcons-Lions game.

FLOWERY BRANCH – This won’t play well with any coach who believes his weekly game plans belong on life’s top shelf, along with quantum physics and atom-splitting. But football really isn’t that complicated. To quote Vince Lombardi, “Some people try to find things in this game that don’t exist, but football is only two things – blocking and tackling.”

Which is why, after the Falcons’ most impressive victory among their 12 this season, it seems appropriate to throw a few roses at their offensive line. The blockers on this team don’t get talked about a lot, except maybe when Matt Ryan gets drilled or Michael Turner gets stuffed for no gain on third-and-1.

They’re not unique in that regard. Nobody thinks about the pipes in their house until they leak.

“That’s most o-lines,” Falcons tackle Tyson Clabo said. “Who has a good o-line? Across the league, …

Continue reading Falcons’ line on a roll, now gets rematch against Suh »

Julio Jones (left), Roddy White and the rest of the Falcons have a lot of reasons to celebrate these days. (AP photo)

(Added CineSport video below on Falcons’ potential playoff match-ups.)

I hate the term “haters.” Fans tend to label somebody a hater any time somebody doesn’t agree with their own view of things, as if their own view of things is the absolute truth and the only opinion that matters. (Welcome to my world.)

But, yes: Many in the national media (and among the team’s own fan base) have had doubts about the Falcons, despite their record. And the doubters generally have been labeled “haters.”

So given Sunday’s resounding 34-0 victory over the New York Giants, it seemed like a good morning to take a spin around the Internet to see what all of those Nattering Nabobs of Negativism were saying and writing.

Guess what? Suddenly everybody loves the Falcons! (Shocking, I know.)

Highlights and linkage . . .

– From former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka, who appeared on ESPN’s …

Continue reading ‘Haters’ roundup: National view on Falcons has changed (video added) »

It wasn't a playoff game, but this was no ordinary victory for Matt Ryan and the Falcons over New York. (AP photo)

On the day following the Falcons’ loss at Carolina, Matt Ryan stood up in a team meeting and issued a mandate to his teammates.

“He told everybody, ‘I want an extra 30 minutes from everybody this week,’” Roddy White recalled. “In the film room, on the field, everywhere. And he said, ‘If you give me an extra 30 minutes, I’ll give you an extra hour.’”

Now, it would be presumptuous to suggest that one moment from this team’s leader is going to propel the Falcons to the postseason success that has been missing from the team and the quarterback’s respective resumes. But Sunday’s game has to count for something.

The Falcons saved their best performance of the season for when it mattered most — in December, against the defending Super Bowl champion and a week after they went splat in Charlotte. They body-slammed the New York Giants 34-0, moving a little closer to …

Continue reading Ryan asks for more, gives more at right time for Falcons »

The last time Matt Ryan saw Eli Manning, he was congratulating him for a playoff win. (Getty Images)

Let’s start with this: I’m thoroughly convinced that even if the Falcons  go out today and beat the New York Giants by two touchdowns, there is still going to be a segment of the fan base — a large segment — that says, “Just wait until the playoffs.”

And that’s fine. Because as we’ve discussed ad nauseam this season, the Falcons will be judged by how they do in the postseason, not the regular season, which again is going well (11-2). But a strong performance against the Giants would at least ease some of the concerns moving forward.

The Falcons, coming off their worst game of the season at Carolina (30-20 loss), lost to New York 24-2 in the last year’s playoffs. The Giants had a record of only 7-7 with two games left in the season but won their last two over the Jets and Dallas to win the NFC East and then beat four teams with better records than them — the Falcons (10-6), …

Continue reading LIVE: Falcons seek home field and, yes, respect »

Mike Smith knows he'll be judged by how the Falcons finish the season and the playoffs. (AP photo)

Mike Smith tries not to curse a lot, certainly not in public. Even when recounting those few times this week when he dropped verbal grenades during film sessions, he edited himself for public consumption, either because he was afraid his mother might be hiding behind a tree (”Sometimes I say things that my mother wouldn’t want me to say”) or because he was concerned that I wouldn’t edit for him.

“Like, ‘I can’t believe we (pause) did that. Or, ‘That was a bad (pause) call.’ Or, ‘Why did I make that (pause) decision?’”

