Atlanta Falcons – Page 5 – FalconAlley Football

Mistakes in Minnesota

September 9, 2019

Article By: Allison Smith

Photos Courtesy of the Atlanta Falcons

The offense is one of the best in the league, on paper. The Defense is back at full strength, young, healthy, and with a new Defensive Coordinator. A revamped Offensive line, that never played together in the preseason. New Special teams coach with restructured and built up return game. Overall game plan. BLAND. Overall, team play. BAD. This is how the Atlanta Falcons begin the 2019 campaign.

The only player not active due to injury was Matt Gono, leading Kaleb McGary to start at right tackle. Next to him is fellow first round draft pick, Chris Lindstrom. McGary did share time with experienced Ty Sambrailo.

The first offensive play of the game was indicative of the entire game. The Falcons offense takes the field after the opening kickoff. The first offensive play ends in a sack on Matt Ryan for an 8-yard loss. Followed by a short Devonta Freeman run, then a 12-yard scramble by Ryan, that resulted in a fourth down. The punt was blocked and Minnesota starts their first drive on the Falcons’ 21. Two plays later, Kirk Cousins finds Adam Thielen for the touchdown.

The Falcons managed 4 turnovers, while the defense officially forced one, but did not recover that ball. Ryan threw 2 interceptions. The first was a bad decision to an overly covered Julio Jones, the other seemed like a miscommunication to Luke Stocker in the end zone. Stocker pulled up while Ryan threw the ball to the corner of the end zone, into the hands of Anthony Harris. Meanwhile, Mohammed Sanu, Julio, and Calvin Ridley were on the sidelines. The usually sure handed Freeman had a fumble in the red zone, which Sanu came up with, but was ruled a turnover to Minnesota. As a note, Freeman was nearly down and going for extra yards and not just dropping or mishandling the ball, but in the end, a fumble is a fumble.

Ryan didn’t look comfortable Sunday, clearly beginning with a sack doesn’t help your quarterback feel confident with his mostly new offensive line.

Austin Hooper lead the team in receptions with 9 catches for 77 yards, but was used too late in the game to matter. Ridley had 4 receptions for 64 yards and an uncelebrated touchdown. Jones had 6 receptions, 31 yards, and a very late touchdown. As usual, Sanu made some incredible catches for 57 yards and Justin Hardy looked sharp on limited time with 4 receptions for 41 yards. Russell Gage had one reception that lead to a no call hit to the head and left the game under concussion protocol.

The offensive line that was built in free agency and the draft (including moving up in the draft to take 2 offensive linemen in the first round), was no better than last season. The starting lineup never played together in any of the 5 preseason due to rotations, injuries, trials. The Falcons rotated tackles in and out instead of settling on a single player for the game.

Freeman and Ito Smith were the only running backs activated for the game. Freeman had 8 rushes for 19 yards while Smith tallied 31 yards on his 6 carries. Ryan was the second leading rusher with 2 scrambles for 24 yards. Third downs became easily predictable due to the lack of the running game. The o-line allowed 4 sacks (3, against Jake Matthews) and 7 hits on Ryan, so he never really had time to set and make good passes and with the running game nearly non-existent, there were many 3 and outs, leaving the defense on the field much of the game.

That being said, the defense did a decent job and adjusted well after half time, but it was too little too late at that point. The defense gave up 265 yards on the day, but could not stop the run game. The first score for Minnesota was immediately after the punt block, so was a short field and an instant 7/0 lead. Now healthy, Keanu Neal, Deion Jones, and Ricardo Allen had good games, with 1, 5, and 3 tackles respectively. Likely Keke and Rico will receive fine letters this week due to “physical” hits. Meanwhile, Vic Beasley pulled up on a possible sack, possibly because of the rules in the back of his head.

The leading tackler was new Falcon Tyeler Davison with 8 total tackles, followed by Minnesota grad De’Vondre Campbell with 6. The interior defensive line had a decent day (Davison, Grady Jarrett, Jack Crawford), however the defense could not set the hard edge and ended up giving up the soft corner too often. Dalvin Cook had a 21-yard play when Takk McKinley ran inside and didn’t have containment. Overall, the defensive ends had a rough day. As expected, Isaiah Oliver was picked on, very successfully for the Vikings.

