DEL.ICIO.USCoach says Falcons must avoid fourth-quarter slide
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, November 10, 2008
Flowery Branch — Falcons coach Mike Smith said he was pleased with the play of his secondary, despite a statistically nightmare of a fourth quarter against New Orleans Sunday.
Down 27-6 after Jerious Norwood’s scintillating 67-yard run, the Saints went into scramble mode. They passed for 294 yards and two touchdowns in the final quarter of the 34-20 loss to the Falcons.
Pouya Dianat/pdianat@ajc.com
Falcons safety Lawyer Milloy (36) celebrates with cornerback Chevis Jackson after Jackson returned an interception 95 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Saints.
“We played a game in that fourth quarter,” Smith said Monday. “They had 34 pass attempts in the fourth quarter of that ball game.”
The Saints scored a touchdown to pull within 27-13. After a three-and-out by the Falcons, the Saints were racking up the yards and again threatening to score before Chris Houston came up with an interception in the end zone.
Chevis Jackson stopped the next Saints drive with his first career interception and took it back 95 yards for the touchdown.
“Any time that you run a defensive touchdown back it’s great while you’re running down there, you’re excited, but then when you get in the end zone you realize, ‘Oh my gosh, we’ve got to go right back out there after the kickoff,’ ” Smith said.
The secondary kept the Saints out of the end zone for three quarters. Quarterback Drew Brees had completed just 12 of 24 passes for 128 yards before the final quarter.
“We were exposed to a lot snaps there in the fourth quarter,” Smith said. “Of course we had what we felt like was a pretty solid lead in that situation. They got into that hurry-up mode and were able to get some yards there at the end.”
The Falcons also had kept the Saints explosive plays to a minimum. But in the fourth quarter they had six pass plays of 20 yards of more, including a 48-yard pass play to Marques Colston.
“We had a very solid game statistically, then again statistics can be deceiving,” Smith said. “Our No. 1 goal as a defense is to limit points. We were able to do that. We were able to hold them to six points through the first three quarters and they got 14 there in the fourth quarter with some yards.”
Also, the lead allowed the Falcons to play a little softer and try to keep the ball in front of them.
“When you have a 27-6 lead, your mind set changes as a play caller,” Smith said. “Your mind set changes as a defender as well. It’s something that we want to make sure we address and improve on, but all and all with the pass breakups, interceptions and turnovers, I thought it was an outstanding effort and game plan by our defense.”
Smith doesn’t think the fourth-quarter slide was a matter of the Falcons not closing out the game.
“They made some plays there at the end,” Smith said. “We had a couple of break downs on two of the long passes. I think again, your mind set changes in terms of how you defend that type of offense with a 21-point lead.”
Denver, the Falcons’ opponent this Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Georgia Dome, is coming off a 34-30 win over Cleveland. Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler had a similar white-hot fourth quarter.
The Broncos trailed the Browns 23-13 going into the fourth quarter. Cutler passed for 204 of his 447 yards and three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to rally the Broncos.
Smith saw that game.
“I watched them last Thursday night against Cleveland and they are very explosive,” Smith said. “They can do a number of things. I think they’ve got an outstanding offense and some receivers that we’re going to have to concern ourselves with.”
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