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Home > Jeff Schultz > Archives > 2009 > January > 03
Saturday, January 3, 2009
This wasn’t how the Falcons’ story was supposed to end
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Glendale, Ariz. — This was the team you expected in September. The team before the unlikely metamorphosis, the one before the rookie quarterback and the unassuming coach and the beleaguered owner who really would’ve settled for a little peace and quiet and maybe two Tylenol somehow became the NFL’s feel good story.
They couldn’t block. They couldn’t run. They couldn’t defend. The rookie of the year quarterback looked, well, just the rookie part. Penalties. Turnovers. Maybe even a little stage fright.
Everything you expected for 16 games? It showed up in the 17th. In their first playoff appearance in four years, the Falcons lost to Arizona, 30-24.
Feeling a little unsatisfied? You should. This isn’t the time for polite exit applause.
“There’s not a lot of positives right now,” said Keith Brooking, who played on a Super Bowl team as a rookie and knows better than anyone about limited windows of opportunity. “I feel like I’ve been stabbed in the heart. Losers look at things like, ‘Well, we turned it around. We went 11-5.’ That’s not the way I look at things.”
You think, “But the future looks great.” But do you ever really know? In 2004, the Falcons reached the NFC title game against Philadelphia with a rookie coach (Jim Mora) and a highlight reel of a quarterback (Michael Vick). Then the sinkhole opened. That was the franchise’s last postseason appearance before Saturday.
Coach Mike Smith has referenced “the process” after every game. Who figured after so many improbable moments that the process’s ugly stepsister finally would show up.
Matt Ryan’s first regular season pass was a touchdown. His first playoff pass was an interception. The season and the playoff followed accordingly.
This was Ryan’s 21st game (including exhibitions), which is nine more than a typical college season. It showed. He missed receivers. He forced passes into coverage. He sometimes didn’t react well to Arizona’s pass rush, which was constant because the Falcons couldn’t run. He completed 26-of-40 passes, was intercepted twice and sacked three times.
Ryan again denied hitting a wall or hiding an injury. (“I felt fine. I felt the same as I have all year,” he said.)
If he was being truthful, then opposing defenses simply found a gear that Ryan wasn’t ready for.
He wasn’t the same quarterback in the last four weeks. His reactions showed it and the numbers confirm it. He had 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions in the first 13 games, but four touchdowns and six interceptions in the last four.
He also was sacked seven times in the last four games after being dropped once in the previous five. Part of that is protection. But it’s also pocket awareness.
“I think he’d like to have some throws back,” Smith said. “But this is a new experience for him and it’s a new experience for our football team.”
The Falcons were punched in the mouth. It’s not that they backed down. They just seldom had much of a counter.
After a dreadful start, they put together a few nice drives near the end of the half, capitalized on a turnover and somehow held a 17-14 lead at the break.
Then came the self-immolation. On the second offensive play of the second half, Ryan’s handoff never made it to Michael Turner. The ball hit Turner’s elbow as Arizona’s Darnell Dockett was in his face and popped loose. Antrel Rolle picked up the fumble and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown. Arizona took the lead, and that was it. The Falcons next five possessions: punt-punt-interception-punt-safety.
This was not the solid, controlled team we saw most of the season. But, really, nobody in the Falcons’ locker room wanted to talk about that team, anyway.
“Fans were ready to give us a pat on the back no matter what happened, because of last year,” Lawyer Milloy said. “We fought through the preseason when people were overlooking us. We fought through us just being just a sympathy story until people said, ‘These guys are for real.’ But that’s why this hurts so bad. You never know what’s going to happen with a team. You can’t anticipate how a team will gel.”
For 16 games, we forget what they were supposed to be. One game reminded us.
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Let’s talk Falcons playoff football
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hi all. Been to Phoenix a bunch of times but it’s my first time to this new stadium in Glendale. It’s nice enough on the inside but it possibly might be the ugliest new structure on the face of the earth from the outside.
The exterior walls are all silver/metallic panels, with a white retractable roof. I suppose the (lack of) color scheme has something to do with the heat factor in the desert. But it looks like some alien space craft sitting in the middle of a sand dune. As Ledbetter yelled out from the backseat of the car as the stadium came into view, “The Mother Ship!”
It’s perfect football weather outside right now — in the high 60s. But the roof is closed. Why?
“Team decision,” a Cardinals spokesman said.
Well, that clarifies it.
Meanwhile, down on the field, coach Mike Smith decided to accessorize with something special this game: He’s wearing his Super Bowl ring, the one he won with Baltimore eight years ago. I’m thinking Ray Lewis from eight years ago would’ve been a bigger help, but it was a nice thought.
So here’s a few thoughts on the game. I’ll check back periodically and comment when I’m not doing more important things, like taking notes or eating or tracking my special Fantasy League weekend playoff draft.
If I was in Las Vegas and walked into a sports book this morning and it said, “Falcons -2,” know what I’d do? Turn and walk in the other direction and play some blackjack.
Two things concern me. One is the Arizona quarterback. The other is the Falcons’ quarterback.
I know Kurt Warner is, like, 79 years old and has a tendency to turn the ball over. But he has the ability to get rid of the ball quick and that could neutralize the Falcons’ pass-rush — which might be questionable, anyway, with John Abraham not at full strength.
I’m not concerned about Matt Ryan’s nerves or him folding on the playoff stage. But I wonder about him physically. I don’t know if he’s tired or the Falcons are hiding an injury. Or both. But he hasn’t been the same quarterback the last three games that he was for most of the first 13.
Did some quick math: In the last three games, Ryan has completed only 38-of-68 passes (55.8 percent) for two touchdowns and four interceptions with four sacks. In the first 13 games, he was 227 for 366 (62 percent), with 14 TDs and seven interceptions.
He was sacked 12 times in first eight games but only once in the next five.
In the Rams game last week, he missed high a lot. Sometimes that’s an indication of forcing the ball when you’re trying to work through, like, an injury.
Hey, I’m not a doctor or a trainer or a mind-reader. I’m just saying: He hasn’t been the same player.
So now watch him throw for 300 yards and four touchdowns today.
What’s in the Falcons’ favor? Mainly their running game obviously, which allows them to control tempo and the clock.
Maybe also the will of guys like Lawyer Milloy and Abraham, veterans who never expected this season to develop the way it did and have wanted desperately to get back to the playoffs.
Maybe also team morale. It doesn’t help when a guy mouths off about his playing time the week of a playoff game, like the Cardinals’ Edgerrin James did this week.
Finally, here are the odds on the 12 playoff teams to win the Super Bowl from an online sports book.
New York Giants 3/1
Pittsburgh Steelers 5/1
Carolina Panthers 6/1
Tennessee Titans 7/1
Indianapolis Colts 8/1
Philadelphia Eagles 11/1
San Diego Chargers 11/1
Baltimore Ravens 14/1
Atlanta Falcons 20/1
Miami Dolphins 25/1
Minnesota Vikings 28/1
Arizona Cardinals 40/1
The longest odds on the exact matchup: Arizona vs Miami or Baltimore at 100-1.
The shortest odds: The Giants vs. Tennessee or Pittsburgh at 5-1.
Interestingly, the Falcons are listed as the odds-on favorite to score the most points of all the playoff teams this weekend at 3-1.
That’s all for now. Please, no musical requests. I’ll leave that to O’Brien.
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