The defense was not able to make Kirk Cousins uncomfortable, so he was able to easily complete 8 of 10 passes for 98 yards, then rely on the running game. Cousins did fumble three times, one caused by Jarrett, the other by Neal, but was ruled out of bounds, and simply missed the hand-off once. The rest of the game however, Cousins was not under duress.

Like many fans, I think the Falcons did not have enough starters time on the field, or on the field at the same time during the preseason. They needed more real playing time, together, and better communications. The communication issues were even more prevalent in the offensive issues, offensive line as well as Ryan and some of his receivers. The team accumulated 9 penalties. And after the drama of bringing back Matt Bryant, when the Falcons did finally score 2 touchdowns, they went, unsuccessfully, for the 2-point conversion and did not even utilize Bryant.

Overall, the team looked ill-prepared for the start of the season. All 3 phases of the games were near disasters. The first play of the game was a sack allowed by the offense, three plays later, a punt was blocked, then two plays later, the defense gave up the first touchdown of the game. Everyone’s post-game interviews sounded mad and frustrated with their performance. As they should have. Hopefully this means big things for the home opener on Sunday night against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Injury Update

Russell Gage: In concussion protocol.
Chris Lindstrom: Broken foot, on IR, out for 8 weeks.

Golden Talon: Grady Jarrett – Grady recorded a sack, forced fumble, 2 tackles for loss, and 5 total tackles in the game. He had good pressure all day, despite often being held with no calls.

#RISEUP

FalconAlley Owt

Rico is Ready

September 4, 2019

By: Allison Smith

Just days away from the season opener, Ricardo Allen calls in to Dukes and Bell to share his thoughts on the upcoming season.

Rico was on Injured Reserve most of last season, going out in the third game of the season. Now, he has healed, rehabbed, and studied to come back even stronger. His wife, Grace, helps….or ensures he is doing is film study at home as she helps break down film. With all of his rehab time, he had plenty of time to watch film and prepare. This training camp and preseason, he has begun sitting in on many of the offensive meetings in order to hear their views and discussions and be even more prepared for other teams. Rico is the defensive play caller and last line of defense on the field. Rico always makes sure the defense is lined up correctly, especially when there is any offensive movement before the snap.

Ricardo told Carl Dukes and Mike Bell of 92.9 The Game’s afternoon show that he is glad pre-season is over. He’s ready to play. He has been limited in pre-season as a starter and returning from injury. Rico said that Head Coach Dan Quinn (serving as defensive coordinator) is keeping everyone busy and excited. DQ really gets into the details.

Ricardo is excited to see Isaiah Oliver at Cornerback this year, he did his learning last year and is ready this year. “He will give up some plays, but will make more plays; he’s been putting the work and study in.”

Rico noted they are a competitive defense and ready to put some hits on some guys in real games. If they are throwing the ball up, we are going to try and go get it. Rico is very confident in this defense and the work they have put in so far and know they are going to do their part to keep the score low and let the offense do their part.

Discussing the grind to get back to playing this season, Rico was trying to enjoy the process and learn from that slow process. Sometimes you feel like you are going backwards, but you just have to keep working and trying and know you are blessed to be able to heal up and come back.

#RiseUp

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Defense Shines in Falcons Third Pre-Season Game

August 25, 2018

Falcons 6 at Jaguars 17

Inactives for Game 3: Julio Jones, Devonta Freeman, Desmond Trufant, Deion Jones, and Ricardo Allen. Getting the start in their place, Justin Hardy, Tevin Coleman, Isaiah Oliver, Foyesade Oluokun, and Damontae Kazee.

After the coin toss, the Atlanta Falcons’ offense begins the game, which means that Calvin Ridley is back to receive the kickoff. Kicked into the end zone and Ridley downed it there.

Starting with a play fake and then a 20-yard pass from Matt Ryan to Mohamed Sanu. Logan Paulsen is the starting tight end with Brandon Fusco getting the start this game at right guard. Tevin Coleman has a single yard run, to the right. Ryan and Paulsen are in the backfield, Coleman goes on a slant to the left side and gained the first down. Behind a big Ryan Schraeder block, Paulsen makes a catch for 7 yards. Coleman gains another first down, this time behind the right side (Fusco). Ito Smith joins the fun. From the backfield, Smith gains 3 yards. Then, they give up a 3-yard loss sack. Tyler Patmon knocks the ball intended for Ridley down, leading to Matt Bryant coming in and easily making a 47 yard field goal.

