On a night with everything to gain, the Falcons somehow lose
Do you believe in miracles? For Matty Ice, there were none this night. (AJC photo by Jason Getz)
The biggest home game in franchise history: That’s how this was billed, and here we pause to note that 46 seasons make for a considerable chunk of history. (Almost half a century!) And even if the Falcons entered Monday night’s game against New Orleans with a comfy Plan B — they could lose to the Saints and still win the NFC South and clinch a No. 1 seed by beating Carolina on Sunday — nobody wanted to do it the easy way.
But that, alas, is the way it will have to be. The Falcons tripped over their moment. This isn’t to say they can’t have moments still, but they couldn’t handle this one.
If you’re going to be a champ, you have to show you can beat a champ. The Falcons had already taken down the reigning champs once this fall, but that was in Week 3 in the Superdome when not many people thought this team would be 12-2 on Christmas. That was a case of a rising team slipping up on an established power. Monday night was different: It was a match of peers, a prime-time convocation of two of the NFL’s finest.
It wasn’t a game of precision. Center Todd McClure whiffed on a shotgun snap that spawned the Saints’ first touchdown, and Michael Turner fumbled when the Falcons were poised to take a third-quarter lead. But the defense kept the game close enough for one play to turn it, and one play did.
It was the Falcons’ defense that undid them in their improbable playoff run of 2008, a defense that was so outclassed in Glendale, Ariz., that general manager Thomas Dimitroff flew home determined to embark on a massive redo, and sure enough he (re)did. The Falcons dumped five starters off that 11-5 team and, in going 9-7 last season, paid the inevitable price of such sweeping change. This year, however, has seen the changes brought to bear.
These Falcons can play D with the big boys. On Monday night they held a high-test offense to 10 points — seven off the aforementioned short field — over 56 minutes. They induced Drew Brees, Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year, to commit two egregious fourth-quarter turnovers, the first a silly underhand toss the Chauncey Davis fielded and returned for the go-ahead score, the second a bat-and-grab interception by John Abraham.
The Falcons had a chance after the Abraham swoop to close the case, but a possession sputtered after one first down. Whereupon the Saints drove to a touchdown, Brees finding Jimmy Graham on a slant with 3:24 remaining. But this was what the Falcons’ defense, even in its wobbles, had done all season: It had kept games close enough for Matt Ryan to win them at the end.
And here again was his chance. He hadn’t had a great game through 56 minutes, but the beauty of Matty Ice is that those first 56 minutes can be a red herring. On the first snap after the Saints took their late lead, Ryan scrambled for 20 yards, and you thought, “Here it comes” — the final copyright-protected Falcons Finish of calendar 2010, to be placed on the shelf alongside the escapes against the 49ers and the Ravens and the Packers.
But then a strange thing happened. Ryan threw incomplete on third down, and Mike Smith, the coach who dares to dare, chose to punt inside the final three minutes. It almost worked — the Falcons thought they’d recovered a Graham fumble, but replay correctly overruled — and Matt Ryan never got another chance.
“We didn’t get the outcome we wanted,” Smith said, “but we like where we’re at. Fifteen other [NFC] teams would like to be where we are.”
And that’s true. But there was no hiding the disappointment. “You’ve got to look at the body of work,” Smith said, but this was a night that went against what we’d seen before.
A formula tested over 14 games fizzled in the 15th. The defense held the Saints to 17 points and scored seven itself, which should have been enough to win but wasn’t. The offense couldn’t hold up its end, and the dauntless Smitty outsmarted himself at the end. The biggest regular-season game in Falcons annals will go down, sad to say, as a whiff.
By Mark Bradley
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
405 comments Add your comment
nanunanu
December 28th, 2010
12:20 am
Hey RA, two stupid interceptions kept the Falcons in the game. Falcons are pretenders and everyone knows it. Won’t play the Saints in playoffs because Falcons will lose first game they play. Saints would love to play these chumps again in playoff atmospheres. Matty Ice will pee his pants one more time, just like tonight in the fourth quarter.
