The Falcons Blog: A Miracle Win

Falcons 22, Bears 20

The Eleven Second Miracle

It couldn’t have happened. It could not have happened. You don’t do that in the NFL. Teams don’t win games like that. Things like that just don’t happen. And if they ever do happen, they sure as hell don’t happen to the Falcons. But it did happen. And you know, I’m starting to think that maybe for some reason the old rules aren’t going to apply anymore.

I’d been worried about it all game. I was worried that the Falcons were leaving the door open and I was worried that all the good work they had done would be wasted. It was all very familiar. And then it was so similar to all of those painful times before. The missed opportunities; the blown chance to put the game away; the late score given up and the lead lost. It was a drag.

I hadn’t wanted to get my hopes up but they had the win in their hands and they had let it slip away. 3-3 was nothing at all to be disappointed about and they had still played well. Maybe they’d learn from this and get better. But while all of those “thinking positive thoughts” were running through my mind, that old refrain kept popping into my head: “It’s hard to be a Falcons fan.”

But, see the thing is, it wasn’t over. I didn’t know it, and a lot of our fellow Falcons fans down at the Dome didn’t know it, and all those Chicago fans didn’t know it, but that didn’t matter. The Falcons knew it wasn’t over. There was 11 seconds left. 11 seconds left to make something happen. In 11 seconds, these Falcons changed the way the story ended. Falcons fans had seen the original ending a thousand times since 1966. The alternate ending? Well, we’ve only seen something like that a handful of times in our history.

It was in 11 seconds of game time that the Falcons changed the ending from disaster to miracle. In the real world it took a little less than 9 minutes. It was 12 seconds after 4:00 PM EST when Kyle Orton’s 17 yard pass was caught by Rashied Davis in the end zone. At that moment all I could think of was that old lament: “It’s hard to be a Falcons fan.” 8 minutes and 49 seconds later, at exactly 1 second past 4:09 PM EST, Jason Elam’s 48 yard field goal went through the uprights. Watching the game in my apartment by myself, I exploded, and for a few moments I let loose with sounds of triumph, disbelief, anger, and euphoria. But at some point I sat down and the thought occurred to me: “Damn, it’s getting pretty fun to be a Falcons fan.”




Game Recap

The Falcons would get the ball first in this one and right away Jerious Norwood got them off to a good start with another great return. Norwood took Robbie Gould’s kick at the 2 and brought it out all the way across the 40, going out of bounds at the 41 after a 39 yard return. That gave the Falcons great field position. Everyone knew that the Bears would attempt to shutdown the running game and put everything on Matt Ryan but the Falcons started off with a run anyway. Michael Turner gained 3 yards and then on 2nd and 7 Ryan dropped back and fired to the right, complete to Michael Jenkins for 12 yards and a first down inside Chicago territory at the 44. A false start penalty and a 1 yard run by Turner left the Falcons with 2nd and 14 but Ryan picked the yardage up right away, hitting Roddy White for a 15 yard completion and a first down at the 33. After another run, Ryan dropped back on 2nd and 7 and found Jenkins again for 15 yards and a first down at the 15. The Falcons then tried to get a little tricky and it backfired. They went with the reverse to Harry Douglas, trying to bring him around the left end, but the play was read immediately and blown up. Because Douglas was taking the handoff several yards in the backfield to begin with, the Bears were able to drop him for a serious loss. The play lost 11 yards and all of the sudden the Falcons were back at the 26 with a 2nd and 21 coming up. Ryan got 9 yards back on a completion to White and then Norwood took a little dump pass for 6 yards down to the 11 but it was now 4th and 6. The Falcons had at least gotten the ball back to where Jason Elam would have a chip shot, and he stuck the 29 yard kick up and good to give the Falcons a 3-0 lead with 9:13 to play in the opening quarter.