As the Falcons D hits the field for the first time, they come out READY. Jacksonville’s drive begins with Blake Bortles scrambling for a 4-yard gain, then a handoff to Leonard Fournette for another 4 yards, where he is quickly met by Terrell McClain and Brooks Reed. On 3^rd and 2, Bortles’ short pass is tipped by Robert Alford and picked by Keanu Neal. Suddenly, the Falcons have the ball back and at the Jacksonville 42.

Then…..the Falcons go 3 and out. Again. Incomplete to Reggie Davis, a Coleman 1-yard run, then a sack on Ryan. Matt Bosher on to punt 39 yards to the Jaguars 7-yard line.

Kazee starts the Jags possession with back to back tackles, followed by a Brooks Reed stop of Fournette, then an Oluokun stop of TJ Yeldon. Kazee is back at it and blasts Dede Westbrook for a 2^nd down stop. Bortles passes to Fournette who gets by Duke Riley for the first down, with Brian Poole closing quickly. The elusive Fournette spins past Jack Crawford and gains 4 yards. Kazee deflects the next big pass down the field. Kazee almost intercepts the next Bortles pass, while Grady Jarrett is grinding him into the ground. Now the Jags are forced to kick and miss a field goal.

The Falcons get the ball on downs at the 37, but immediately go 3 and out and are forced to punt. The 54-yard punt falls at the 5 and JUSTIN BETHEL downs it on the 2.

The Jaguars begin at their own 2. Deadrin Senat, anticipating the snap jumps offsides to move the ball up to the 7. The running back heads up the middle, but Senat and De’Vondre Campbell quickly meet him for an immediate stop. Isaiah Oliver makes the next stop after a big reception, clearly a mix up on coverage as Oluokun or Campbell should have been on that side to slow down that reception. From the 18, Bortles throws another pass that is deflected, this time by Oliver. Meanwhile, Poole was called offsides and negated the play. Donte Moncrief gets a 37-yard reception, with Oliver spinning and trailing the entire way, finally being pushed out by Alford. Two plays later, Fournette gets in for the 21-yard touchdown behind good blocking and missed tackles by Neal and Campbell.

Another unreturnable kick. Wes Schweitzer comes in at center in place of Alex Mack – who is not injured. Andy Levitre and Jake Matthews are on the left side, with Fusco and Ryan Schraeder to the right. Ryan had 4 receivers on the field, but could not find anyone open and runs out of bounds for a “sack.” Russell Gage is in, but Ryan throws to Austin Hooper who cannot hold onto the ball and suddenly it is 3^rd and 11. In the gun, Ryan overthrows Coleman. The o-line did not hold up well on this series, the 3^rd 3 and out in a row.

Bosher on for the 52 yard, unreturnable punt. Campbell, playing inside linebacker now, was fooled by the play fake, but did make the push out of bounds after a big gain.

Fournette gets by Riley again, for another 3^rd down conversion. Oluokun stayed in his gap and stopped Fournette for minimal gain. Bortles steps up for a big pass but is met and sacked by Crawford with Brooks Reed coming. Grady Jarrett, being jealous, grabs his Clemson buddy Vic Beasley, Jr and heads to the backfield. Beasley is shoving one lineman back blocking Bortles’ path, while Grady is being held up by a lineman, causing Bortles to trip and immediately Grady is on top of him.

The Jags are forced to punt to Hardy. Ryan finds Sanu (against mouthy Jalen Ramsey) for a nice and quick 16-yard game. Sanu is in motion with a play fake to Coleman, but Ryan overthrows the ball. The next pass, to Ridley is dropped. On 3^rd and 10 to Hooper, Barry Church is charged with the pass interference penalty and moves the Falcons to the 48. Coleman gets the call for a few yards, then….behind Matthews and Levitre (left side), escapes down the field for a big 21-yard run down to the 24-yard line. Smith pushes the ball down 5 yards, inside the red zone. A short pass to Hooper, then at the 15-yard line, it is 3^rd and 1, and a pass to Sanu at the back of the end zone is knocked out and Bryant is back on for another successful field goal.