Falcons in the Driver's Seat
December 28th, 2010
12:20 am
And boy didn’t that Saints running game look good tonight? And how about the “key” Reggie Bush? They keep him on the bench if the punt might be past the 50.
Saints: One and done.
Kramer318
December 28th, 2010
12:20 am
We win on Sunday and today is most certainly meaningless. And who in their right mind thinks we are actually going to lay down against Carolina? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Falcons Fan80
December 28th, 2010
12:20 am
Its funny how people overreact to one game.Falcons still have the best record in the NFC have already beat the saints once and will likely have homefield throughout the playoffs and be division champs.Take a chill pill.
Dan
December 28th, 2010
12:21 am
I wouldn’t make too big a deal about it. All this does is delay things for one week. We may even see round 3 in a few weeks. Two games in and these teams are even not just at 1 – 1 but even score-wise. We’ll see what happens next time. Falcons – Division Champs Sunday @ 4!
jack
December 28th, 2010
12:21 am
who’s ever heard of Pass Interference on both players on the same play,,,,,,, and when have you EVER heard of a pass being allowed, when they say that it was clearly on the ground during the entire catch ???? kind of makes you say ,,, MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
Breesus
December 28th, 2010
12:21 am
I will open this up to questions… What am I gonna do when “Matty Ice” doesn’t work in the post-season?
MaconSportsFan
December 28th, 2010
12:21 am
Good Game………Props to the Aints the team who hardly had any fans and win a Super Bowl and all of a sudden Bandwagon fans all over the place lol. Actually in a way the Falcons needed to lose a game before the playoffs……..eight in a row gets snapped but Mark please do not tell me that the NFL is rigged now
. Not taking anything away from the Saints……but
Turner fumbles??
McClure fumbles a snap that looked rigged?
Falcons offense plays very vanilla??
If NFL is rigged here is my predictions:
Atlanta beats the Saints in a rematch at the Dome in the playoffs
Eagles play Atlanta in the NFC Championship game and win in a close game and play the Patriots for the Super Bowl
Put some $$$$ on it……..and if it happens this ole boy is through watching NFL Games
The Grinch
December 28th, 2010
12:22 am
Well, there’s no question we need a new offensive coordinator. None whatsoever. And there’s no question at all Smitty blew the game with an utterly egregious call in the final minutes. You don’t punt against the Saints in that situation….EVER. EVER. However, They’ve played good enough in the first 14 games to still be in good position; if Smith and our “OC” learned from this we’ll still be fine. But this was a $%#$$y venue to be taught a lesson; 80 million people will now think Trent Dilfer was right.
And for whatever it’s worth, I googled Saints fans websites to get on there and congratulate them and not a single one out of 11 had even updated their site to say they’d won. Apparently despite all their chirping they don’t actually take football seriously after all. I’m surprised. All the Saints fans must either not be able to read or must reside in the ESPN headquarters, as is evident by the announcing. They acted like their sister’s virtue was at stake.
Old Gold
December 28th, 2010
12:22 am
BRADLEY MUST GO
Kramer318
December 28th, 2010
12:22 am
Heck if we won today, then people would be concerned about playing our starters enough or else we might get rust for our 2nd round playoff game… People just need to chill and recognize that we got beat by a team that needed this game a whole heck of a lot more than we did. I think our playcalling reflected that. And it doesn’t bother me one bit.