The Falcons went with a high ball on the kickoff to keep it away from the Chicago return men and the Bears began their opening drive at the 30. The Bears got a quick first down at the 41 but then the Falcons defense clamped down. Jamaal Anderson dropped Matt Forte for a loss of 2, and on 3rd and 8, the Falcons forced Kyle Orton to throw incomplete and the Bears were forced to punt.

Atlanta’s second possession began at their own 21 and on the first play the Bears burst through the offensive line and mauled Turner in the backfield for a 5 yard loss. As he went down the ball came loose and Alex Brown recovered the fumble and took it to the Atlanta 12. It seemed like Turner was down and the Falcons challenged. He had indeed been down by contact and the Falcons got a break on a close play. The Falcons retained possession but they wound up with a 3rd and 16 after a 4 yard run and a false start penalty. The Falcons weren’t playing it safe and Ryan took the shotgun snap and fired deep down the right side for Harry Douglas who went up and made the catch at the 37 for a 22 yard completion and a first down on 3rd and 16. Ryan went to White for 13 on the next play, and then on 3rd and 9 from midfield, Ryan threw complete to White again for 15 yards to convert another 3rd and long. On 3rd and 6 from the 30, Ryan threw for White again but this one came up incomplete and the Falcons brought Elam on for another field goal try, this one from 48 yards out. Elam was good again and the Falcons now led 6-0 with just 59 seconds left in the 1st.




The Bears began their 2nd drive at the 36 and the 1st quarter ended with the Falcons leading 6-0. The Bears converted a 3rd and 2 on the first play of the 2nd and had a 1st down at midfield. But on 3rd and 11, Jamaal Anderson got to Orton and sacked him for a 4 yard loss. It was the former 1st round draft pick’s first career sack. The Bears punted and Adam Jennings called for a fair catch at the 19. Rashied Davis got too close to Jennings while he was trying to field it and the officials flagged him for fair catch interference, moving the ball to the 34.

The Falcons had been sticking with the run despite little success early on and it paid off on first down from the 34, as Turner busted off right tackle for 23 yards into Chicago territory to the 43. On 3rd and 5, Ryan converted with a pass again, throwing to longtime Falcon Brian Finneran for 9 yards to the 29. On 3rd and 10, Ryan took the shotgun snap and handed to Norwood who headed up the middle. He made it for 6 yards but then got hit and upended. As he fell to the ground Norwood lost the ball. In a bizarre play, the ball squirted right to DE Tommy Harris who was on his chest in the middle of the field at the 23. Harris grabbed the ball and tried to get up at the same time and ended up basically shoveling the ball accidentally to his right. An alert Jason Snelling fell on the ball at the 24. It was difficult for anyone at the game or watching on TV to know what the hell had happened. It looked like maybe Norwood was down and it looked like Harris had maybe tried to lateral it and who knew what else happened. But the head official immediately ruled that Norwood fumbled, Harris recovered, and then Harris fumbled and the Falcons recovered it. Because Harris had had possession of the ball and then lost it, not only would the Falcons get the ball back, they would have a 1st down instead of a 4th down. The Bears challenged but it turned out that the official had called it exactly right. Another break for the Falcons. Atlanta then came out in a version of the “Wildcat” formation that is sweeping the country. Turner lined up in the shotgun and took the direct snap. The play didn’t gain much but Brian Urlacher was called for unsportsmanlike conduct and the Falcons got a first down at the 12. On 2nd and 12 from the 14, Ryan went up high for White in the right corner of the end zone and he made a great catch for the touchdown. White was shaken up on the play. He had been dealing with concussion symptoms after taking a blow to the head in practice and he banged his head on this play. Making matters a million times worse, there was a flag on the play, and it turned out that Tyson Clabo had been cited for an illegal man down field call that nullified the score. The Falcons now had a 2nd and 17 from the 19. They couldn’t get back in the end zone and had to settle for another field goal try. Elam came on and made a 32 yarder to put the Falcons up 9-0 with 7:49 to play, but you started to worry about not getting touchdowns, and not taking full advantage of some of these breaks.