Bosher handles the kickoff where Manual Smith makes the stop at the 25, where the Jags will begin their next drive. Kazee and Riley meet to make the tackle on Keelan Cole. Corey Grant on the screen play is knocked out by Campbell after a 28-yard gain. Defense was caught blitzing. In confusion, Takk McKinley was off the field trying to get on in time, so, alertly, Grady shoves Crawford in to DT and Grady plays DE for a play. The Jags gain 6 yards, stopped by Keke. Takk is clearly back on the field and makes the next tackle, then nearly makes another. Oliver and Kazee combine for a stop forcing a 3^rd down and timeout by Jacksonville. After a Campbell pass break up, it’s 4^th down and the Jags settle for another field goal. Teams head in to the half with Jacksonville leading 10 – 6.

As the second half begins, Bortles comes back out with most of the first team, starting at the 16. The Falcons have completely reset. Senat is still in, but Anthony Winbush, Casey Jones, Justin Zimmer, Jonathan Celestian and Kemal Ishmael, Blidi-Reh Wilson and Justin Bethel are all in now. TJ Yeldon gets the first two plays and is stopped by Celestin then Ish for minimal gains. Bortles has a 9-yard pass to Moncrief that is covered by Blidi Wreh, then runs up the middle himself and CB Bethel comes up to make the stop. Senat makes a good read forcing 3^rd down. The Falcons are in man-to-man and as Bethel gets tripped up covering his man, gets Moncrief out of bounds at the 17. The next play, Bortles throws down to the 2-yard line, where he finds Blidi Wreh. And, the defense heads off the field in lieu of the 2^nd team Falcons offense.

Matt Schaub comes out to lead the offense, including Justin Crawford with the first carry of the 2^nd half, for a loss of 1 yard. Offensive line updates to Jamil Douglas, Ty Sambrailo, Matt Gono, Sean Harlow, and Wes Schweitzer. Schaub has a short pass to Gage, then a short pass to Eric Saubert that turned into a 44-yard gain. A play fake to Crawford, throws up to Ridley for a 12-yard game. Gono has a false start. Another run by Crawford, for another lost yard. Schaub in the shotgun is hit as he throws, Gage almost reeled it in, but could not. It’s 3^rd and 15, due to offsetting penalties on a defender and Gage (again) for movement. Schaub lets one go, Ridley cannot handle the pass, it bounces off of his foot and is intercepted and returned 27 yards before Gage makes the stop. The play is reviewed and reversed determining the pass was incomplete. Bosher on to punt 20 yards to the Jacksonville 17.

Cody Kessler comes in replacing Bortles at quarterback and immediately throws a 33-yard pass to midfield. Ryan Neal makes the next 2 tackles, forcing Grant out of bounds, then tackling Rashad Greene for short gain. Cooper and Celestin made the next few stops for 12 and 4 yard gains. Then Zimmer has a big 7-yard sack at the Falcons 49, then is in the backfield again. Unfortunately, Kessler is able to get a short pass away to Wilds who goes for 31 yards to the Falcons 8, then another to Grant down to the Falcons 4. R. Neal makes the stop at the 2, while Celestin makes the stop at the 1. These two are making the Jags work for this score. On the next play, Kessler fumbles the hand-off, sees and recovers it, then scrambles into the end zone.

Ito Smith brings the kickoff out to the 31-yard line, with no bobbling the ball like last week. Crawford gets the first run, for 5 yards. Then newly acquired RB, Justin Fowler takes the ball another 3 yards. Schaub throws incomplete to Byrd, forcing another Bosher punt. This one for 49 yards, covered by Reggie Davis for a 1 yard loss on the return.

Jacksonville has a quick 3 and out with the new defense stepping up. The 53-yard punt is muffed by Oliver, who loses the ball, but is recovered by Crawford and the Falcons will begin at their 31.

Malik Williams has the first 3 carries, for 9, 2, then 1-yard gains, trying each side, left, right, then up the middle. Kurt Benkurt in at quarterback passes up to Christian Blake for a 9-yard gain, then is sacked for an 11-yard loss. From the shotgun, Benkert hits Crawford for 4 yards, then hits his favorite target, Devin Gray for a 15-yard gain. On 4^th and 2, the Falcons go for it, but the pass goes off the hands of Dontez Byrd and falls incomplete and they turn it over on downs.

The Jaguars begin at their own 40-yard line. Grant goes for 4 yards and meets Neal. A quick pass for no gain, then a sack by Richard Jarvis for a 9-yard loss. And another punt and chance for Oliver, who catches the ball cleanly and returns the punt 6 yards.