RGarr
December 28th, 2010
12:23 am
I read this blog hoping to read reasoned discussion around the disappointing loss. Instead I found proof that evolution is a bogus theory as mostly inane and hyperbolic commentary abounds in this blog. We are in the midst of the best time in Falcons history and the best all of you football “experts” can come up with is the silly comments about the offensive players understanding of the importance of the game. Seriously! And comments critical of the “conservative” offense that has only helped win 32 games the last 3 years and has the Falcons still in position to be the #1 seed in the NFC. The coaching staff does a great job maximizing the talent and putting them in positions to succeed. Are they perfect..of course not. If you can not appreciate the job this coaching staff does then I suggest you give up watching football and take up something less challenging to understand.
gabugman
December 28th, 2010
12:23 am
Matty Ice was not so icee tonight. Thank goodness for a defense that totally harassed Brees. Too bad VanGorder chose not to “harass” on the final minutes of the game. Ryan had the opportunity but could not deliver.
Bradly, I blame you most of all. Don’t pick the Falcons to do anything the rest of the season, please.
techengineer
December 28th, 2010
12:23 am
Best D peformance I’ve seen in 5 years out of Falcons but the offense played tight and tried to run up the middle over and over then throw on 3rd and long.. Played scared really. Really disappointed in the Falcons offense play calling tonight. They need to open it up! What about running out of the Spread? My goodness!
Real American
December 28th, 2010
12:23 am
what happened?
RAMBLINWRECK
December 28th, 2010
12:24 am
I have to say that the 1st time we played the saints we won on a fluke FG miss. 9 of 10 times and the saints make that FG and we lose. Tonight, the saints wanted it more in the end. We got outplayed on our own field and i think the saints are the best team in the NFC. Ryan has too many games where he has 17- 30 type games. He flirts with 50% completion ratio in several games and if not for turner and the ground game, we lose 3 or 4 more games easy. If the falcons run game gets stuffed as it was tonight, the falcons are very beatable and it doesn’t matter what field the game is played on.
All that happened tonight was that the saints now have the confidence that they can come in here and beat us in the playoffs!! Ryan stunk tonight, the offensive line stunk, turner looked slow and smith punting on that 4th an 6 was very stupid. Anyone should know sean peyton was gonna get that 1 1st down needed and would throw to get it and HE DID! I knew it was over when we gave brees the ball back. The falcons are good but not a super bowl team. There is not a team in the playoffs except the rams that can’t beat the falcons. White did all that smack talk and gotta it shoved back in his mouth. The birds should win next week and clinch the #1 seed, but the saints proved they can come in here now and beat us in our house. Thanks to a crappy showing by the offense. The saints can do it again as well!!
Harvey Dahl
December 28th, 2010
12:24 am
Weeeeeeeeeee’re fine guys… one more win and we’re good to go. Noooooo worries!
Savannah Fan
December 28th, 2010
12:24 am
Falcs had a chance to at least make a statement-they did -they punted
Who Dat Nation
December 28th, 2010
12:24 am
What about them Saints, you sorry Falcons
FalconsFan
December 28th, 2010
12:24 am
Guys, calm down!!! The Falcons save all the aggressive plays for the Super Bowl
Why should we show them or other teams what we can do in a regular season when all eyes on us ? What do you think other coaches doing while watching our game? That’s why Smith put the Falcons in the conservative mode to fool other coaches. Smith is a smart guy 
techengineer
December 28th, 2010
12:24 am
Great D performance! Awful Offensive performance!
Mack1124
December 28th, 2010
12:25 am
Very disappointed, would have loved a win and to see the saints in a must-win next week, oh well. Still believe in this team, one great thing about the FALCONS, make great adjustments and I believe SMITH has only lost 2 games in a row once. For all of you RYAN HATERS and NO lovers, why would any team be scared of the AINTS after tonight? If the FALCON DEFENSE can hold the SAINTS to 17 points, you think GB, PHI or CHI is scared of Drew Brees and Payton? Even with a bad game, 20 NFL teams would want RYAN over their current QB. So stop slobbering all over yourselves.
Kenny
December 28th, 2010
12:25 am
Panthers are no push over. But even if they win they are facing the spectre of Michael Vick. If you think tonight’s loss was tough, on the big stage with so much prestige at stake, wait and see what a catastrophe it will be if Vick comes in here and wins. Vick would be destroying the franchise for the second time. That would be worse than cruel irony it could be death knell.
