11-20: Matty Ices the Titans

First off let me say, Happy Thanksgiving to all. Hope you all ate good and enjoyed time with your family, friends and loved ones. Also I hope you enjoyed the Thanksgiving Day games aired on FOX, CBS, and NFL Network. I'm thankful for all of you who spend time reading this blog and sending me your feedback through twitter and the comment section at the bottom, without you all none of this would be possible and I thank you for your support. Now that that's out of the way, let’s talk about the Atlanta Falcons. Coming into this game against the Titans, Atlanta had just lost an important game for against the Saints which would have placed Atlanta in first place in the NFC South, who what better to have than to have a team that's having a rough season come into your house for you to beat on and build that confidence back up. Sounds like an ideal situation to me. With that said its time for a RECAP!

Recap

Tennessee wins the coin toss and receives the kick off backed up on their own 7 yard line. Atlanta forces a quick 3 and out and gets the ball into the hands of the offense after the Titans punter boots the ball an amazing.... 34 yards to the Tennessee 44 yard line. 2nd and 10 Turner takes the hand off around the left side for 15 yards down to the 29, but on the next play Will Svitek is flagged for holding and puts Atlanta into a 1st and 20. 1st and 20 Matt Ryan finds Tony Gonzalez over the middle for 9 yards to the 30. 2nd and 11 he finds Tony over the middle again for 13 yards down to the 17 and a first down into the red zone. 1st and 10 from the 17, why not throw it to Tony it worked the first two time, this time is no different. 17 yard TOUCHDOWN TONY GONZALEZ!!!! The 95th of his 15 year career and 19th as an Atlanta Falcon. (7-0).

After the defense gives up the quick score, the Titans offense comes back onto the fields hoping for a different result after going 3rd and out in less than a minute and forty seconds. 1st and 10 Chris Johnson runs right for a pick up of two yards before being tackled by Curtis Lofton, who is tied for 6th in the NFL with 91 tackles on the season. If Lofton doesn't make the pro bowl this season the voting has to be fixed he is having an amazing season at middle linebacker. Second and 8 from 23, the other QB from BC, Matt Hasselbeck throws the pass deep for Nate Washington who hauls it in for a 25 yard completion, but wait it can’t be... IT IS, a flag on the play. HOLDING on the offense the play does not count. A few plays later 1st and ten Johnson tries to carry the ball off the left tackle but is flattened by Babineaux in the backfield for a loss of 4 yards. 2 &14 Hasselbeck throws a pass right looking for Lavelle Hawkins, instead he finds DUNTA ROBINSON!!! NAW THAT'S NOT A TYPO I SAID DUNTA ROBINSON WITH THE INTERCEPTION! He takes the ball 14 yards down to the Titans 44 yard line. Which translates into a 12 plays later, into a 19 yard field goal and a 10 point lead for the Atlanta Falcons. (10-0)

Titans have been forced to punt and have been intercepted on their first two possessions and unfortunately for Tennessee the third possession didn't go any better, this drive went for 6 plays and 13 yards and resulted in a punt. However this time the punt did go 57 yards and Atlanta was forced to start their drive on their side of the field for the first time in the game, but they wouldn't be their long. 1st and 10 Matt Ryan finds lasts weeks player of the game Harry Douglas for a 21 yard completion over the middle to the 42 yard line. Two plays later Turner runs left for a pickup of 35 yards pushed out of bounds by Cortland Finnegan at the 17. 3rd down and 15 after a offensive pass interference call on Eric Weems, Matt throws to Weems for a pickup of 7 and here comes Matt Bryant to kick the 33 yard field goal. After Tennessee and Atlanta swaps possessions the Titans add a field goal (13-3) just before the half.

