By Don Stone - Football Atlanta
Its funny how a few plays can completely
change the perception of a team's success. If the Matt Ryan
finds a receiver in the end zone on the final play of the opener in New
Orleans and if Ryan Tannehill
doesn't find his receiver in the end zone
with 38 seconds to go, Atlanta would be 3-0. But, those things did happen
and, instead, they find themselves 1-2 and looking to right the ship against
a team that is 3-0 in the New England Patriots.
The Falcons troubles have stemmed from a few key things, a plethora
of injuries and the inability to put teams away in the fourth quarter after
sustaining a lead. A struggle to score once they've reached the red zone has
also plagued them. All, no minor problems, but certainly not insurmountable
obstacles. Key players not on the field are tough for any team to survive.
But, Atlanta seems to feel they can take care of the on the performance
problems.
They must do it in front of a national audience on NBC's Sunday Night
Football against a team that has been successful, but definitely has its own
problems. For starters, they also have injuries with
TE
Rob Gronkowski and WR Danny Amendola
at home in Boston, not to mention the well
documented legal issues with tight end Aaron Hernandez,
in jail on murder charges.
For Atlanta, RB Steven Jackson will
still miss several games. CB Asante Samuel
was listed as inactive prior to the game as well. Dinged up but playing
would be Julio Jones, Roddy White, Sam Baker
and others.
But the sold out Georgia Dome (in this case, 70,744) is usually
medicine for what ails its feathered denizens with a 34-7 record, the best
in the NFC in the last five seasons. And, Mike Smith
has a terrific track record of put up victories after defeats. Since 2008,
the Falcons have gone 22-3 following losses. Atlanta has won 14 straight
games after a loss and have not lost back-to-back games in the same season
since falling to Philadelphia and New Orleans in consecutive weeks in 2009.
The Falcons started the game at their 20 and converted a third and two
with a great 24 yard catch by Tony Gonzalez
into NE territory. Jacquizz Rodgers
would convert another first down with a five yard run to the 34. Another
five was picked up with a flair to Harry Douglas. Roddy White
got another first with six to the 23. Still
another first with an easy pass to White standing alone at the six. Now the
test with the area where they had struggled, the red zone. Would they have
to settle for three after moving the ball so easily down the field? That's
exactly what happened as Ryan tossed a pair out of play. A Matt Bryant 23
yarder put them up by three with the crowd wondering why they couldn't get
seven.
The Patriots also started their first drive at the 20. Tom Brady
connected with FB James Develin
for 15 to the 40. That's as far as they got and Atlanta took over after the
punt and a Pat penalty on their 25.
It was announced that NE DT Vince Wilfort,
who had been shaken up earlier was questionable to return.
A 20 yard Rodgers run was called back on a holding call to move Atlanta
back to the 20. Rodgers took a short pass to make up six to the 21. Mistakes
continued to pile up with a 10 yard loss on a facemask call making it a
second and 25. New England called its first time out. The ill fated drive
ended on a positive note as PR Julian Edelman
was pummeled with the ball rolling back to
the 25.
The first quarter came to an end as Brady was moving the ball easily down
the field, mostly with the help of running backs Stevan Ridley
and Brandon Bolden. They would do what
the Falcons couldn't, score in the red zone with an end zone catch by TE
Matthew Mulligan putting the Pats ahead 7-3.
It would mark Brady's 52nd straight game with a TD pass.
Atlanta would try to get the lead back starting their drive at the 26.
The drive would start well with a third down catch by Gonzalez combined with
a facemask penalty on the Patriots to move the ball to the NE 44. Sam
Baker would be helped off the field with a
knee injury his return questionable. Douglas would pick up 12 yards on a
third and four to the 15, again in the dreaded red zone.
They got nothing on the first two plays bringing up a third and ten.
Jason Snelling caught one for eight to
make it fourth and two. Given their problems in this area, Smith made a
questionable call to go for it and failed, making them 0 for 2 inside the
20. If you're counting, the first trip cost them 4 points. This one, at
least three. Would they need those points in the end?
New England gladly took over on downs at their 8. Brady would quickly get
them out of the hole with a pair of runs to the 19. He then heaved it 49
yards downfield WR Kenbrell Thompkins
to the AF 32. The defense would hold as Bolden would leave the game
shaken up. Kicker Stephen Gostkowski
would make it a 7 point lead on a 49 yard field goal.
As the two minute warning hit, Atlanta started again at their 20.
Gonzalez would continue his good play with a pair of 10 yard conversions to
the 45. Rodgers caught one in open space for 17 yards to the NE 33. Snelling
rushed for nine to the 24. Atlanta called its first time out.
Maybe they found the secret. Score from just outside the red zone.
Ryan again hit Gonzalez who barreled for 21 yards to the end zone to tie the
game at 10.
The future Hall of Famer accumulated seven
receptions for 90 yards accounting almost half of his team's 217 yards of
offense and more than half of the Pats' 160. Half of Brady's 96 yards
passing came on the one completion to Thompkins.
Without Jackson, the Atlanta ground game was almost non-existent
compiling just 41 yards in the first half.
As is the new norm in the NFL, the Patriots started again at their 20.
Then, they took their turn with mistake as a holding penalty and an illegal
shift made it second and 18 at their 12. The defense "rose up" and forced a
punt giving Atlanta its best starting field position at their 42.