Benkert opens it up quickly as he goes deep to Byrd for 41 yards. Crawford carries it for 8 yards, then 7 yards. After 2 incomplete passes, Benkert finds Gage for 12 yards to the Jacksonville 8-yard line. Another 2 incomplete passes by Benkert, but Jacksonville is called for roughing the passer and the Falcons have a 1^st and goal at the 4. Four incomplete passes and the Falcons turn the ball over on downs. Gray caught the pass in the end zone, but could not get both feet down. Crawford had the ball go through his hands.

Time winds down and the Falcons are 0-3 in the pre-season, remember last season, they were 0-4 and a play away from the SuperBowl.

Some guys are definitely making the play for starter spots. Kazee is continuing to play incredibly well and shows himself as extremely versatile. If Kazee could be brought in, Keanu Neal can be moved up to play more inside and really cause a raucous on offenses. Blidi Wreh continues to impress defensively as well and made a definite jump from last season. Oluokun is playing well and looks to be on that 53.

Fusco looks to be the winner at the right guard spot playing well against a very good Jacksonville defense. Ricky Ortiz has likely won the fullback spot.

Oliver is struggling in man-to-man, but doing well in zone coverage. Of course, Grady was very disruptive and Campbell stopped a touchdown. Overall defense, causing turn overs was good, but gave up allot of yards as well. They still need more pass rushing to be dominant this season. There were signs of fatigue (again – as seen in previous seasons) late in the 2^nd quarter.

Levitre allowed a sack, the left side O-line was weak and allowed too much pressure on Ryan. Coleman looked good as expected, especially running left when Matthews and Levitre did pair up for good blocking.

Special teams is much improved from last year, the obvious addition of Bethel, but some of the young guys trying to make the team too, Gage and Paulson especially.

Again, no one injured – so there is that. And the Jaguars are a very good team and therefore a good test. They did not sit anyone, while the Falcons did have several key players on offense and defense that did not play at all. Also note that Jacksonville played their starting offense later than the Falcons played their first team defense.

#RiseUp

@FalconAlley Owt

Photo Credit: Atlanta Falcons

Falcons Fall Into October

Bills at Falcons

October 1, 2017

Photo & Article By: Allison Smith

Well, no one really expected the Atlanta Falcons to go undefeated, BUT, it is hard pill to swallow even against a solid Buffalo Bills team. You simply cannot hand a team like the Bills the ball 3 times. The defense did play a bit off early in the game, but stood up and made the big stops when necessary, causing 2 long field goals, and only gave up 16 points.

After over 300 passes with no interceptions, in two games, there have been 5 interceptions and a fumble by Matt Ryan. Agreed, these were not all on Ryan, 4 of the 5 interceptions were tipped by our receivers. Point is, catch the ball or don’t touch the ball. It did seem that this week’s passes were a little off, as the receivers were stretching or falling for these and other passes. And it isn’t a single receiver that we can get to and shake, it seems to be something in the locker room they are passing around.

Not sure if Ryan is back to his old days of trying to do too much and getting a little pass crazy, or we are just having some bad luck. Clearly, it did not help with Julio Jones and Mohammed Sanu not returning for the second half, but we have enough receivers to make up those spots…not BE Ju or Sanu, but to catch some passes. I think the biggest issue was the size difference and Ryan is not use to throwing to smaller receivers and couldn’t lay the ball where it needed to be.

Tevin Coleman and Andre Roberts both fumbled, but the ball was recovered by the Falcons, otherwise we could have lost the ball 5 times in a single game. I am sure that “ball control” will be on the top of Dan Quinn’s list of topics this week. Along with “missed tackles.” There were too many of those as well, allowing the Bills to gain too many extra yards. Some are growing pains with the young guys, some are due to being down several starting defenders, Vic Beasley, Jr., Courtney Upshaw, Ricardo Allen, and mid-game, Jack Crawford.

The defense, overall, held up well, especially when the game was on the line. On the final two Buffalo drives, the defense forced a 56 then 55-yard field goals. Kudos to Stephen Hauschka for making these field goals, but as far as they were, they were kicked low, so I would like to have seen one or two of the giant tight ends in the middle trying to block these field goals. Robert Alford had good pressure on the edge for one, but there was not enough pressure to stop either of these field goals.

