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Sunday, October 16, 2005
Falcons leading charmed season so far
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
San Antonio — Courtesy of the goofy ending Sunday inside the Alamodome, the Falcons are more the stuff of pixie dust than of blocking and tackling. In other words, they’re lucky (Is that Herman Edwards still yelling, “You play to win the game�?), and such a trait is fine until about Halloween. As for the rest of their schedule through Christmas, when they hope to reach another NFC championship game or better, something has to change.
Like on defense. Suddenly, the Falcons haven’t one. They can’t stop the pass, and they definitely can’t stop the run. The New Orleans Saints spent the afternoon at their adopted home without the formidable Deuce McAllister, but his two usually ordinary replacements helped torch the Falcons for 211 yards rushing. That’s when the Falcons weren’t turning Aaron Brooks into Archie Manning, along with Peyton and Eli rolled into one.
Wide receivers? I mean, do the Falcons have any? Dez White had nearly as many drops (two) as all of the Falcons wide receivers had catches (three).
Not good. Neither were the Falcons in general, with the Saints outgaining their guests 456-266 in total yardage. It’s just that the Falcons had a 34-31 victory at the end after the combination of a fumble return for a touchdown, the return of a blocked field goal for a touchdown, a brutal interception by Aaron, Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning and two bizarre penalties on the Saints that allowed the Falcons to go from missing the game-winning field goal with no time left to making it.
There also was the Philadelphia victory for the Falcons to start the season. In a rare move, middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter was tossed by the refs before the opening kickoff to ruin the Eagles physically and emotionally for the night.
Then there was the Buffalo victory, when somebody named J.P. Losman was the Bills’ quarterback. Just so you know, he is so awful that he has been replaced by somebody named Kelly Holcomb.
Then there was the Minnesota victory against a guy doing a poor imitation of Daunte Culpepper. Not only that, no NFL team is more of a mess on and off the field than the Vikings.
So, given those circumstances and that pixie dust, the Falcons’ many problems haven’t affected the bottom line. During this league of growing parity, it’s always about the bottom line, but only to a point. Falcons coach Jim Mora also knows as much, which is why he stressed as much to his team during his postgame speech.
Here’s the bottom line from Mora’s perspective: “We’re 2-0 on the road. We’re 1-0 on the road against the division. We’re 4-2 overall, and the team that we lost to was division champion Seattle when we were down 21-0 and came back to make it 21-18. And the Super Bowl champs, we were down 14-0 and down 28-13. So, in this league, if you look around at the scores week in and week out, it’s crazy. It’s just crazy. I mean, one week a team is blowing a team out, and the next week they’re getting blown out.�
Here’s the rest of the Falcons’ story from Mora’s perspective: “The key is to find a way to win, and they’re not always going to be pretty. But, at the same time, you can never fool yourself. You’ve gotta find the reasons as to why the games are close, and you’ve got to find the reasons as to why teams are running the football.�
Thus, encouraging news for the Falcons, because the players get it. At least they say they do. You can start with defensive end Patrick Kerney, who said of a unit that has reeked all season against the run, “That’s what we’re going to work on hard this week, and that starts with the veterans on this defense. We have to make sure that everybody is doing the right thing all the time, because even when you win, when you get the ball run on you [like the Saints did], there’s a moral loss there.�
Added running back Warrick Dunn, the consummate professional, “We have to play at a championship level consistently, but we still have to win these types of games while we’re making the corrections.�
Yeah, the Falcons do. Without making those corrections, they’ll start losing these types of games.
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