And yes, he really paused.

It’s generally wise for a coach to have a self-edit button. Expletives, fist-pounding and thrown objects play well with a segment of the fan base and can make you a star on YouTube. But the act gets old real quick, particularly with players. It’s more important that a coach knows he can command his players’ attention when needed. And …

Continue reading Falcons, Smith know now is when they’re getting judged »

DeAngelo Williams' 53-yard touchdown off a screen pass buried the Falcons late. (AP photo)

CHARLOTTE – It started with the Carolina Panthers winning the coin flip for the first time this season. It ended with the Falcons being trash-talked off the field by a last-place team. Somewhere in between, we witnessed Atlanta’s worst four quarters of football of the season.

And the Falcons’ deserved it all – the loss, the mocking, the questions about what this means moving forward.

“I can hear everybody right now,” tight end Tony Gonzalez said. “They’re getting off the bandwagon. I can hear them jumping off. Looking at our history, people are going to go, ‘See, I told you.’”

OK. It’s a little premature for I-told-you-sos. The Falcons haven’t lost a playoff game yet. But it has to be concerning when an 11-1 team falls behind 23-0 to a 3-9 team, and at one point finds itself being outgained 356-66. It’s concerning any time a defensive front is so thoroughly …

Continue reading Falcons give performance to leave us wondering again »

Cam Newton blasts off for a 72-yard touchdown run, giving Panthers a 23-0 lead. (AP photo)

I’ll be back shortly with my column off of the Falcons’ game against Carolina today. Until then here are my three short takes on the game.

1. Defensive front dominated: The Falcons saw Carolina score on its first five possessions of the game (taking a 23-0 lead) and were just fortunate that the Panthers converted only two of those drives into touchdowns. Cam Newton was efficient and the Panthers ran the ball effectively. But the biggest reason for the early success was that the Falcons’ defensive front got dominated by Carolina’s offensive line. It didn’t help that defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux left in the second quarter with what was announced as a ribs injury. But it wasn’t all about Babineaux. This game belonged to the Panthers’ line, as well as … (see No. 2).

2. Cam Newton shows his upside: For all the criticism from “anonymous players” and “unnamed sources” about his maturity …

Continue reading Short takes: Newton and Panthers’ line dominate Falcons »

Stopping the Carolina Panthers starts with stopping Cam Newton for the Falcons. (AP photo)

CHARLOTTE — Good morning. When I walked out of the deck parking lot toward the media entrance of the stadium (a healthy walk here at Bank of America Stadium), there was only a slight drizzle. But a few minutes later, the skies opened up, I got drenched and it totally ruined my coiffure.

(Go ahead, I’ll give you a few minutes to laugh. … Waiting. … Still waiting. … )

So yes, it is raining here in Charlotte. The forecast says there’s only a 10 percent chance of showers, but that 10 percent clearly resides on this block. So at the very least, the field will be slippery for the Falcons’ game against the Carolina Panthers today.

Some folks around the Falcons are worried about this game. The Panthers are only 3-9 but seven of those losses have come by six points or less (one in overtime). The Falcons were fortunate to rally and beat Carolina 30-28 on a last-minute field goal drive in Week …

Continue reading LIVE: Falcons have chance to clinch playoff bye (or more) »

Thomas DeCoud and the Falcons already have celebrated a division title. (Curtis Compton/AJC)

With one-quarter of the season left to be played, the Falcons already have clinched a playoff berth and a division title. By the end of Sunday, there’s a chance they will have locked up the NFC’s No. 1 seed and home field through the playoffs, leaving nothing tangible to play for in the final three weeks.

Unless, well, you count the Super Bowl as tangible.

“If you’ve watched the past few years, the teams that are playing the best and have some momentum going into the playoffs are the ones going the deepest,” Falcons center Todd McClure said. “Momentum is a big thing going into the playoffs. Nobody remembers you for September and October. You remember teams for what they do in December and January, so we want to be playing our best ball in the next month.”

The Falcons (11-1), who have their best 12-game record in franchise history, play at Carolina on Sunday. They shouldn’t be …

Continue reading Even at 11-1, Falcons know they can’t afford to settle »