There were many reasons for this loss. So many missed opportunities. A loss to a good team is acceptable, but when you helped the opposition so much and know you could have won, it is a little harder to swallow. Included with the turnovers, the allowing too many extra yards….there were two questionable plays that went against the Falcons. As fate would have it, the football gods were not smiling on us. According to the announcers, and anyone with eyes, the “fumble for a touchdown” was clearly a forward pass knocked out of Ryan’s hand. And the Nick Williams tipped pass (note, he was laid out reaching for the ball) that hit the ground as Micah Hyde caught it for the “interception.”

The capping blow of the day was the ending drive. After the defense had two great stops near midfield, the offense drives into the red zone, Ryan has 4 straight passes, one a completion to Austin Hooper, but three bad passes over Taylor Gabriel. I don’t know that anyone is sure why, even with limited time on the clock and no time outs, why you would not double up with Tevin Coleman and Devonta Freeman behind Derrick Coleman and just run the ball in. Heck, let them run behind Dontari Poe or Ben Garland. Try anything better than 3 errant passes. Except for a few times on the day, the running game ran pretty smoothly….even behind the right side. Which again allowed Ryan to take quite a beating.

Buffalo controlled the tempo of the game and it never felt like Atlanta had a rhythm, even when leading. Buffalo was easily doing whatever they wanted with running game. They were doubling up on both Grady Jarrett and Poe and able to knock them back into the linebackers, and some of that was with uncalled holding calls, but that doesn’t matter now. Falcon defenders were never really in space, they were constantly locked up with Bills.

Throwback Black Jersey Game — Repping Grady Jarrett

It was black jersey, throwback day, so maybe, hopefully, it was just a throwback type loss for the Falcons. Long time fans know, it can be very nerve racking and frustrating to be a fan from the 1990’s. Close games always went the bad way back in the day. I was repping my brand new black Grady Jarrett jersey, but because of my long hair, you couldn’t see the name, so I took it as a great compliment when someone yelled “Kerney” at me.

Good news on the day, the Benz Nest was packed with over 71,000 in attendance, al biet too many Bills fans made it in as well. It was a beautiful, breezy day for tailgating. The crowd was loud, excitable, and stayed until the end. If there is anything a Falcons fan knows, if it is close at the end, the game could go either way.

And, as a nice Brotherhood story, after running the “12 Gauge” (the Falcons play call for the Wild Cat), Sanu lined up under center, ran the ball in for a touchdown, was ruled down at the inch line. On the ensuing play, Freeman ran in the touchdown and promptly gave the ball to Sanu. We may be down, but we are never out when we are together in our Brotherhood. Note that Rico was coaching as best he could from the sideline as he was usually lined up close to the defense on the field.

#RiseUp

FalconAlley Owt

And Then There Was One

Atlanta 30 at Detroit 26

September 24, 2017

By: Allison Smith

Alone at the top, as the only NFC team to be undefeated. After only 3 weeks into the NFL season, the other 2 undefeated teams lost today. The Carolina Panthers to the New Orleans Saints, and the Detroit Lions to our beloved Atlanta Falcons…..I think.

As Matt Bryant said, we don’t usually have to ask at the end of the game, “Did we win?” But, in likely one of the strangest endings in history – or at least a long time, the Falcons did move to 3-0 in Detroit. Once again, using the full 60 minutes to determine the result. I was at a local sports bar in Charlotte, and several of us Falcons were gathered and determined that this drama was not necessary. But, we will take a win, by hook or crook.

On the positive note, even with 3 turnovers, the Falcons still won. Two of Matt Ryan’s passes were tipped by his intended targets (Tevin Coleman and Mohamed Sanu, Sr.), for interceptions. The Lions were only able to come away with 3 points from those two. The third, was a pick 6, by Glover Quin, who read Ryan’s eyes perfectly and stepped in front of Julio Jones for the pick. The defense did their job as brothers to help the offense out.

The game started off well enough, Owner Arthur Blank on the field, linking arms with the team, between Devonta Freeman and Julio Jones. We received the opening kickoff and marched down the field in 12 plays and just under 7 minutes to take the opening lead on a Sanu touchdown. Unfortunately, it was questionable and while being reviewed, we were unable to get a Bean Dance.

After an 8 play drive, the Lions punted it back to the Falcons and Andre Roberts made an 11-yard return. The next drive included 2 false starts and a sack and ended in a Bryant field goal. The Lions answered with a field goal of their own, to get on the board at 10/3 with 10 minutes left in the half. Then, it became the Free Show. Two of the next 6 plays were to Freeman, then 4 straight handoffs to Freeman, concluding with his 1-yard touchdown run. And this was not even Free running angry as he did later in the game.

