The Falcons secondary turned in a solid performance against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday
The group held wide receiver Steve Smith to five catches for 66 yards (13.2 per catch) and to one play of 20-yards or more.
Entering the game, which the Falcons won 31-17 at the Georgia Dome, Smith and rookie quarterback Cam Newton combined for 13 plays of 20 yards or more which was tied for tops in the league with New England's Tom Brady and Wes Welker.
Smith also had four catches of 50-yards or more, which led the NFL before Sunday’s action.
"We played our coverages," cornerback Dunta Robinson said. "We understood what we were facing. We understood that we had to come in and play well against a guy like him. We couldn't allow him to have a big game."
The Falcons played a lot of zone coverages and passed Smith along as he ran his routes. There were no miscommunications where he was left alone.
“We gave them a lot of good looks,” Robinson said. “We did a lot of things with him and it seemed to work.”
When Smith flanked out to the right side of the Falcons' defense, Robinson was the primary cover man. When he flanked to the left, Brent Grimes was the primary coverage man.
On deep routes, they had safety help from either William Moore or Thomas DeCoud.
With under a minute to play in the first half, Newton tried to force a pass to Smith and Moore tipped it up in the air. Grimes used his amazing vertical leap to out-jump Smith and make the interception.
If the Panthers had scored on that drive, they would have had a 17-14 halftime lead.
“He’s a big play receiver,” said DeCoud, who sealed the victory with a fourth-quarter interception. “You have to know where he is at all times. We made it a point to know where he was at and what they liked to do when he was at that spot.”
Newton thought the Falcons, who entered the game with the 28th ranked pass defense in the league, were easy marks.
“We felt like we could exploit that defense on a lot of things,” Newton said. “We just didn’t execute.”
Abraham returns
The defense received a boost from the return of defensive end John Abraham, the No. 2 active sack leader in the NFL, who returned from a groin injury. Abraham missed last week's game against Green Bay.
“It went good, I felt a little sluggish at first,” Abraham said. “I was just feeling my way back in there.”
Abraham finished with two tackles and one quarterback hit, but was buzzing around Newton for most of the game. You could tell he was fine when he chased down Carolina running back Jonathan Stewart 19 yards down field on a screen play.
“I was all right,” Abraham said. “I think it was more mental today. . . in the first half I was thinking about it too much. In the second half, I just went out there and played.”
Ryan bounces back
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had his fourth-lowest passer rating (53.6) in four seasons in his last outing against Green Bay. He completed 14 of 22 passes for 163 yards and a touchdown against the Panthers. He had a quarterback rating of 101.1
The Falcons are now 17-0 when he has a passer rating of 100 or more.
Edward has big sack
The Falcons were allowing the opposition to convert on 46.3 percent of their third downs, which was 30th in the league. The Panthers converted 8 of 12 third down (67 percent) situations. They were 8 of 9 before the Falcons stuffed them on their last three third down situations.
Defensive end Ray Edwards got a sack to stall the Panthers on a third down in the third quarter.
"Third down sacks are huge," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "It gets us off the field. We were struggling to get off the field in the first half and I felt like Ray really turned it up the second half of the ballgame."
Edwards now has a sack in each of the last two games.
“Sacks are demoralizing, definitely on third and long,” Edwards said. “I just kept coming. I kept coming all day.”
McClure, Reynolds help
Also, the offensive line was at full strength. Center Todd McClure (knee) and guard Garrett Reynolds (ankle) returned to the starting lineup.
"They did a great job today," running back Michael Turner said. "They were moving the line of scrimmage. They had a great push up front. I had no choice, but to get some yards out there."
Mughelli’s touchdown grab
Fullback Ovie Mughelli caught a 1-yard touchdown pass to put the Falcons ahead 14-10. It was his fifth career touchdown catch.
“I’m going to have to hear about that all week,” Turner said. “I’m going to tell him about the 24-hour rule.”
Mughelli, who had a couple of drops this season, also had a catch for a 19-yard gain.
Etc. . .
The Falcons had scored touchdown on their opening drives of the last two games against Green Bay and Seattle. Their first drive against Carolina stalled on their 48-yard line. . . .Turner had his 22nd 100-yard game as a Falcon, which ties him with William Andrews for the second most 100-yard games in team history. Gerald Riggs leads the list with 25. . .Turner has had five of his 100-yard games against Carolina. . . Kicker Matt Bryant has made 24 consecutive field goals dating back to last season. His streak is the second longest in franchise history behind Norm Johnson, who hit 26 stright field goals between 1992 and 1993.