The Falcons had dominated the game, but they led only 9-0, and after being stifled early, the Bears offense got untracked on their 3rd possession. The drive started at the 31, and Orton threw complete to Desmond Clark for 13 and then to Hester for completions of 16 and 17 yards to move the ball all the way to the Atlanta 23. But Orton threw incomplete on 1st down and then a holding penalty knocked the Bears back to the 33 and left them with 2nd and 20. Orton hit Marty Booker for 15 yards on the next play but the Falcons held on 3rd and 5, forcing an incomplete and the Bears had to settle for a FG. Gould hit from 36 yards to put the Bears on the board, and bring the score to 9-3 with 4:02 to go in the half.



The Falcons began their 4th drive at the 28 and they needed to try and do something because the Bears would get the ball first in the second half. On 3rd and 8, Ryan came through again, hitting White for 15 yards to the 45. Turner then went for 12 yards and a first down inside Chicago territory at the 43. But on the next play, Ryan got a little too risky, throwing a jump ball to White in the middle of the end zone. Roddy had to turn into a defensive back and he did a great job keeping Charles Tillman from intercepting, but the officials called him for offensive pass interference. On 1st and 20 from the Falcons 47, Ryan threw to White for 15 yards but the Falcons couldn’t get another first down and they ended up with 4th and 4 at the 37 with 44 seconds left in the half. Rather than try a long FG, the Falcons punted and the Bears took over at the 20. They ran the clock out and the half ended with the Falcons leading 9-3 on the strength of 3 Jason Elam field goals.



The Bears would get the ball first in the second half and it would be important for the Falcons defense to keep them off the board. Chicago began their drive at the 23 and the Falcons immediately sent a message that they were in this game to win, forcing a 3 and out and a punt. The Falcons then began their first drive of the second half at the 21. Norwood lined up in the shotgun on first down and took the direct snap and then went up the middle and the play went for 21 yards. Ryan then threw to Harry Douglas down the left side for 19 yards into Chicago territory. Michael Turner gained 14 yards on the next 2 plays to give the Falcons a first down at the 25 but then the drive stalled. Once again the Falcons would have to settle for a FG attempt. Elam got the Falcons points again, this time hitting from 41 to make the score 12-3.




The Falcons had held the Bears’ offense basically in check to this point and they had stopped them immediately on their first drive of the half. But on the Bears’ second drive they got things rolling and they would be able to move the ball against the Falcons fairly easily for the remainder of the game. The Bears began the drive at the 18 and they faced a 3rd and 3 from the 25 when Forte went up the middle for 20 yards and a first down to the 45. On 3rd and 8, Orton threw short to Hester and the Falcons brought him down after 7 yards, a yard shy of the first down. With under 7 minutes left in the 3rd, the Bears decided to go for it on 4th and 1 from the Falcons 46. Forte took the hand off and went ahead for 2 yards to give the Bears the first down. Hester caught an 18 yard pass for a first down and then Booker caught a pass for 11 yards and a first down at the 12. The Falcons defense made the Bears work for it and forced a 3rd and 1 from the 3, but then Forte went over left guard for 3 yards into the end zone for the first TD of the game for either team, and the Bears had now cut the Falcons lead to just 2 points, at 12-10, with still over 2 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter.



The Falcons weren’t going to be able to run out the clock and hang on. They had to add to their lead. They had to get some points. But on the ensuing drive the Falcons faced a 3rd and 9 from their own 25. Ryan came through again, this time finding Douglas deep down the middle of the field for a 47 yard gain all the way to the 28 of Chicago. Now the Falcons had to get in the end zone. But on the next play the Falcons were called for chop blocking and backed up 15 yards to the 43. On 2nd and 25, Ryan found White for 26 yards to convert the first down at the 17 on the final play of the 3rd quarter.

