The Falcons Blog: Things Tougher on the Road Again

Panthers 24, Falcons 9

Different venue, same story on the road

Well after giving further credibility to their week 1 win over the Lions at home with their week 3 win over Kansas City at home, the Falcons reconfirmed what we thought we knew after their week 2 loss to the Bucs on the road with a very similar loss to the Panthers in Carolina last Sunday. Similar game, exact same score. At this point the Falcons are good enough to blowout bad teams at home but they aren’t ready to compete with good teams on the road.

Once again the Falcons offense and their young QB looked hurried and harried against a formidable defense and a hostile crowd. Without any threat of a passing attack, the Falcons rushing attack--which has been the backbone of their wins at home this season--was once again held in check on the road. Just like in week 2, the offense had few chances to score and didn’t make the most of the chances they did have. It wasn’t just Ryan that looked to be shaken. The old bugaboo of dropping passes returned to haunt the Falcons offense in week 4.

The Falcons weren’t expected to beat Carolina on the road. They came into the game as 7 point underdogs just like they had been against Tampa. They came out of the game having lost 24-9 just like they did against the Bucs. Once again, when you consider all things, it really wasn’t that bad of a loss, as they kept the score relatively close and stayed in the game. On the other hand, just like in week 2, the score could have been a lot worse and the Falcons never really came close to winning this game.

Game Recap



Just like in week 2 at Tampa, the Falcons won the toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff from the Panthers on Sunday. And just like in Tampa, the Falcons tried to come out aggressive and it didn’t go well. On 3rd and 11 from the Atlanta 19, Ryan dropped back to throw and came under heavy fire. He got off a pass to the right but it was not a good one. Carolina’s Richard Marshall intercepted at the 29 and took it all the way to the house for a pick six. However, the Falcons got a big reprieve. Embattled referee Ed Hochuli—who only a month ago was known as one of the best officials in the League and almost certainly the one you would least like to arm wrestle—threw a flag on the play and announced to an angry crowd that the TD would be nullified and the Falcons would instead receive a first down due to a helmet to helmet hit on the QB by stud defensive end Julius Peppers. Replays showed that Peppers hit Ryan with his shoulder first. Look, I hate calls like these and I’ve been saying for the last few years that they are completely out of control. Don’t get me wrong; I was glad the Falcons got the benefit of the call, but it was a bullshit call. Ryan had gotten absolutely abused by the Bucs and had taken a number of cheap shots in week 2 but this was a clean hit.

So the Falcons had gotten a huge early break and on the very next play they would receive another one. After getting a free first down at the 37, the Falcons gave the ball to Michael Turner for a 3 yard run and then got 15 more yards when Carolina LB Na’il Diggs was flagged for unnecessary roughness. So after 2 enormous “non-football related” penalties, the Falcons had a 1st down inside Carolina territory at the 48. The Panthers again stuffed Turner on 1st down and the Falcons resorted to the pass. Ryan threw good balls on 2nd and 3rd down but drops by Brian Finneran and Harry Douglas kept the Falcons from converting for a first down and the drive ended. So the Falcons would get no points from the gifts offered by the Panthers and the officials on the opening drive. At least they weren’t down 7-0 but if the Falcons were going to win the game they would need to do more with their opportunities.

It turned out the Falcons wouldn’t even be able to use the Carolina mistakes to set their defense up, as Michael Koenen punted the ball into the end zone for a touchback. Throughout the game, the Falcons defense would be unable to get any pressure at all on Carolina QB Jake Delhomme. Nor would the Falcons secondary be able to check Panther receivers Steve Smith and Mushin Muhammad in the least. Both of these trends took hold on the Panthers’ first possession and held form for the entire game. After converting a 3rd and 4 with a 6 yard pass to Smith for his first catch of the day, the Panthers moved into Atlanta territory on a 23 yard reception by Muhammad. It looked for a moment like the Panthers drive might be stopped, as the Atlanta defense stiffened once the ball got across the midfield stripe. A false start penalty gave the Panthers a 3rd and 12 from the Falcons 46 and on third down Delhomme completed a pass to the left to DeAngelo Williams, but he was hit and stopped immediately by Kindal Moorehead for just a 2 yard gain. The Panthers were well short of the first down at the 44 and would most likely have been forced to punt, but the officials injected themselves into the game again. The Falcons returned one of the favors that Carolina had afforded them early, as Moorehead was flagged for a personal foul which gave the Panthers a first down at the 29. On the next play, Delhomme found Muhammad up the right sideline for 21 yards, and 2 plays later, Williams went around the left for 8 yards and a touchdown to put the Panthers up 7-0.

