Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones doesn’t want to see Matt Ryan flying through the air trying to cross the goal line again any time soon.
“He needs to be careful,” Jones said after the Falcons 31-24 victory over the Panthers on Sunday. “He can get hurt out there and we are going to fight.”
But Ryan’s 8-yard touchdown run helped power the Falcons to victory. It got the team fired up before they held on for the victory.
“No, that was a great job,” Jones said.
It was Ryan’s second rushing touchdown of the game and gave the Falcons a 31-17 lead. The defense had a near meltdown, the offense couldn’t close out on a short-yardage situation and the Falcons weren’t in the clear until a Cam Newton pass for wide receiver D.J. Moore crashed to the turf at the buzzer at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Falcons needed Ryan’s sixth and seventh career rushing touchdowns and a strong rushing performance from running back Tevin Coleman to earn the victory and improve to 1-1. The Panthers dropped to 1-1 with the loss.
Ryan completed 23 of 28 passes for 272 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He finished with a passer rating of 116.1.
Coleman rushed 16 times for 107 yards. Ito Smith had 46 yards rushing on nine carries.
The Falcons scored touchdowns on all four of their trips inside the Panthers’ 20-yard line.
“He was slinging that thing, today” Jones said, when asked about the difference from the woes in the season opener.
Trailing 10-3, Ryan connected with rookie Calvin Ridley for an 11-yard touchdown pass. Ridley put a wicked move on Carolina cornerback Donte Jackson to get open on the slant route.
On the Falcons’ next possession, Ryan tossed an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Austin Hooper as the Falcons built a 17-10 halftime lead.
On the third trip to the red zone, Ryan powered in behind center Alex Mack and right guard Brandon Fusco for a 1-yard rushing touchdown. The score put the Falcons up 24-10.
It was just the sixth rushing touchdown of Ryan’s career and his first since 2012.
After the Panthers scored to make it 24-17, Ryan went back to his scrambling ways. On third-and-5 from the 8-yard line, Ryan rolled out to his left looking to pass. He pulled the ball down and powered his way into the end zone over safety Mike Adams and Shaq Thompson. Hooper knocked down Carolina linebacker Luke Kuechly with a ferocious block.
“We didn’t’ come out with new plays or nothing like that,” Jones said. “We just went out there and executed.”
The red-zone performance was a marked improvement from the season-opening loss to the Eagles when the Falcons were 1 of 5 in the scoring zone.
After ranking 23rd in the league in red-zone scoring last season, the Falcons made that an area of emphasis over the offseason, but not necessarily with Ryan turning into a running quarterback.
“Our execution was better than it had been before,” Ryan said. “Probably it was (because of) the way the guys worked all week. We got our chances. We nailed them across the board today. The execution was great. That was kind of it.”
Ryan was just trying to pick up the third-and-5 on his second touchdown run.
“Yeah, I felt like I was past the first down, but I wasn’t quite sure,” Ryan said. “I didn’t want to slide in that situation or go down because you don’t know where you are going to get marked. So, I felt that someone was below my feet so I felt I’d go up and protect the ball as best I could. I guess it was a good decision.”
On the quarterback sneak, the referees were slow to signal that Ryan had crossed the goal line.’
“I was about two yards in the end zone, so I knew it was a touchdown,” Ryan said. “When they didn’t signal I was letting them know it was a touchdown. And, they finally decided that it was.”
After the rushing performance, Ryan won’t be in offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian’s office asking more carries.
“No,” Ryan said when asked if he wanted more carries. “I can’t remember the last time I had two TD runs.”
Ryan was elated that Coleman and Smith were able to run the ball against the Panthers.
“(Coleman) got what we blocked for and more,” Ryan said. “His ability to break guys off, double people up and keep runs going, and some knife runs at the end we he would get low and get the extra yards, was impressive to watch.
“I thought Ito Smith came in and did a really nice job for us, too. He ran the ball effectively. I’m proud of the way we ran the ball today because that’s really not an easy defense to run the ball against.”
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