Into the 3rd Quarter, Atlanta gets the ball on their own 20. 2nd and 6 Matt finds Tony for a gain of 16 and a first down. 3rd down, after two passes fall incomplete both intended for Roddy White, Ryan looks for Tony who is interfered with by Finnegan. AUTOMATIC FIRST DOWN!. 1st and 10 from the 45, Ryan goes DEEEEEEEEEEP down the right side for RODDY WHITE who makes the over the shoulder catch between two defenders pushed out of bounds by Jordan Babineaux, younger brother of Jonathan Babineaux. 43 yard completion down to the 12 yard line. Three plays later Turner takes the ball 4 yards and into the end zone for the TOUCHDOWN. (20-3) Atlanta is starting to look like they can’t be stopped moving the ball 80 yards in just 7 plays in just over 3 minutes. Not only is the offense clicking but the Falcons defense has done no wrong, and forced another Titan punt and the offense added another field goal extending the lead (23-3)

Down by 20 points on the road late in the 3rd, and Matt Hasselbeck is injured so who do you turn to? JAKE LOCKER ladies and gentlemen, 1st and 10 Locker looks for pass intended for Damian Williams falls incomplete. 2nd and 10 Locker goes to Jared... He went to Jared.. Jared Cook for an 8 yard gain down to the 40. Now I don't know if the defense took a play off because its a rookie QB or they expected the Titans to run the ball in the short yard age situation, or maybe it was just bad coverage in the secondary who knows but on 3rd down and 2 Locker finds Nate Washington, Washington shakes free of the defender and finds the end zone for a Titan touchdown and the first of Lockers career. (23-10)

After the two again exchange punts, Atlanta starts the drive on the 36 yard line. 2nd and 10 Ryan finds White for a 24 yard completion to the 40 yard line. 2nd and 11 Matt finds Tony Gonzalez for a 19 yard reception and the Falcons appear to be marching down the field for the kill shot early into the 4th already up by 13. A few plays later its 4th and 1. Defense jumps off side first down! 2nd and 10 from the 7 of Tennessee Turner takes the hand off around the left side and... FUMBLES THE FOOTBALL…. recovered by Tennessee and returned to the 16. Titans 3rd and 10 Locker in shotgun scans the field and takes off for an 11 yard scramble to the 49. 1st and 10 Locker drops back.... SACK!!! John Abraham comes through in the clutch for the defense. Two incompletions later 4th and 17 Locker... goes to Jared, He went to Jared.... Jared for a 22 yard gain to keep the drive going. 5 plays later Locker finds Nate Washington for the 4 yard score. (23-17) Atlanta, not looking to blow the lead and lose the game receives the kick off at the 20. Turner, fresh of the fumble takes the ball off the right side for a 27 yard gain. Time out Titans. 1st and 10 Snelling gains 2 yards to keep the clock rolling.. Time out Titans. 2nd and 8, Snelling again goes for two yards and the Titans burn their final time out. This is it... 3rd and 6 up by 6 Matt Ryan drops back and finds Harry Douglas for the 6 yard completion.. FIRST DOWN... BALL GAME!! FALCONS WIN!!! 23-17

Offense

Some weeks the defense is going to have to win it for you and other weeks the offense is going to have to make plays at the end of the game to secure the victory. This was one of those weeks. The offense played fairly well this week against the Titans defense, the moved the ball for the most part up and down the field all day. In the beginning of the season the Falcons offense could not move the ball well and many people wondered why Atlanta didn't use the no huddle offense more instead of just using it to jump start the offense and establish a tempo. Well against the Titans, Atlanta ran the no huddle for most of the game and it did almost what most fans thought it would, keep the defense off balance and make the offense seem more dynamic which worked as well as anyone could have expected and Matt Ryan did a great job in getting the team in the right play for the right situation and at times channeled his inner Payton.

While they moved the ball well the no huddle however did not help the teams red zone percentage as the only scored twice in the red zone out of 6 attempts. Last week I noted on my twitter account @MrShields2 and in my post on We Dat Nation that Matt Ryan is 30-35 throw a game quarterback and apparently he knows it also, calling his own plays for much of the game Ryan called 32 pass plays and completed 22 of them for 316 yards which is 9.9 yards per throw. That’s playing to your strengths and it payed off really well for the Falcons, so much so that the Vikings (Atlanta's next opponent) has spent extensive time at practice attempting to prepare for the Falcons no huddle package.

Also last week I was rather critical on where Roddy White had been this season, apparently he reads my blog or knew he needed to step up and be the all pro receiver he had been in years past because Roddy went off, catching 7 balls for 147 yards including a spectacular 43 yard catch between two defenders, but he can’t have all the credit because Matt threw a beautiful ball that was placed perfectly. Ryan called the game so well it just leaves me wondering why hasn't they been allowing Matt to do this sooner. Every year a team finds new that gives them an edge heading into the playoffs, in 2009 the Saints Defense was a force and it carried a high powered offense to the Championship. 2010 the Packers took the playoffs by storm with a new found running game and it ran the Packers right into the Superbowl. Could the missing element this year be Atlanta's use of the no huddle?