The Falcons couldn't take advantage of the field position with points but
pinned New England to their seven yard line on the punt.
LB Paul Worrilow left the game for
Atlanta with another injury. Again, Brady got our of the hole with a 10 yard
completion to WR Aaron Dobson at the
19, but lost five of it on next play with another penalty. Tompkins broke
free and grabbed an 18 yard pass at the 32. Edleman became a big part of the
drive with three receptions that made it all the way to the 8 before the
drive stopped. Dobkins was helped off the field. Gostkowski only needed 22
yards this time to put the Patriots up by three.
Another drive would start at the 20. Julio Jones,
not much of a factor to this point, broke a tackle and moved the ball to the
41. White fell forward for 8 more with Snelling getting four more for the
first down. But, a 13 yard loss on Ryan's first sack killed the promising
drive. After the fair catch, New England again started deep in their own
side at the eleven.
The Patriots would have been forced to punt but another costly mistake by
Atlanta gave them a new set of downs as Akeem Dent
was caught holding. Pressure from the defense
brought up a third and 14 from the 17 as the game moved into the final
quarter of play.
Mistakes continued into the next quarter with a false start making it
third and 19 at the 12. But, the game turned around on the next two plays.
Again, Brady had all the time in the world and got out of the tough spot
with a 26 yard pass to Thompkins followed by another big 15 yard personal
foul by William Moore to move the ball
all the way to their 43. RB LeGarrette Blount
sealed the deal by breaking free for 47 yards and a Patriot touchdown. To
make things worse, Dent was hurt on the play. Sensing the end was at hand
with an 11 point deficit with 14:26 to go some fans started heading to the
exits. So far, the Falcons offense hadn't given them much reason to be
confident of a big comeback.
Then, Atlanta started moving. Gonzalez got things going with a great
catch as he flew out of bounds at the 39. An attempted bomb downfield
brought a big chunk of yards with a pass interference call putting Atlanta
at the NE 23. A 58 yard penalty. But, they were in the red zone again with a
third and five at the 18 when Ryan was sacked back to the 27. Oh for three
inside the 20. A 45 yard field goal by Bryant at least kept them within a
score. Plenty of time left at 11:52, but, the defense would have to stop
Brady from padding the seven point lead to keep it within reach.
The Patriots displayed some of the killer instinct that the Falcons have
been accused of lacking with a handful of big plays resulting in another
touchdown including completions to Edleman for 16 and 44 yards and the final
18 taken in by Thompkins. With a 14 point deficit, more fans disenchanted
trickled out.
The New England defense also had the killer instinct as the picked off
Ryan on a long pass attempt to give them a first and 10 at their 41. Brady
poured it on with a 24 yard pass to Boyce the Atlanta 36 as he was falling
back. The clock was ticking down to under seven minutes as the defense
forced a 49 yard field goal attempt that put it out of reach 30-13. There
was no sense that Atlanta had any way to get back in the game. The offense
had gotten virtually all of their yards within the 20s but had frozen again
in each of their three visits in the red zone. The defense had had a lot of
difficulty stopping Brady from finding receivers on big play after big play.
With that recipe, the final 6:18 seemed an exercise in futility, but it
actually was just getting interesting. Those that had left missed a finish
starting with a Falcon touchdown, from within the red zone, no less to make
it 30-20. But, with just 4:22 left, the old Johnny Mathis
song, "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late," was coming to mind.
Atlanta refused to die, though, and recovered an on sides kick at
midfield with 4:21 to go. Again, they moved the ball into the red zone and
had to settle for a 25 yard field goal to bring the score to within seven
with 2:56 to go. More missed points that would be sorely needed.
This time the on sides kick failed giving the Patriots the ball at the
Atlanta 45. Then, the defense made an incredible goal line stand at their 43
as New England had tried three times to get short yardage and failed, giving
Atlanta one last gasp. Another incredible catch by Jones got them into
(oh no!) the red zone again. A fourth and seven would given them a last
shot to tie it. But, this was the same spot that haunted them in the NFC
Championship Game and in the opener at New Orleans. The drive and game ended
with another "what if."
Atlanta had given them an ending, but that's what it was, another way to
finish a game just short of a victory. The appreciative crowd gave them a
hand for the effort.
Another recurring problem had been
letting the other team finish strong. The Falcons had kept it close at a
10-10 halftime tie and 13-10 score by the end of the third quarter. But,
then, they let the Patriots go on a 20-3 run to get too far ahead for the
admirable comeback attempt.
On a positive note, Gonzalez a new career high of 149 yards. But, they
needed more.
The Falcons had to go home and figure out how they got to 1-3. The first
two losses, as we mentioned, could have gone either way. But, this one,
although it never really felt like a blow out, turned out to be one. The
danger of a 3-0 Saints team back in old form made the prospects of another
division title seem more improbable. The back half of the season still
loomed as very formidable with the Redskins, Packers, Seahawks, Saints and
49ers still to come. But, before all of that, there was time to turn things
around with a month of soft schedule ahead with a Monday Night Football game
next week with the lowly Jets followed by what should be easy matchups with
the sputtering Bucs, the Cardinals and Panthers.
Smith and his team suffered their first losing streak in four years. The
14 straight wins after defeats would also end here. |