Iron Head
December 28th, 2010
12:25 am
Enter your comments here
Who Dat Nation
December 28th, 2010
12:26 am
Defending Superbowl Champs baby
stendek
December 28th, 2010
12:26 am
The Falcon defense bottled up the Saints except for one damn fool. The same idiot that failed to tackle Drew Brees on free blitzes time and time again was also guilty of choking on crucial Saint completions. Loss still squarely on Michael “Fumble” Turner and Matty Lice. Both hurt team more than they helped it. Especially Turner. First fumble my a$$! I have watched all season long. I KNOW BETTER! Ryan nowhere near a premier NFL QB. Middle of pack at best. Very distasteful defeat! Very much so. Just hope offense shows up against Panthers. If not…STENDEK
Eric C.
December 28th, 2010
12:28 am
Mark, your are right on…I will never understand that punt call on 4th and 6. I mean if it’s 4th and 21, I’d understand…but not when you only need 6 yds and you have all of those weapons.
Smith can say all he wants, but conservative play-calling in this game doomed the Falcons from the beginning. The defense was outstanding and deserved much better…what a shame to lose the game like this.
Falcons Fan80
December 28th, 2010
12:28 am
Great post RGarr
Falcon fans dont forget the days of Petrino and dogfighting.
Kenny
December 28th, 2010
12:28 am
If you think this loss was tough, wait till the spectre of Michael Vick appears. He’d get to destroy the Falcons for the second time. That could be a death knell for Arthur Blank.
KimZ'spackage
December 28th, 2010
12:28 am
I’ve cut Kroy off until the Super Bowl. He will get none win lose or draw until after the Super Bowl. Don’t blame tonight on me. I will make sure Kroy has his mind night for the rest of the season.
powderdawgindenver
December 28th, 2010
12:29 am
Whats with all the haters??? BAD COAHING MOVE…offense had a bad night, defense had a Great Night! In a way, I am glad they lost. GET MAD. REMEMBER THIS FEELING! beat in your own house with home field at stake. Correct mistakes, beat carolina and Saints will be back in our house. We are a very good football team now and for years to come. I BELIEVE! RISE UP! hater, go back to your ps3 please. This is a falcon’s fan blog.
The Grinch
December 28th, 2010
12:29 am
Honestly, though; Google does not reveal a single Saints blog that has been updated in the last 24 hours…are they really THAT interested in the Hornets? Football not important? Wow. Maybe they have a new hockey team.
Teabagger Johnson
December 28th, 2010
12:30 am
The Grinch, I’m pretty much with you on needing a new OC. I like the running game (though it isn’t as dominate as we would like to believe). But the passing game could be more imaginative . . . I hope someone hires him as their HC.
P. Bull Terrier
December 28th, 2010
12:30 am
Fire Mike Smith!
Fire Thomas D.!
Fire Roddy White!
Fire Matt Ryan!
Fire Mark Richt, Paul Johnson and Bobby Cox too.
The home team lost a game and it’s the end of the world again – until next week.
Bell
December 28th, 2010
12:30 am
Get a grip and see the big picture. We win next week and we get what we want. Hopefully, the offensive playbook will be more aggressive in the playoffs when we need it. This game really meant nothing to us (as long as we win next week). It is no statement game for the Saints. Beating them 3 times would have been unrealistic. Things will turn out just perfect.
Eric C.
December 28th, 2010
12:31 am
Stendek, Turner had no chance on those goal-line plays. I don’t blame Turner…it was the unimaginative play-calling that did in the Falcons.
Mack1124
December 28th, 2010
12:32 am
Falcon Fan 80 you are so right. Not only remember Petrino/dog fighting, just remember how everyone believed it will take years for FALCONS to be competitive and here we are with a great QB and HC and should be contenders for a long time.
