It was against the Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium, or whatever that place happens to be called now, that the plunge of the 2013 Falcons commenced. They had opened with a narrow loss to New Orleans in the Superdome, but the history of this franchise is strewn with narrow losses in NOLA. They returned to the Georgia Dome to beat the Rams without looking very good, but the pattern of the Falcons under Mike Smith has been to win without dominating.
To recap: The Falcons began their season much the way we would have expected. Then they went to Miami Gardens on Sept. 22 and lost in a way the Falcons under Smitty hadn’t really lost. They went ahead 10-0 and 20-10 and seemed clearly the superior side. They would outgain the Dolphins by 92 yards and sack Ryan Tannehill five times. They would also lose 27-23. Harry Douglas fumbled a punt. An unharried Tannehill found a rookie tight end, who made a one-handed catch, for the winning touchdown with 38 seconds left.
That was the first time in 2013 that this correspondent thought, “Uh, oh.” (The first, but not nearly the last.) The Monday-nighter 15 days later against the Jets, who were likewise outgained but likewise won at the end, was the game that essentially finished the Falcons — Julio Jones was hurt in the process – but the slippage began in South Florida. The Falcons moved but couldn’t score touchdowns. The defense couldn’t stop Ryan Tannehill. An opponent that a good team, which the Falcons believed they were, should have squashed was allowed to steal a game it had no business winning.
Soon the Falcons were no longer a good team or even a mediocre one. They finished 4-12 a year after going 13-3. Yes, they had a tough schedule, and yes, a bunch of folks got hurt, but their collapse was so comprehensive as to make us wonder if this team was ever as good as its record from 2008 through 2012 had led us to believe.
For the unofficial record, the first step on what the Falcons hope will be a road to redemption was taken Friday night against the Miami Dolphins. No exhibitions tell us much, and first exhibitions are the second-least edifying — the fourth exhibition is always a snore — of the bunch, but still: You have to start somewhere.
Rule of thumb: The only score worth noting in an exhibition is how things stand when the first No. 1 quarterback is pulled. On Friday it was 7-7. The Dolphins took the ball first and Tannehill, moving with greater ease than on that final drive against the Falcons last year, completed six passes and led the visitors 73 yards in 4:59. Matt Ryan took almost twice as long and needed the help of the Dolphins, who were flagged three times, to steer the Falcons to an answering touchdown. That was it for the starting quarterbacks, neither of whom threw an incompletion.
It being preseason, our gaze turns inevitably to the new guys. The Falcons ran to some effect on their opening series behind right tackle Jake Matthews; on their second, a holding penalty against their No. 1 draftee erased a 76-touchdown run by Antone Smith, who always looks great in August and who popped free because of Matthews’ grab. (Earlier the rookie had been called for holding on a pass.)
The early display of passing precision yielded to a flurry of flag-flinging. Midway through the second quarter, the Falcons led the Dolphins 6-4 in accepted penalties, and another two had offset. Just before the Smith touchdown was overturned, a Devin Hester fumble on a punt return had been set aside. This was preseason football in all its glory, or the lack thereof.
So you’re asking: Over those two quarters, how did the Falcons look? I’d give them a qualified “OK,” the qualification coming because Jones and Steven Jackson and the import safety Dwight Lowery didn’t play. The supposedly new-and-improved defense couldn’t stop Tannehill this night, either, and Ryan was sacked once and hit hard another time — Philip Wheeler, formerly of Georgia Tech, was called for roughing the passer — on his drive. The offseason emphasis on strength and toughness didn’t exactly bear fruit in Preseason Week 1.
Not that it would have mattered if it had. Rebuilding is a process, same as building. The Falcons might not have been quite as awful as they looked in 2013, but the lost season underscored how deep their flaws had become. They’re now in retrenching mode. They managed to go from 13-3 to 4-12 in the blink of an eye, but it will take rather longer to go from being bad to being good again.
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