Falcons now realize they need to step on gas
To suggest the Falcons returned to some reality Thursday night after Sunday’s beat down in Cincinnati wouldn’t be completely accurate. That would suggest their opponent, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, exists in an NFL reality, as opposed to, say, a toxic waste dump.
The 2014 Bucs aren’t just bad, they’re punchline bad. Lovie Smith, who once coached the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl, decided to take the Tampa Bay job only because the next step down was the CFL. Just guessing, but at 56-0 in the third quarter, Regina, Saskatchewan, was probably looking pretty good to Lovie.
So, no: Falcons 56, Buccaneers 14, the score when it mercifully ended, shouldn’t suggest this is the way things are going to unfold the rest of the season in Atlanta. But amid all of Thursday’s statistical wonders, particularly those orchestrated by Matt Ryan, Julio Jones and the young-again Devin Hester, the Falcons did learn one thing about themselves:
They need to play fast.
They need to be a full-length vinyl album spinning at 78 RPMs, not 33.3.
They need to make opponents’ heads spin and gasp for air on the back pedal.
Not every opponent will bless you with a starting quarterback like the Bucs’ Josh McCown, who since 2002 has collected jerseys for eight NFL teams and one in the defunct UFL. He is, if nothing else, a survivor. When McCown left the game with a thumb injury, probably caused by Smith, he was 5-for-12 for 58 yards with a sack, an interception and an efficiency rating of 22.2. At 21.2, you’re officially dead in 37 states.
But the early story wasn’t McCown as much as it was the Falcons. They came out firing. They played with the up-tempo offense that enabled them to beat New Orleans, only to mysteriously abandon it last week in Cincinnati.
Remember Roddy White’s postgame lament? “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 … instead of just doing our thing.”
This is their thing.
The Bengals are far better than the Bucs. They’re coordinated. But the Falcons forced the issue. The offense ran six plays in less than three minutes on the opening drive. A 14-yard pass to Julio Jones. No huddle. A 4-yard run by Steven Jackson. No huddle. A 16-yard pass to Patrick DiMarco. No huddle. Three plays later, Ryan completed threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Harry Douglas.
“We talked all week that we wanted to start fast,” Ryan said.
White didn’t play because of a tender hamstring. For a while, it looked as if he might be the only Falcon who wouldn’t score.
It was 21-0 in the first quarter, 35-0 at halftime, 56-0 with 1:47 left in the third. And we wondered: Shouldn’t the opponent be wearing those tangerine-colored jerseys?
Ryan in understatement: “Tonight we did a pretty good job putting up some points.”
It won’t be like this every week. It probably won’t be like this any other week.
But the Falcons need to dictate pace and press the issue because their offense is their engine. This team won’t win on defense. It’s conceivable they could win on special teams if Hester, who scored two touchdowns on a reverse and a 62-yard punt return, keeps making the Chicago Bears look this dumb for letting him go.
In less than three quarters, before exiting and being rolled in bubble wrap, Ryan completed 21 of 24 attempts for 286 yards and three touchdowns. Julio Jones caught nine passes for 191 yards and two scores. Safety Kemal Ishmael returned an interception 23 yards for a touchdown. Steven Jackson ran for a touchdown.
But Hester was the star of the evening. He is 31 years old. He looked 21. Somewhere in Chicago, Bears executives were feeling 101.
Hester scored the Falcons’ fourth touchdown on a 20-yard reverse (after which he hugged a startled security guard behind the end zone). He scored their fifth TD on a 62-yard punt return, which he punctuated by high stepping the last 20 yards into the end zone, a nice tribute to Deion Sanders even if it drew a 15-yard taunting penalty).
He also forced a fumble and recovered a fumble to keep the team’s second touchdown drive going (long story). He had a 25-yard catch. He had dazzling punt returns of 48 and 40 yards nullified by penalties. Also, he built an ark and split an atom. Hester broke down in tears on the sideline after his 62-yard return because it was the 20th touchdown return of his career, breaking Sanders’ record.
Hester brings speed to the table, and speed is what the Falcons need. That much is clear.