Ron Roberts
December 28th, 2010
12:32 am
Please, Mark…talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Our defense was MORE than up to the task, and our offensive play-calling was vanilla (by DESIGN, I’d say…)
…and we STILL should have won. Take away a FLUKE center snap and a fumble at the 1-yard line, and you know the outcome – in a game that’s LARGELY meaningless to Atlanta with Carolina coming to the dome next week.
Chill out.
Bell
December 28th, 2010
12:33 am
Let’s hope and root for Chicago. We need Vick to be number 3 seed and play an extra game and have to go on the road in Chicago. That might help slow him down before he comes here. As much as I am for the Packers next week, we need Chicago to win in a huge way.
TampaFalcon
December 28th, 2010
12:33 am
Wow, How many fairweather fans can there be? Is the loss disappointing yes? Still have a chance to clinch the number one seed and through basically 9 quarters of football, us and the defending superbowl champs are even. Can’t win every single game, Falcons proved again that they belong with the big boys. 12-3 with an overtime loss, a 3 point loss and only one game where they just got flat out beat. Quit whining and start looking forward to the playoffs!!
Kramer318
December 28th, 2010
12:34 am
Yeah, people are diving off cliffs because we just lost our 1st game in 2 months to a team that is the defending Super Bowl Champs, had to lay everything on the line, and we hamstrung ourselves with a conservative play book (which is the smart play in my opinion).
You would need a modern day miracle to see Carolina beat us on our turf this Sunday. They have a #1 draft pick to play for and we have a #1 seed to play for. They are awful, and we are one of the best teams in the league. We wrap up the #1 seed on Sunday, and everything will be just fine. You guys go take a Xanax and relax a little bit. Sheesh.
Breesus
December 28th, 2010
12:34 am
Sid… Front Row and all you other a$$ clowns… get some!!!! Saints are still the champs b!it&c!!!!!
stendek
December 28th, 2010
12:35 am
The Jeremy Shockey CATCH was not a CATCH as the refereee explained meekly as the non catch was allowed to stand for Saints! I have watched football for over half a century. It is IMPOSSIBLE for both a receiver and defender to be flagged for interference on the same damn play. IMPOSSIBLE! That was transparent NFL bias bullshet. Without any attempt to mask it whatsoever. Is fix in? Just asking.
STENDEK
Eric C.
December 28th, 2010
12:35 am
Bell, I would agree with you if the Panthers would forfeit the game…but unfortunately, they will be well-rested having not played since last Thursday, and they will come out blazing hot against an emotionally exhausted Falcons team on short rest. This will not be an easy game and the Falcons will have go out and win it…they cannot play to not lose. The defense seems to get that, but the offense is a huge disappointment right now.
realitycheck
December 28th, 2010
12:35 am
To Falcons in the drivers seat: You must have watched a different game than I did! The Falcons got 7 off the pick six, but nothing off the 2nd int. Maybe your local community college has a general math class you could take!
Teabagger Johnson
December 28th, 2010
12:36 am
We need to work on tackling; Or at the very least, Brian Williams needs to work on tackling if he’s going to be the one blitzing. Coaching had him there every single time. He needs to tackle better and get the QB on the ground . . .
Dwayne
December 28th, 2010
12:36 am
to jack<<<<<<<< you're a moron!
Who Dat Nation
December 28th, 2010
12:36 am
Where are all the Pigeon Fans that was talking smack, how does that CROW taste
Billy ( Not Martin)
December 28th, 2010
12:36 am
I love the Falcons, but I believe they are the most overatd team in the playoffs. Our offense will scare no one and Matt Ryan is certainly no Brees, Brady, Manning or even Aaron Rogers. All of these QBs scare me with the game on the line. Matt unfortunately does not.
We have to run the ball or we have no shot.
I’m hoping for the best though.
Metallica0785
December 28th, 2010
12:37 am
Why is no one talking about the fact that it should have been 3rd and 1 and not 3rd and inches right before we had to burn our last time out? Why wasn’t the play reviewed by the booth?…1 yard is huge.