9-11: Mauled at Midway

Lets start by honoring the lives lost on September 11 2001, the lives that were given to protect the liberties and freedoms belonging to citizens this country, and the people who dedicated their lives to protect the United States from terrors both foreign and domestic.

Recap

The Atlanta Falcons walked into Solider Field looking to start the season off with a win against the Chicago Bears after a opening loss last season to the eventual AFC Superbowl representative Pittsburg Steelers. The game started off with the both teams exchanging field goals, and the Falcons forcing a Chicago three and out. On the ensuing possession for Atlanta, Matt Ryan, while trying to escape the pressure, looks for Tony Gonzalez but instead he finds Brian Urlacher for an interception, which resulted in a 56 yard touchdown pass to Matt Forte. The Bears add two more field goal taking a 13 point lead into the locker room at the half. (16-3.)

Chicago won the opening toss so Atlanta gets the ball to start the second half. The first two plays by the Falcons Ryan looks for Gonzalez with the first pass falling incomplete and the second being caught for a 9 yard gain. On third down, Ryan hands the ball to the work horse Michael Turner and he bursts up the middle for a monster 53 yard gain and is tackled at the Chicago 32 yard line by Jennings. The eleven play 88 yard drive later stalled at the 7 yard line and the Falcons settle for a 25 yard field goal by Matt Bryant field goal making the score (16-6.)

The Bears only need 7 plays to take the ball right back down the field 92 yards for another touchdown. Matt Forte runs for a huge gain of 27 yards and Devin Hester catches a screen pass and takes it 53 yards down to the Atlanta 1 yard line and Jay Cutler, despite much offseason criticism delivers a pass to his tight end for the one yard score. (23-6)

The Atlanta Falcons offensive line struggled the entire game, after the touchdown pass to Speath, the offensive line collapses causing Ryan to be sacked and stripped by Julius Peppers and Urlacher returns the fumble 12 yards for yet another bears touchdown. (30-6)

Atlanta did have a bright spot on defense; it came with about thirteen minutes left in the game. John Abraham, who had two sacks in this game, got a good rush on Cutler, jumped and batted the pass into the air and it is intercepted by Kroy Biermann and it’s returned for a 50 yard touchdown. The Falcons failed on the two point conversion, bringing the game to its final score (30-12), starting the season off 0-1 for the second straight season.

Offense

Over the course of the shorthanded offseason due to the NFL Lockout fans listened to the coaches and players alike express the want of more explosive plays. It doesn’t take a football genius to understand that if a the oppositions defense is getting consistent pressure on your quarterback with only their four defensive lineman there isn’t an opportunity to develop any plays down the field because the other seven players are back in coverage. With Todd McClure out recovering from a minor knee operation; the line was horrible in the season opener, allowing 5 sacks and 11 hits on Matt Ryan. Matt threw the ball 47 times completing 31 of those passes for 319 yards. Anyone who knows the Falcons understands that, while Ryan is a very good QB, putting the ball in the air close to 50 times is not what the team was built around, but allowing 14 points off of 3 turnovers left them no choice but to take the ball off the ground.

Offensive Notables and Player of the Week

Atlanta turned in a pretty good game on the ground, despite minimal opportunity, rushing for 110 yards on only 14 combined carries for three running backs. The Falcons prized rookie receiver Julio Jones caught 5 passes for 71 yards, putting him between Tony Gonzalez who also caught 5 passes for 72 and Roddy White who leads the team with 8 receptions and 61 yards.

Player of the Week: Michael Turner- 10 carries 100 yards, 3 receptions 40 yards, 1 fumble.

Defense

The renovated defense recorded 3 sacks and an interception, which was returned for a touchdown. However the problem many fans may have with the defense during the game, TACKLING! The Falcons missed a number of tackles many of which resulted in big plays and touchdowns, for example the Matt Forte touchdown reception. The former first round pick, Sean Weatherspoon attempted to push Forte out of bounds instead of wrapping up, the Chicago running back bounced off the feeble shove and scampered to the promise land.  

If the saying is, you play defensive back because you can’t catch well enough to play wide receiver, then Thomas Decoud really proved that to be the case, after he twice missed opportunities to pick off Jay Cutler and give the struggling Atlanta Falcons offense the ball back. This performance by the Falcons isn’t acceptable, especially if they want to repeat as NFC South. Everyone knows that the offense may score the points but the defense wins championships.

Defensive Notables and Player of the Week

(No this isnt John Abraham, but he is the
reason why Cutler looks like he got
hit by a mack truck)

The Defense played the game out of position on many plays, over pursing and missing tackles which aided the Bears in their victory. Sean Weatherspoon leads the defense in tackles with 10 total (9 solo) 2 tackles for loss and one pass defense. Middle Linebacker Curtis Lofton registered 8 solo tackles and a pass defense.

Player of the Week: John Abraham- 2 sacks, 4 tackles and 2 QB hits 

Week 2 Preview

In week 2 Atlanta opens up the Georgia Dome for the return of Michael Vick and the fire powered offense of the Philadelphia Eagles, after coming off a week one victory over the Saint Louis Rams they look to start the season 2-0. The Georgia Dome will be rocking for the first home game of the season and a showing similar to the season opener will be unacceptable as the Atlanta Falcons look to avoid an 0-2 start for the first time in the post Vick Era. The offensive line of the Falcons should be greatly improved with the return of Todd McClure at center allowing for Matt Ryan to have time to look down field for those explosive plays that had fans watering at the mouth after the off season build up. Hopefully the defense will be up to the challenge of stopping the Eagles in their tracks in this much anticipated battle of the birds.