The 4th quarter began with the Falcons at the 17 with a first down coming up, holding on to a 12-10 lead. The Falcons ended up with a 3rd and 11 but a defensive holding call bailed them out and gave Atlanta a first down at the 5. Two plays later on 2nd and goal from the 3, Ryan found White on the left side of the end zone and finally the Falcons had scored a touchdown. The Falcons led by 9, 19-10, with 13:25 to play in the game.






It was now up to the Falcons defense to keep the Bears from coming back but Chicago would have good field position on their next drive, as Garrett Wolfe took a short kick 33 yards to midfield. After a holding penalty, the Bears were stuck with a 2nd and 20 and Forte gained 11 to bring up a 3rd and 9. The Falcons surrounded Orton and forced him to throw the ball away and he was flagged for intentional grounding. That would have backed the Bears up and brought up 4th down but the play was negated. Brent Grimes had come on a blitz on the play and the officials claimed he was offsides. Thus the Bears would get another crack at 3rd and 9, and this time Orton hit Hester for 14 yards and a first down. 3 plays later the Bears had a first and goal at the 8. Orton looked for Greg Olson on first down and threw incomplete. On 2nd down, Forte charged around the left side inside the five and down to the 1 but the Falcons stopped him short of the goal line. On 3rd and goal from the 1, the Bears handed the ball to FB Jason McKie and the Falcons shut the door, stopping him for no gain to bring up 4th down at the 1. The Bears needed a TD and FG to overcome the 9 point deficit but Lovie Smith decided to take the risk and try and get the touchdown here. On 4th down, Forte got the hand off and tried to leap over the goal line but Michael Boley took out his legs and Keith Brooking and Lawyer Milloy finished him off. They didn’t get in. The Falcons defense had come up with a huge goal line stand to turn the Bears away empty handed and keep the lead at 9 with just under 8 minutes to play.



The good news was the Falcons were still up 2 scores with 7:59 to play. The bad news was that they were backed up at their own 1 yard line. However, the Bears would give them some breathing room, as Dusty Dvoracek was flagged for delay of game, presumably for simulating the snap count. Now the Falcons had the ball at their 6 and they only needed 5 yards for a first down but Turner was stopped for no gain on consecutive plays. On 3rd and 5, Ryan hooked up with Douglas for 3 yards but he was brought down short of the first down and the Falcons had to punt from deep in their own territory. Devin Hester stood at midfield, an ominous presence. But Michael Koenen got off a decent punt and Hester called for a fair catch at the Chicago 46. The Bears took over down 9 with 5:56 on the clock.

The Bears moved the ball to the 49 of Atlanta and on 3rd and 5, Orton threw to Clark for 11 yards and a first down at the 38. One play later, on 2nd and 8, Orton hit Olson for a 22 yard pass down to the 14. The Falcons defense then bowed up and forced 3 straight incompletions to bring up 4th and 10 from the 14. This time the Bears elected to take the field goal, and Gould came on and hit from 31 to make the score 19-13, cutting the Falcons lead to 6 with 4 minutes to play.



The Bears had all 3 timeouts and plenty of time to get the ball back and score a TD so they kicked the ball deep. Once again, Jerious Norwood came up with a huge return just when the Falcons needed it, exactly as he had the week before in Green Bay. Norwood fielded the kick two yards deep in the end zone and brought it out to the 20, to the 30, and down the left sideline across midfield and into Chicago territory. Norwood was finally brought down at the Chicago 17 after an 85 yard return. It looked like Norwood might have put the game away.


The Falcons now needed only to run the ball 3 times, force the Bears to use all their timeouts, and then kick a field goal to clinch the victory. On first and 10 from the 17 with 3:48 to play, the Falcons gave the ball to Turner and he lost 2 yards. The Bears used their first timeout. Turner got the 2 yards back on 2nd down and the Bears used their second timeout. On 3rd and 10, Turner ran for 2 yards to the 15. The Falcons called a timeout with 2:50 on the clock and sent Jason Elam onto the field to kick his 5th field goal of the day, this one from 33 yards, to put the Falcons up by 9. Elam was 4 for 4 on the day and 15 for 15 on the season. While the Falcons looked to be in great shape, I have to tell you that I was very nervous. I just had a bad feeling. For one thing, Elam wasn’t exactly drilling his kicks right down the middle. But it also goes back to being a lifelong Falcons fan. I’ve been watching this team struggle my entire life, and any Falcons fan could tell you that it was about time for something to go wrong. Sure enough, Elam missed badly, hooking the kick way left to keep the Bears alive, down just 6 points with 2:43 to play.



