The Falcons’ plan to play “tough, smart football” is still a work in progress.
The starting defense didn’t play very tough, and the offense shined early but didn’t exactly play very smart, as they had some untimely penalties, but the Falcons emerged with the win in their exhibition season opener Friday night at the Georgia Dome, defeating Miami 16-1o.
“I thought the first impression was good,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “We want to be a physical football team. I think that we showed that in the game tonight. I don’t know how smart we were.”
The Dolphins opened the game with a disturbing offensive drive.
The Falcons have revamped their defense, but it wasn’t in sync on the Dolphins’ opening drive.
Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill was flawless as he drove the Dolphins down the field, completing all 6 pass attempts for 62 yards. He threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Gibson, who was wide open.
During the drive, Tannehill found a big void in the Falcons’ zone defense and lofted a pass to wide receiver Rishard Matthews behind linebacker Paul Worrilow and in front of safety William Moore. Matthews picked up 36 yards on the play.
“We ended up getting in too many third and shorts,” Smith said. “We had an explosive play with a crossing route. We just missed the pickup there. We were in a coverage where we should have been able to stop that, but we didn’t see it.”
The Falcons didn’t mount much of a pass rush on the drive.
After the scoring drive, Tannehill didn’t return, and he finished with a passer rating of 148.3.
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, directing the Tony Gonzalez-less offense, went to work.
Using three- and four-receiver formations and playing without wide receiver Julio Jones, the Falcons put together a 15-play, 77-yard drive that was capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by running back Jacquizz Rodgers.
Ryan converted three third-down situations during the drive, each time finding wide receiver Roddy White. Over the past five seasons, Ryan normally went to Gonzalez, who retired after the 2013 season, when he needed a first down.
“It’s like riding a bike with him,” Ryan said of White. “We’ve done this together for a long time. Roddy just has a knack for getting up and making plays.”
The offense overcame an illegal-formation penalty by Harry Douglas in the drive. The penalty wiped away a 34-yard pass play to running back Antone Smith.
Later, Smith broke loose for a 76-yard run that would have been a touchdown but for a holding penalty against rookie Jake Matthews.
Ryan was pleased with the first-unit’s work.
“We were able to run the ball pretty effectively, and we did have the opportunity to throw. We were able to move the chains,” Ryan said. “We were able to overcome a couple of penalties; we were able to keep going, and punch the ball into the end zone. It’s exactly what you want for your first drive of the year.”
The Falcons have three new starters on the offensive line and got left tackle Sam Baker back from a right knee injury. The unit was solid, but gave up a sack that was negated by a penalty.
Rodgers made some defenders miss as he gained 20 yards on seven carries.
“I thought they did a great job upfront,” Ryan said of his offensive line.
While Ryan, White and Douglas each played one series, the first-team defense was sent back on the field to atone for that opening drive. Facing Miami’s backup quarterback Seth Lobato, they forged a stop.
On third-and-2, defensive end Kroy Biermann and defensive tackle Malliciah Goodman dropped Miami running back Mike Gillislee for a 1-yard loss.
Later in the second quarter, Miami’s Marcus Thigpen gave the Dolphins a short field with a 48-yard punt return. Danny Hrapmann kicked a 42-yard field goal to put Miami up 10-7.
After an exchange of punts, Falcons backup quarterback T.J. Yates ran the two-minute offense to drive the Falcons down for Matt Bryant’s 21-yard field goal that made the score 10-10 at halftime.
Backup kicker Sergio Castillo added a 21-yard field goal with 1:40 left in the third quarter to put the Falcons up 13-10, and a 34-yard field goal with 12:17 to play in the fourth made the score 16-10.
The defense plans to head back to the drawing board.
“We had a few miscommunication things,” Moore said.
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