The next Lions drive stalled and they were only able to manage another field goal. But their D stepped up and on the Falcons next drive, next play, Quin had his pick 6.

Overall, short of turnovers, the offense looked good. Free was just Free. Julio had 7 receptions for 91 yards on the day. Taylor Gabriel and Sanu finally had touchdown catches, 40 and 4 yards respectively. Ryan disturbed the ball to 7 receivers, Roberts and Austin Hooper catching one a piece, for 12 and 9 yards. Ryan threw for almost 300 yards on the day.

Courtesy of the Atlanta Falcons — Mohamed Sanu, Sr’s 40-Yard Touchdown Reception – Photo by Atlanta Falcons

The defense had a pretty successful day, realizing one touchdown was not on them and when their backs were against the wall, they stood up and held the line. The Lions were 4 for 4 scoring touchdowns in the red zone…until they weren’t. There were a number of missed tackles again and playing more zone than man to man. Takk McKinley had his first sack of his young NFL career and celebrated by pointing and dedicated it to his grandmother then had 2 more tackles on the day. After the game, Takk said that he just did whatever the coaches wanted him to do. He wants more sacks, but it way more about the Brotherhood.

Adrian Clayborn had another good game, one sack, but putting lots of pressure on the line and Matt Stafford. Grady Jarrett got in on the official stats this week with 4 tackles and caused at least 2 offensive holding penalties. To prove his persistence, at one point, Jarrett had a leg tackle to slow the runner down, another Falcon came in for help, Jarrett got back to his feet and made the crushing tackle.

Deion Jones had an early personal foul penalty, then followed it up with back to back tackles, ending the game with 7 in total. Brian Poole lead the team with 9 tackles, making his hits known too. De’Vondre Campbell was disruptive again and garnered 3 tackles, while Robert Alford had 6 tackles this week and good coverage most of the day.

Special teams…wow…much improved. Matt Bosher was perfect, of course. All except 1 kickoff was a touchback, while he had a 43 and 48-yard punt with one 10-yard return. Bryant had successful field goals of 36, 48, and 40 yards. Roberts had returns of 11, 38, 27, and 16 yards and called for a quick fair catch, was hit and got the team moved up 15 yards.

Overall, there were too many penalties, especially in the final drive of the game, giving up too many free yards. Two sacks were allowed by the new right side combo of Wes Schweitzer and Ty Sambrailo. Both had false starts and Schweitzer added a holding penalty. Ben Garland anyone??? While Desmond Trufant had 2 tackles on the day, those were early, but he also committed 2 late penalties. On the final drive of the game, Tru had an unnecessary hold that overturned a Rocky interception at the goal line, then a pass interference penalty on a 3^rd and 10 that gave the Lions a 1^st and 10 on the 1-yard line.

Special note, for my loyal readers from my previous seasons, you know Paul Worrilow has been my favorite Falcon for the last 4 years, so I was watching Paul this week as well. He had 4 tackles, the first tackle of the game, on Freeman, and not long afterwards tackled Julio. He was also one of the guys in pursuit of Turbo on his touchdown, which we all know would be impossible for anyone to cover. Congrats and good game.

Injury Update: Ricardo Allen is undergoing concussion protocol due to a tackle late in the fourth quarter. Rico did leave the field with assistance, but walked to the locker room on his own. Julio Jones jammed his back on the final offensive play of the game, gaining 11 of the 12 needed yards. Julio will flipped, but afterwards he and Dan Quinn reported the injury not to be serious. Julio said he would have gone back in if that was not the final offensive possession.

Devonta Freeman’s First Run of the Day – Former Falcon Paul Worrilow on the Tackle. Photo Courtesy of Atlanta Falcons

Iron Falcon Award: Brian Poole – leading tackler for the game, on a Stafford run, Poole seemed to let up slightly, waiting for Stafford to slide, which he did not, so Poole laid him out. Poole also ended the game with the touchdown saving tackle. Devonta Freeman – time and time again, Free had 3 back to back runs, ran angry, ran fast, blocked for teammates, ended with 21 rushes for 103 yards and a long 18-yard run, and 3 receptions for 32 yards. Free even tried to fight when Julio was hurt.

#RiseUp

FalconAlley Owt

Photos Courtesy of Atlanta Falcons