Not only were the Bears alive, they were in good shape. It may sound strange if you didn’t watch the game, but the Falcons were now the team in a bad position, despite the fact that they were the team with a 6 point lead. The Bears had had a lot of success moving the ball against the Falcons defense over the last 3 quarters and they had the momentum. And again, the Falcons have not often been successful stopping the opposition from scoring on a late drive to protect a lead during their history. The Bears took over at their 23 and Orton threw to Forte for a 4 yard gain on 1st down. On second down, Orton went to Clark for 10 yards and a first down at the 37. The two-minute warning hit with the Bears facing a 2nd and 10 from their own 37. Then Orton threw a pass to the right intended for Hester and the pass fell incomplete but Grimes was flagged for interference, giving the Bears a first down at the 43.




Two plays later, the Bears faced a 3rd and 7 from their own 46 with 1:24 on the clock. Orton threw over the middle to Forte complete for 10 yards and a first down at the Atlanta 44. The clock wasn’t going to run out on Chicago, the Falcons were going to have to stop them. On the next play, Davis caught a ball for 10 yards and another first down, and then Orton hit Hester over the middle for a 17 yard gain down to the 17, where the Bears called their final timeout with 28 seconds left. It seemed inevitable that the Bears were going to score but then the Falcons defense forced incompletions on the next two plays to bring up 3rd and 10 from the 17 with 17 seconds left. On 3rd down, Orton dropped back to pass and looked down field and he saw Davis, who had somehow gotten past Chris Houston and was open in the right corner of the end zone. Orton threw it up and as soon as he released it I knew it was a touchdown. It was a perfect pass and Davis made a nice catch in the end zone for the TD to tie the game at 19-19 with 11 seconds on the clock. Now all of those Chicago fans that had been quiet for much of the day, were going berserk. The officials looked at the replay and I must have watched the replay myself 20 times, trying to find something that might possibly be wrong with it but there was nothing at all that could save the Falcons and the play stood. Robbie Gould then lined up for the all-important extra point, and kicked it through to put the Bears ahead 20-19.




Well I was devastated. I have to tell you that just seconds after the touchdown, my brother sent me a text asking for an update on the game. I didn’t bother with details: “we lost” was my response. The Bears fans had taken over the Georgia Dome, which was rapidly emptying of Atlanta supporters, as many of the Falcons fans headed for the exits. Had I been at the game I’m scared that I might have just slugged some Chicago fan in the face. But anyway, the important thing is, there were still 11 seconds left on the clock. While I knew the chances of the Falcons somehow not losing this game were minimal, for some reason I wasn’t ready to give up on the idea of them somehow winning the game, even though I was trying to force myself to come to grips with the reality of the situation.

As the two teams took the field for the kickoff, I was hoping that the Bears would squib it. I thought they might be afraid to kick to Norwood after he torched them on the previous return. You might think that I would want Norwood to have a chance of returning one, as that might be the only chance the Falcons had. But while the greatest punt returners can sometimes take one to the house in a late game situation, even when the opposition is focused solely on not allowing them to do so, it’s much harder to return a kickoff for a TD. Teams are almost always able to contain a guy on a kick return when that is the only thing that can beat them. 95 percent of the time the returner is going to get tripped up at 30 and there will be 3 or 4 fewer seconds on the clock and a long way to go for a score. I was hoping for a squib kick so that the Falcons could try and get into position for a Hail Mary.




