11-6: Falcons Beat Up On Colts

Falcons Say No Payton....
NO PROBLEM!

Hope you’re all well rested after a bye week. Feels like it been ages since I posted, well it has. It was defiantly a long week here at Savannah State. The end of the semester is always the hardest part of the year, but nevertheless I’m back and ready to get things done for you Falcons fans and avid readers of the WEDATNATION column. I must be honest, it was kind of hard for me not to look past this game to next week’s opponent, the Falcons versus the Colts (without Payton Manning) wasn't a "sexy" game to watch, unless you’re a Falcons Fan, which in turn means you love the fact that Atlanta went in and blew out the winless Colts. Unfortunately that makes for a relatively short post this week, with that said let’s get into the recap!

RECAP

Alright we start the game with the Colts at the Indianapolis 24. 2nd and 6, Curtis Painter (filling in for the injured Kerry Collins, who is filling in for the injured Payton Manning) hands the ball to Delone Carter up the middle and on the second play of the game, and his second carry, he FUMBLES (Curtis Lofton) and its...... FALCONS FOOTBALL! Recovered by Ray Edwards. On walks the Falcons offense. 1st and 10 from the 26, the work horse, Michael Turner pounds it up the middle for an 8 yard gain. Two plays later its POP QUIZZ, around the left side for 11 yards. Let me just tell you this young man out of Oregon is a ball player, he is small, fast, and if you watched the end other game against Detroit he carried half the defense to pick up the game winning first down, so there is no doubt that he is powerful. Two plays later Turner pushes it in for a 1 yard TOUCHDOWN!!! (0-7)

On the next Colts drive, 1st and 10 Donald Brown, takes the handoff up the middle for 6 yards. Second and 4, Painter finds Manning’s best friend Dallas Clark for a 9 yard reception. The Colts seem to be getting on a bit of a roll, because two plays later Painter hits Pierre Garcon down the right sideline for a 15 yard completion and it appears the Falcons are back on their heels. After two Painter incompletion, 3rd down and 10 fires a pass DEEEEEP for Reggie Wayne and its PICKED OFF!!! By ex-Indianapolis Colt Kelvin Hayden, who was released by the Colts this off season in a salary cap related move and was signed by the Falcons back in August. The Falcons and Colts exchange punts and the Falcons come back on the field at their own 21 yard line.

Mike Smith didnt like the Celebration after Julio
Jones (11) caught his first TD.

1st and 10 from the 21 Turner takes the ball 15 yards up the middle of the field to the 36. After that it’s all JULIO JONES. 1st and ten from the 36, after missing the past two games with a pulled hamstring Jones takes the reverse hand off around the right side for 14 yards to the 50. One thing about watching this speedster from Alabama run the ball you notice he gets north and south in a hurry and when he is coming you better get out of his way or you might have foot prints on your chest, and that’s not something normally said about a wide receiver. On the next play of the drive Matt Ryan lines up in the shotgun with Turner at his side, straight drop and LAUNCHES the ball about 60 yards in the air (so much for that weak arm rumor) into to triple coverage, who cares? Not Julio because he makes a spectacular diving catch into the end zone which was ruled incomplete and out comes the challenge flag. The call is reversed, meaning... TOUCHDOWN JULIO JONES!!! His first touchdown catch of his career. (0-14) See The Catch Here

Headed into the second quarter after a Colts punt, the Falcons have the ball with a lot of field between them and the end zone 87 yards to be exact. Let me tell ya, if you had went to the restroom, or looked down to check your phone you would have missed this entire drive. 1st and 10 from the 13, Turner again takes the ball up the middle of the Indianapolis defense for a short 3 yard pick up. Second and 7, in a run formation, Turner tries the right side and gets another short gain this time for 4 yards. 3rd down and 3 yards, Ryan is in the shotgun and fires a short pass looking to pick up the easy first down, but apparently he and rookie receiver Jones weren’t on the same page. Julio was looking for more....Julio Jones takes the 5 yard slant pass, shakes off the cornerback at the 30, puts a nasty move on the safety at the 40, by time he was at the 50 he had completely out ran the entire Colts defense and from the 45 yard line he watched himself on the big screen cruise into the end zone for his second TOUCHDOWN of the day and second of his career. (0-21) Jones At It Again

The Falcons Defense is playing an amazing game, and forces another punt. If the Colts don’t have anything else they have a great punter, he BOOMS this thing 53 yards and pins the Falcons at the 1 yard line. First and 10 falcons hand the ball to Jason Snelling to pick up 1 yard. The offense has been playing a near perfect game on offense up until this point until second and 9 from the 2, Matt Ryan fires a pass behind Roddy White and it’s intercepted by Jarrod Powers, which gets returned for a 6 yard touchdown. (7-21) Later in an interview Head Coach Mike Smith called it miscommunication on the part of Ryan and White, but in the end it still resulted in Matt's ninth interception of the Season.

We pick things up on the sixth play of the Falcons second drive the half. Matt tosses a 11 yard pass to Tony Gonzalez. 3rd and 9, Ryan looks and finds Roddy White for a gain of 10 yards down and a FALCONS FIRST DOWN to the Colts 2 yard line. Two plays later Ryan connects with Gonzalez for the 1 yard TOUCHDOWN, his 93 td catch of his career. To give the Falcons a 21 point lead. Early in the fourth quarter Matt Bryant, we should start calling him "Mr. Clutch" because this guy has hit all 12 of his field goals this season and is 185 of 221 in his career, that’s over 83 percent for all of you Non-Math Majors out there, comes on an knocks in a 20 yarder to push the score to its final. (7-31) ATLANTA (5-3) has now won 3 straight and are right in the thick of things in the NFC South.

