The Falcons keep getting better as they go

There aren’t many easy NFL games. This one came close. The Falcons trailed 7-0 and then 10-7. They would win 38-19. Arizona threw all sorts of stuff at them — did we mention the Cardinals were desperate? — and the Falcons threw them back even harder. It wasn’t the most riveting of games, but it was fascinating in its way. Problem-solving can be fun!

The Falcons’ first series of the second half saw Matt Ryan sacked three times that counted and a fourth that didn’t. (The Cardinals were flagged for holding on that snap. They were flagged for lots of stuff.) Arizona blitzed everybody on that series. The sacks that stood were by Tony Jefferson, the strong safety; Tyrann Mathieu, the free safety known as Honey Badger, and outside linebacker Markus Golden.

“Not our best drive, for sure,” Ryan said. “But I thought we responded pretty well.”

When next the Falcons took the ball, Ryan dodged one rush and found Julio Jones for 15 yards and stepped up against another to hit Levine Toilolo for 18. On third-and-10, Ryan scrambled for a first down. Then he made four handoffs, the first three to Devonta Freeman, the final time to Tevin Coleman — from a shotgun set — and the Falcons had the touchdown that made it 24-13. They’d stared down the mighty rush and turned it against itself.

They didn’t sketch a new set of plays. They simply got themselves — as the military folks say — squared away. “I’d love to say we changed a lot,” coach Dan Quinn said, “but that was just a horrible series. We missed a check. We were not quite executing. The good news was that we reset. That’s the term we use – ‘reset.’ We’re not dwelling on the past. We’re going back into attack mode.”

And not just on offense. The Falcons’ defense spent the first quarter retreating on roller skates. Arizona amassed 144 yards and 10 points in 15 minutes; it would muster 188 and nine thereafter. Without Trufant, this secondary still found ways to blunt Carson Palmer and David Johnson and Michael Floyd and Larry Fitzgerald. Palmer’s first-quarter passer rating was 156.8; at game’s end, it was 80.7.

The Falcons’ offense, ranked No. 2 in total yardage, got much the better of the defense ranked No. 1. There was almost an ideal blend — 244 yards on 34 passes; 116 yards on 30 rushes. Those three sacks on that egregious series were Arizona’s only three of the day. And Taylor Gabriel, the Lear Jet the Falcons found on waivers, took screen passes 35 and 25 yards to score.

“When you pressure, you play aggressive,” said Quinn, who knows a bit about aggressive defense. “(Screens) can be one of the features you use (against such a defense).”

“Great calls by Kyle (Shanahan, the offensive coordinator),” Ryan said. “Just timing it up against their pressure.”

The Falcons doubled the score against what Ryan deemed a “formidable” opponent, and they did it after spending two weeks stewing in the juices of a loss in Philadelphia. “I would never recommend losing on a bye,” Quinn said.

Then this concession: “We needed the reset.”

If this team isn’t yet the flying fortress Quinn hopes to build, neither is it the team that opened its season with a home loss to Tampa Bay. This is a team growing in assurance and expectation, which is kind of the idea. Said Quinn: “We’re a better version of ourselves.”

They’re also 7-4 with three home games remaining. This was exactly the sort of game — Kansas City here next Sunday will be another — that a playoff-caliber team has to have. The Falcons took it and ran with it. They outscored Arizona in the second, third and fourth quarters. To invoke their coach’s words, they finished.

“For us to come back after a disappointing start,” Quinn said, “it’s what I hoped would happen.”

If these Falcons aren’t yet the team of Quinn’s dreams, they’re a darn sight closer than they were a year ago, even a month ago. They’re going to win the NFC South. They’re going to qualify for postseason play. They’re going to be a tough out once there.