This is the alternate universe.
The offense that last week looked like it had been designed by a secret society of astrophysicists, producing 37 points and 568 yards, didn’t break 100 yards Sunday until early in the third quarter and managed only a field goal until midway through the fourth. The defense, which in the first game made at least a couple of plays amid general chaos, in the second game produced just chaos.
Matt Ryan spent too much time on his back. Or running away from imminent assaults. Or overthrowing and underthrowing receivers. Last week: three touchdown passes. This week: three interceptions. His analysis of one misfire: “I don’t know what happened. That ball didn’t go where I wanted it to.”
If you believed the Falcons’ 37-34 opening win over the Saints was foreshadowing for the season, slow your roll. This is what happens when they get punched in the face.
They went on the road against a far more physical team. They were were beaten down on both lines, couldn’t pass protect, never got close enough to Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton to even say “Boo” and lost to the Bengals 24-10.
If you believe that’s one-sided, consider that the Bengals’ kicker missed three field goals and Cincinnati lost five players during the game, including their best weapon, A.J. Green, to a toe injury. This was 27 kinds of ugly.
The legitimacy of an NFL team can be tested in many ways, but two in particular: 1) how it plays late in the season; 2) how it plays on the road.
This was the Falcons’ first road test. They failed. Miserably.
They went 1-7 away from the Georgia Dome in 2013. They looked like that same team Sunday. They couldn’t mount a pass rush (again). The Bengals had more than 400 yards in offense by midway through the third quarter and pretty much shut it down after taking a 24-3 lead with a quarter plus 6:28 minutes left.
“It’s a concern,” coach Mike Smith said when asked about being dominated on both lines of scrimmage.
“We didn’t tackle well. We have to improve our rush defense and we have to improve our total defense. You can’t give up 485 yards week in and week out and expect to win.”
He was exaggerating. The Falcons actually have allowed only 472 yards in each game. But after 400, it’s easy to lose count.
There’s no reason to believe the defense will significantly improve. The Falcons have dealt themselves these cards. They don’t own a great pass-rusher. There’s little speed off the edge. They need to blitz to create pressure and any good quarterback is going to burn them. Last week, it was Drew Brees.
On Sunday, Dalton delivered a 72-yard touchdown pass to Mohamed Sanu. Cornerback Robert Alford foolishly gambled, going for the interception, and missed. Sanu made the catch and had only green between him the end zone because safety William Moore vacated his position to blitz.
“We’ve got to (blitz),” Moore said. “Nothing against our front but we need to get some sacks.”
Get used to this.
Any chance the Falcons had to go to 2-0 also probably disappeared with the offensive game plan. They didn’t play with near the same pace as against the Saints. Granted, the Bengals have a superior defense and the offensive line is playing with two projected backups (Gabe Carimi and Lamar Holmes) as starting tackles. But the offense did little to dictate the pace.
Wide receiver Roddy White second-guessed the approach: “I think we slowed down the tempo too much. We didn’t speed things up like we usually do and put the pressure on the defense. We kind of played into their hands and let them get into a rhythm and do their thing instead of just doing our thing.
“It was bad offense today. We couldn’t get nothing going. It just looked bad. We can’t put that on tape. You can’t put that on tape for somebody else to watch it. That was just bad. There was a time we were only down seven. The defense was doing their job but we left them hung out to dry, going three and out.”
They don’t have much time to figure things out. They play Tampa Bay Thursday night. Said Ryan: “Sometimes after a loss, you like to be able to move on. Maybe it’s a good thing we’re going Thursday.”
Offensively, the Falcons’ reality is probably somewhere between what we’ve seen in the first two games. Defensively, this may be it. Anybody on this ride would be well-advised to buckle up.
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