Denver’s one shot downfield cost Falcons

The Falcons were prepared for downfield passing plays from Denver Sunday — so much so that they came out of the cover-two zone defense they normally play and used mostly cover-three instead.

They’d practiced it all week.

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Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com

Jamaal Anderson pressures Denver quarterback Jay Cutler who is able to release the pass. Cutler passed for 216 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.

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In cover three, they could use two cornerbacks and a safety to take thirds of the defensive backfield as their responsibilities, rather than two safeties taking halves. It would help the Falcons guard against the long pass and add a safety to the box to help with the run.

Where the cover three zone is vulnerable is in routes underneath, and Denver was content to go there — with crossing routes, passes to the flat, bootlegs to the tight end for most of the game. Entering the fourth quarter, the Broncos’ longest pass of the game was 18 yards.

“They were dinking and dunking us all day long,” linebacker Keith Brooking said.

But coming down the stretch in the fourth quarter, with the game on the line, the Broncos facing a third-and-7 at their own 20-yard line and the Georgia Dome crowd as loud as it had been all day, Denver quarterback Jay Cutler took his shot.

He stepped up from some pressure defensive end Jamaal Anderson applied going past and fired deep to wide receiver Brandon Marshall. Marshall caught the ball 47 yards downfield with cornerback Chris Houston on his tail and safety Lawyer Milloy closing in to help.

That gave the Broncos all the momentum and the ball at the Atlanta 33. Eight plays later they were in the end zone, on a 9-yard pass from Cutler to Daniel Graham for the game-winner, 24-20.

“[Marshall] just went up and made a good play,” Houston said. “I tried to get it out of his hands, but he made a good play. That’s going to happen in the NFL. Every corner goes through it. You’ve just got to bounce back and go to the next play.”

Long pass plays had been a focus of the Falcons’ defense for the past two weeks. The Saints came into the Georgia Dome last weekend leading the NFL in pass plays of 20-or-more yards. The Falcons gave up six of them to the Saints in the fourth quarter of the Falcons’ win last week.

They had no plans of enduring that again against Denver.

“Until that play we didn’t a good job of minimizing their explosives,” Milloy said, referring to plays of 20 or more yards. “Everything we saw on tape, the run after the catch, deep balls, stuff like that we were ready for.”

Except for that one play.

Last week Houston, Chevis Jackson and Erik Coleman all got their hands on interceptions to counteract New Orleans’ deep threat. But nobody could come up with a stopgap play in the final minutes against the Broncos.

“Our secondary, I think we’re getting better and better each week,” Milloy said. “The scoreboard, the outcome didn’t show that today. It’s coming along.”