Falcons start season 2-0

By D. Orlando Ledbetter

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

On a day the Falcons paid homage to their history, the team’s promising future would not be ignored.

Matt Ryan took another step forward in his development.

Their second-year quarterback kick-started the sputtering offense long enough to help lead the Falcons to a 28-20 victory over NFC South rival Carolina on Sunday at the Georgia Dome.

The victory pushed the Falcons to 2-0 for just the seventh time in team history. Carolina, the defending division champs, dropped to 0-2.

Leaning heavily on tight end Tony Gonzalez and wide receiver Roddy White, Ryan went through a stretch where he completed 13 consecutive passes. He finished with 21 completions in 27 attempts for 220 yards and three touchdown with one interception. His quarterback rating of 122.2 was the fourth-best in 19 NFL starts.

“It was a good rhythm,” Ryan said. “I didn’t know it was 13 (straight). We did a good job of getting opening, running our routes at the right depth. Protection was very good. It was detailed.”

The game also marked the first time that he threw three touchdown passes in a half as he showed the Falcons to a 21-13 lead. Playing in the club’s 1966 Throwback uniforms, the performance reminded the franchise what difference skilled quarterbacking can make.

“I think I’ve got a long way to go,” Ryan said. “Something that I learned when I was young, your tape is never as good as you think and it’s never as bad. Even though you might think you completed a lot of passes, there is still room for improvement.”

Ryan’s interception came when he admitted to staring down receiver Marty Booker before throwing to him. He guided Carolina safety Charles Godfrey right into the interception.

But then one of his errant throws worked out just fine. An ugly, wobbly looking pass late in the first half found its way to Roddy White for a seven-yard touchdown.

“It was just a duck,” Ryan said.

As Miami did last week in the opener, the Panthers were focused on stopping running back Michael Turner. They kept him bottled up much of the day as he needed 28 carries to amass 105 yards and one touchdown.

“Some weeks it’s going to be in the air,” Ryan said. “Other weeks it’s going to be on the ground. Statistics don’t really mean that much to me.”

The Falcons took control of the game in the third quarter with two long, time consuming drives.

The second drive lasted into the fourth quarter and was capped by Turner’s 1-yard touchdown run push the lead to 28-13.

But the victory wasn’t safe until cornerbacks Chris Houston and Brent Grimes made key late plays. First, Houston intercepted a pass from Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme that was intended for wide receiver Steve Smith with 2:37 left.

When Ryan couldn’t run out the clock, Carolina got one more shot. And with eight seconds and no timeouts left, Delhomme launched a Hail Mary pass into the Atlanta end zone. Grimes swatted it away as time expired.

But while the Falcons celebrated, officials in the replay booth reviewed the play to make sure all remaining time had elapsed.

“Most of, if not all of, our players were in the locker room,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “I’m sure glad of the outcome in terms of the decision that was made. We would have had to pull some guys out of the shower, re-tape them and get them back out there.”

Starting 2-0 hasn’t always meant much for the Falcons. Four times they went on to post losing records. However, two times — in 2004 and 1998 — the franchise turned out major playoff teams. The 2004 start sent the team to the NFC championship game. The 1998 team made the Super Bowl.

“We are 2-0 but we’ve got a long ways to go,” linebacker Michael Peterson said. “We have to build off this 2-0 record and keep getting better.”

Ryan, who played at Boston College, will return to his old neck of the woods next week when the Falcons play the New England Patriots.

“We’ve done a pretty good job so far but we’ve got to get better if we want to do the kind of things we want to do,” Ryan said.