Offensive Notables Player of the Week

Not only did Matt Ryan call the plays, he managed the game. Everybody knows that Atlanta is built on running the Football, and so does Matt. Atlanta ran the ball 36 times for 116 yards led by Turner with 100 yards on 21 carries 4.8 per and 1 touchdown. Tony Gonzalez had 5 catches for 74 yards and a touchdown and last week’s MVP Harry Douglas came up with 4 catches for 51 yards of his own. The Falcons offense 10th in the NFL with passing yards and 10th in rushing according to ESPN. This offense is moving right along as this team pushes toward the playoffs. The team played so well this week I got a special gift for yall, not one.. but TWO players of the week!

Player of the Week: Matt Ryan- 22 of 32 for 316 yards 1 TD no INTs. Not to mention he called the game and had the offense rolling.

Player of the Week: Roddy White- 7 Catches 147 yards 21.0 per catch 0 TDs. Hopefully this was the breakout performance that fans have been waiting for.

Defense

The defense played well, until Jake Locker came in. When your offense has a 20 point lead all you can ask from your defense to do is not blow it, although they did hold to the lead I'm sure many fans couldn't help but sit and hold onto their chairs after Locker, a Rookie QB came into the game and threw 2 touchdowns. Before Locker however, The Falcons defense held the Titans QB to 124 yards and forced him into throwing the ball to Dunta Robinson.  Also After rushing for a season high 130 yards last week, Chris Johnson was held to just 13 yards on 12 carries. No he didn't get injured during the game but few people realize that the Falcons are ranked number 2 as the second best rush defense in the NFL only allowing the Titans 41 yards on 14 carries. That’s 2.9 yards per carry for all my math majors out there.

This week however Atlanta again allowed too many 3rd down conversions 8 of 14 to be exact and a 4th down conversion on a 4th and 17. While Atlanta is ranked 2nd in rush defense they are in the lower half of the league in stopping the pass and will have to work on that if they are planning to make a push into the playoffs and hopefully the Superbowl.

Defensive Notables and Players of the Week

BREAKING NEWS!!! Neither Curtis Lofton nor Sean Weatherspoon led the team in tackles it was Chris Owens, who was filling in for Kelvin Hayden. Chris Owens led the team with 7 tackles, if you remember a few weeks ago I said if a DB lead the team in tackles that either means the front 7 aren't doing their job or the DB is getting beat like he stole something, I’m not going to call out Owens but I will congratulate the front 7 on playing a solid game. Curtis Lofton did have 6 tackles and is tied for 6th in the NFL, while I was looking at stats for tackles I did notice that 2 or 3 players in front of Lofton played on Thanksgiving so come Sunday the he should have jumped over a few other players on the list. Babineaux played well and on one drive Bab had taken over for the defense batting down two passes and forcing a punt, not too bad when you’re playing against your little brother while your mom is sporting a two sided jersey to support her sons as they play on the same field.

Player of the Week: Jonathan Babineaux- 3 tackles 2 Tackles for loss 2 Pass deflections and 2 QB hits. That’s how you show out against you brothers team.

Player of the Week: Dunta Robinson- 3 Tackles 3 pass deflections and 1 Amazing Interception. Dunta has not gotten many interceptions as a Falcon but this one was his best and his best effort to get it.

Preview

This week the Falcons are facing the Minnesota Vikings and possibly without their all star running back Adrian Peterson, who hurt his ankle in last week in a losing effort to the Raiders. All though the Vikings maybe missing Peterson, Minnesota has use WR Percy Harvin as a Running back and also Toby Gerhart can pack a punch as well. This will be the first time Mike Smith has faced one of his former coaches as Bill Musgrave was hired as OC for the Vikings during the off season.  Musgrave spent his career developing you QBs like Payton Manning in 98 and Matt Ryan in 2008 and now he has Christian Ponder. Also this game will feature Mike Jenkins returning to Atlanta as a Viking and Ray Edwards will play against Minnesota as a Falcon which should add an extra element to this battle in the Dome. In order to win the offensive line will need to keep Ryan up right and allow the offense to score fast to put the Vikings away early to cruise to a victory.