Thus I was glad when Gould did not kick the ball deep. The squib wouldn’t have been that bad of a move by the Bears if Gould had kicked it hard down the middle of the field, but he held back, perhaps in fear of kicking out of bounds, and he ended up sending a bounder right to Harry Douglas, who fielded it at the 34. Douglas began to return the kick and I was suddenly frightened that he would try and lateral the ball in an attempt to spark some Cal-Stanford play. Douglas had the right idea, as he needed to try and gain some yardage on the play but instead of going straight up field and getting what he could before going down, Douglas began veering left and running a bit laterally. I was screaming at him to get down and finally he did at the 44 after a 10 yard gain. Fortunately, only 5 seconds came off the clock and the Falcons would have a chance to try and do something here with 6 seconds left. The Falcons had a couple of timeouts but it might be hard for them to catch a pass over the middle, get down, and call a timeout all in 6 seconds. But Ryan might be able to throw a short pass for 7 or 10 yards and the receiver could get out of bounds at the 50 or 45 to give the Falcons time for a throw into the end zone. I never thought the Falcons might be able to get into field goal range. I don’t think the Bears ever imagined it either because they sure left the deep out open. Ryan took the snap in the shotgun, dropped back, fired deep towards the left sideline for Michael Jenkins, and it looked like Jenkins made the catch, got his feet down, and got out of bounds at the 30 with 1 second left on the clock.




It took a perfect throw, and that’s exactly what Ryan delivered. Jenkins ran an excellent route, made a great catch, and did everything else perfectly, tapping his feet and getting out of bounds at the 30 with 1 second left. The officials looked at the play under the hood but the catch was legit. The Falcons were going to have a chance at a very makable field goal to win it. Jason Elam was going to have a chance to redeem himself with a 48 yard field goal attempt to win the game with 1 second on the clock.




Once again, I was afraid that this would prove to be a tease. This was the type of thing the Falcons would not be able to pull off. Usually if the Falcons ever got this far, it would be at this point that they would fail, and be unable to pull it out after all. But the snap was good, the hold was good, Elam’s kick got away unblocked and it looked to be long enough as it cut to the right, it might be okay if it could just stay inside the posts. I didn’t want to let my eyes deceive me and I just looked at the officials but they said it was good and there were no flags. The Falcons had won it 22-20.



That set off a wild celebration as the Falcons mobbed Elam and the Falcons fans still in the building went crazy. The Chicago fans at the Dome went deathly silent while Bears fans around the country began a session of whining and moaning that would go on for several days. I suddenly had an urge to take off all of my clothes and run out into the parking lot of my apartment building, screaming at the top of my lungs with one finger held aloft in triumph. I just wanted to run. In my younger and more vulnerable days it would have been done, I assure you.



This victory was all the more sweet because it came against Chicago and caused misery and woe to all of those Bears fans. What’ll they do now that their baseball teams have choked and their football team can’t figure out how to finish off games? I guess they’ll go home and put their Bulls jerseys on. Whatever, I’m glad their trip to the Dome was unpleasant. I realized that I had told my brother we had lost. I sent him the same text over and over again:

“Miracle! It couldn’t have happened!”
“Miracle! It couldn’t have happened!”
“Miracle! It couldn’t have happened!”

My brother responded with a text that posed an appropriate question: “How did that happen?”

I was never able to respond and I still don’t know what to say.


