Favored Falcons take defeat hard

“This is part of our process,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said for the hundredth time this calendar year, and it is. The team that didn’t figure to be favored many times this season finally had lost as a favorite, and the realization that it was one of those vintage NFL losses —- one play either way —- offered no solace. On the contrary, it made this a hundred times worse.

“I kind of blew it,” said Roddy White, who dropped a ball in the corner of the end zone that would have made the Falcons winners at the end. “I feel responsible.”

Said Keith Brooking, the linebacker: “That play didn’t lose the game. … We [the defense] definitely left some plays out there.”

Three times these Falcons had lost, but each was a road game against a presumably stronger opponent. This was the first time they’d lost at home, lost when they figured they could and would win. “It’s frustrating,” said Todd McClure, the center. “We saw some things on film that made us think we could get our running game going, and we couldn’t.”

Maybe they’d gotten ahead of themselves. Maybe they viewed this middle game of their homestand as the creamy filling in the Oreo, Denver as a middle-tier AFC opponent arriving between two NFC South brethren. None of the Falcons would admit as much, but something was a hair off. Michael Turner needed 25 carries to gain 81 yards. Matt Ryan threw his first interception in the Georgia Dome. And White, who has snagged everything all season, couldn’t grab the ball that would have overridden everything.

“We should be celebrating right now,” said White, beating himself up, but in fairness it would have been a terrific catch —- fighting a defender and trying to toe the sideline while running under a ball delivered from 50 yards away. Still, he had both hands on it. On another day he hooks it and the Falcons dance away as merrily as they did after those 11 seconds against Chicago.

Apart from those 11 seconds, the Falcons hadn’t trailed in the Dome this season. They fell behind 5 1/2 minutes into this first half and again five minutes into the second. They punted only twice and turned it over just once —- Ryan throwing off his back foot and being intercepted by Dre’ Bly —- but there was no rhythm to their work. They didn’t lose because they were wretched; they lost because they didn’t play quite well enough.

Smith even coached cautiously. He was trying to set up a free-kick-field-goal near the end of the half, but Brett Kern’s punt was fair-caught at the Atlanta 44-yard line. Smith didn’t think Jason Elam could kick a 66-yarder even unrushed and, with nine seconds left, didn’t want to have Denver turn around and try a field goal of its own.

But if that setting —- ball on the 44, final 10 seconds —- sounds familiar … well, there’s a reason.

The Falcons had taken possession at the same spot with six seconds left against Chicago. This time Ryan didn’t throw to Michael Jenkins; he didn’t throw at all. Smith chose to have his quarterback kneel and to accept a six-point halftime lead, six as opposed to a possible nine. And that seemed strange. The Falcons, who had been the clear aggressor in this building all season, acted as if they were protecting something.

And that is, not to be trite, part of the process. A young team has to learn to stay hungry once it starts to win. On this given Sunday we saw something we wouldn’t have believed we’d see two months ago: We saw the Falcons looking slightly fat and happy, and that’s not a look that becomes them.

mbradley@ajc.com