Offense

After a week off this offense came out on fire, not that a short field didn’t help, but I must say that after missing a whole offseason, and not working together as a complete team until August, They have got it rolling. Missing Julio Jones for two weeks forced the Falcons into running the ball first to set up the pass, and many, including myself, wondered if they would continue to follow the trend when Jones returned to the lineup. Needless to say they silenced the critics at least for one week.

 Up in Indianapolis, Atlanta ran the ball over 40 times, and averaged 4 yards per rush, with production like that in the running game Ryan only had to drop back 24 times, completing 14 of the attempts. The early season culprit was the offensive line, in this game they only allowed one sack and two QB hits, so not only is the offense getting on the same page but the offensive line is also returning to the 2010 from with is great if your Matt Ryan, Michael Turner, Jason Snelling and Jacquizz Rodgers. Turner only rushed for 71 yards but that's not because the Colts shut him down, its because the lead was so large the coaches felt they could rest him after the 3rd quarter. That's huge because of the next team they face, the Falcons are going to need a well rested Turner. The only knock on the Falcons Offense during this game was the interception, which is only an issue because it was returned for a touchdown. Ryan isn’t having his best season but that’s no excuse for you and your number one receiver to not be on the same page that close to your own end zone.

Offensive Notables and Player of the Week 

Turner carried the ball 19 times this game for 71 yards and 1 touchdown, that’s 3.7 yards per carry. As I previously stated Turner only played 3 quarters, which means Jacquizz Rodgers (44 yards) and Jason Snelling (15 yards) got to have a little fun with 18 combined carries for 59 yards. Roddy Whites receptions maybe down this season but it’s clear that he is still Ryan's favorite receiver, he had 4 receptions for 76 yards and no touchdowns but was targeted a team high 9 times, but this was The Julio Jones Show on Sunday. The young receiver caught only 3 balls this week but showed the fans in Atlanta, the critic on the social media sites, the analyst on the sports stations and a certain Head Coach in New England why the 21 spot jump on draft day was small price to pay for a receiver with the amount of talent he has. Jones, made a diving grab between 3 Colts defenders for a 50 yard touchdown (the first of his career) then later flashed his speed as he outran the defense and took a 5 yard slant pass 80 yards for his second score of the day. But Jones isn’t just a pass catcher; he apparently is really good out of the reverse, so good that the Falcons ran two reverses with Julio that averaged 16.5 yards a piece. If this Falcons offense is starting to click with Julio Jones in the lineup, look out because you’re going to need 12 defenders to stop them down the road.

Player of the Week: Julio Jones- 3 Receptions 131 yards 43.7 per catch 2 TD's 2 Carries 33 yards 16.5 per carry. What more can I say, if the rookie QB class leaps and bounds above where many projected, Jones would the top choice for R.O.Y.

Defense

I don’t really have much to say on the defense, which is a good thing in this case. Like the offense, the defense is also starting to roll, and roll over opposing offenses as well. Against the Colts, the defense posted a shutout. Not only was it a shutout but they only gave up 186 yards of total offense to Indianapolis. Early in the season the Falcons had some third down troubles with getting the opposing teams off the field, but over the last two games this defense has gotten off the field 21 times of the 26 times of being in third down situations that's over 80% of the time. They are not giving up the big plays, forcing turnovers (making this the 28th game in a row that the team has taken the ball away) and are getting off the field on 3rd down. If they can keep playing at this level they could finish this season as one of the top defensive units in the league.

Defensive Notables and Player of the Week

If you’re expecting to see a name atop the defensive statics this week that isn’t Sean Weatherspoon or Curtis Lofton then I hate to disappoint you. Curtis Lofton lead the team with 12 total tackles and Spoon is right behind him with 10 of his own. These two young linebackers are both having the type of season that will land them both in Honolulu come February, if they don’t make it back to Lucas Oil Stadium. Curtis Lofton forced a turnover on the second play of the game and at one point Weatherspoon completely took over a series and single handedly booted the Colts off the field.

 I love when a player goes back to the team he previously played for and has an impact in helping his current team win the game and Kelvin Hayden did just that. 3rd on the team in tackles this game with 7 he also had an interception making it two on the season and its starting to look like he has a strong hold on that nickel back spot over Christopher Owens who has missed some time with a concussion. Because Smitty doesn’t have a policy where you can’t lose your job during an injury I don’t see Owens coming in and out right taking it back. It’s nice to note that Babineax is having an impact after injuring his knee in week one, reports are saying he getting comfortable playing with a brace and its starting to look like it, also Corey Peters is having a good season as well and along with Bab is pushing the pocket and getting sacks.

What is Reggie Wayne looking at? Apparently the fans are
not the only ones who cant stand to watch.

Player of the Week: Kelvin Hayden- 7 tackles 5 solo 1 Interception. As I said, when you play against your former team you want to have an impact and he defiantly did on Sunday.

Preview

This week’s game is the game of the season for the Falcons when they face the New Orleans Saints in a battle for 1st place in the South. This is the first time the teams have played since the Saints posed for pictures on the Falcons logo after winning on Monday Night last season. The Saints (6-3) are coming off a win against the Buccaneers and look to keep things rolling with that high powered offense lead by Drew Brees and a monster at Tight End Jimmy Graham. If the Falcons want to reclaim the Crown of Division Leaders, Turner is going to have pound the Saints Defense and keep Brees on the sideline. Also the defense is going to have to continue playing the way they have in recent weeks and not get caught up in trying to do to much. This has to be approached as just another game on the road to repeating as Division Champions.