The Numbers

As you might expect, this game was very even statistically. The Falcons had 18 first downs; the Bears had 22. The Falcons had 376 yards offense; the Bears had 361. The Falcons rushed for 75 yards; the Bears rushed for 79. The Falcons had the ball for 30 minutes and 50 seconds; the Bears had it for 29 minutes and 10 seconds. Each team had 1 turnover technically, but they both occurred on the same play and did not result in one team’s drive coming to an end, as Norwood’s fumble was recovered by Tommy Harris and he fumbled it back to Atlanta. The Falcons went 6 for 14 on 3rd down in the game. With the Bears focusing on stopping the Atlanta ground game, Matt Ryan had to carry the offense, and he did, completing 22 of 30 passes for 301 yards (his first 300 yard game as a pro), a touchdown, and no picks. Michael Turner was held to 54 yards on 25 carries, an average of just 2.2 yards a carry, but he kept he Bears defense honest and he did break one run for 23 yards. Jerious Norwood carried 3 times for 31 yards, including 1 rush for 21 yards, and he caught 1 pass for 6 yards, but his biggest contribution came in the kick returning department, as he returned 4 kicks for 178 yards, including 1 for 85 yards. Roddy White had another huge day, catching 9 passes for 112 yards and a TD. Harry Douglas caught 5 passes for 96 yards, including 1 for 47 yards. And Michael Jenkins caught 4 passes for 58 yards, including the biggest catch of the game. Jamaal Anderson made 4 tackles, recorded his first sack, and batted two balls at the line of scrimmage. Jason Elam connected on 5 of 6 FG attempts, including 2 from 48 yards, 1 of them coming with no time on the clock to win the game.





Significance

Obviously, this was a huge victory for the young Falcons. I think you’d have to say this was their biggest win yet. It was another big step on their journey to becoming a competitive, respectable, and ultimately winning football team. While the Packers are certainly a decent team, I would have to say that the Bears are the best team the Falcons have beaten so far. And this was their first come from behind win. It was of course their first miracle win.


In addition to all of those milestones and mile markers, the win was huge in respect to this season. A loss wouldn’t have been the end of the world but it would have dropped the Falcons back to .500 at 3-3. Instead, the Falcons moved 2 games over .500 to 4-2, guaranteeing that at the end of the first half of the season they will at least be .500 at 4-4. That’s a major accomplishment considering what most people thought their record would be in the first half of the season. In getting to 4-2, the Falcons kept pace with the rest of the division and moved into a 3-way tie for 1st place in the NFC South with the Panthers and Bucs, 1 game ahead of the Saints. The victory ensured that the Falcons will at least be in the playoff discussion for another month. And the win was also a great way for the Falcons to go into their bye week. With each surprising win, fan support and local interest continues to grow, while the image of the team continues to improve. With each positive development, the Falcons get farther away from Michael Vick and Bobby Petrino.





Moving Forward

After a better start to the season than anyone that knows the truth about Santa Claus could have hoped for, the Falcons take their bye week in week 7. When the Falcons return in week 8 they will be faced with their second hardest game of the season (in my opinion), a road trip to play the Eagles in Philadelphia. This is yet another reason why the win in week 6 was so important. No matter what happens in Philly, the Falcons will still have a winning record entering November. Even if the Falcons lose to the Eagles, if they can win on the road at Oakland in week 9 they will eclipse their total of wins from all of last season with 5 victories. After that the Falcons have 3 consecutive home games against decent teams. It’s during this stretch that we will find out whether the Falcons have legitimate playoff hopes or not, as division foes Carolina and New Orleans come to town.


I’m still tempering my fantasies if that makes any sense. The Falcons have proven to be a much more capable team than anyone I know thought they were but it’s still early. The schedule only gets more difficult from here on out and the Falcons might struggle during the remainder of the season. But if you’re a Falcons fan, you should be able to keep it all in a proper perspective. Consider: if the Falcons go just 3-7 in their final 10 games, they will still manage to avoid a 10 loss season, something they have done just 22 times in their previous 42 seasons of existence. If the Falcons go 4-6 in their final 10 games, the rookie season of Matt Ryan and Mike Smith will result in just the 13th non-losing season in the 43 year history of the Atlanta Falcons. And regardless of what happens on the scoreboard, it appears that Mr. Blank has gotten things back on the right track, and no matter how many games the Falcons win the rest of the way—even if they don’t win a single game the rest of the season—everyone in Atlanta and the state of Georgia should be happy that there is a team representing us in the NFL that we can feel good about rooting for and be proud to be associated with.