On their second possession, the Falcons actually started to move the ball without the aid of the Panthers and the officials. A Ryan scramble for 5 yards and a 7 yard run by Turner gave the Falcons their first non-officials aided first down at their own 32. Roddy White then caught his first ball of the day on a short pass to the left and turned it up field for a 22 yard gain into Carolina territory. On 2nd and 3 from the 38, Ryan got a pass to Douglas for a first down and then hit White for an 8 yard gain on the next play. Turner went 5 yards to the right to give the Falcons a first down at the Carolina 20 yard line. Reserve tight end Ben Hartsock caught a 7 yard pass to give the Falcons a 2nd and short. This was probably as good as or better than any drive the Falcons had put together against Tampa Bay, but just like in Tampa, when the Falcons did get into the red zone against Carolina, they would be unable to put 6 on the board. This drive took a major hit when a poorly timed false start penalty on TE Justin Peelle turned a 2nd and 3 into a 2nd and 8. The Falcons stayed with the run but wound up with a 3rd and 5. On 3rd down, Ryan threw a short pass to the left and White couldn’t come up with it. The Falcons had to settle for a FG try of 33 yards and Elam kicked it up and good to get the Falcons on the board with just over a minute and a half to play in the opening quarter.

The Panthers’ second possession started out a lot like their first, with Delhomme easily moving the ball up the field, but once again the Falcons defense stiffened around midfield. After Carolina got a first down at its own 49, the Falcons defense stopped Carolina RB Jonathan Stewart for negative yards on consecutive plays as the first quarter ended and the second quarter began. On 3rd and 15 from the Carolina 44, DJ Hackett caught a ball from Delhomme but came up a few yards shy of the first down and this time the Panthers got no help from the Falcons or the officials. On 4th and 3 from the Falcons 43, the Panthers decided to punt but the snap to punter Jason Baker was poor and big John Abraham got in and got a piece of the kick. It went out of bounds all the way back at the Carolina 25 and the Falcons had a huge opportunity to take the lead, down only 7-3 early in the 2nd quarter.

But the Falcons would not be able to take full advantage of their chance. After getting nothing again on a first down run, the Falcons tried to throw on 2nd and 3rd down and no one was open. The Falcons actually ended up losing a yard and being forced to try another field goal. Once again, Elam’s kick was true, this time from 44 yards out, and that got the Falcons within a point.

Carolina’s third possession was similar to the first two. They quickly moved the ball to midfield on pass completions by Delhomme before the Falcons defense and Panther mistakes stopped Carolina’s momentum. After getting a first down at their own 49 yard line, the Panthers lost 6 yards on a false start and a run for minus 1. Stewart picked up 4 on second down and Williams caught a ball for 7 on 3rd but the Panthers came up 5 yards short of a first down at the Atlanta 46 and had to punt again. This time Baker got it off but he still gave the Falcons better than awful field position by punting it into the end zone for a touchback.

The Falcons’ third possession began with the positive sign of the running game showing life. Michael Turner went for 7 yards on first down and then got 4 more to give the Falcons a first down at the 31, and then Norwood carried to the 37 for a 6 yard run. But on second down, a short pass to Norwood was well read by Carolina and resulted in a loss of 2, and on 3rd down, Finneran caught a ball on the left but came up a yard short. On 4th and 1 from their own 40, the Falcons would have to punt, but once again the Falcons wouldn’t even be able to set up their defense, as Koenen kicked the ball into the end zone again for a touch back.

Leaving the Panthers with reasonable field position would turn out to be a major error, as Delhomme led his offense to a quick strike before the half. In three plays the Panthers moved from their 20 to the 44. Then on 2nd and 8 from the Carolina 44, Delhomme dropped back and went deep down the middle to Steve Smith who broke Lawyer Milloy’s tackle and burned the Falcons defense for a 56 yard TD to put the Panthers up 14-6 with just over 2 and a half minutes to go until halftime.





On the ensuing kickoff, Norwood got the ball right at the goal line and decided to take it out and got knocked down at the 17. With all their timeouts left the Falcons could try and score here but Norwood’s short kick return would make things much harder. They didn’t want to give Carolina a chance to go up by two scores heading into the second half. The Falcons needed to get a first down in order to run out the clock but on first down they were throwing and an incomplete pass stopped the clock with 2:21 left in the half. On second down the Falcons went to the run and Norwood found a big hole up the middle. The little running back busted into the secondary and took the ball all the way to the Carolina 43 for a 40 yard gain. The two-minute warning hit right at 2:00 and suddenly the Falcons were in position to score and perhaps even tie the game as they had all of their timeouts and a first down in Carolina territory. The Falcons scoring chances took a major hit on the next play when guard Harvey Dahl was flagged for holding, pushing the Falcons back to their own 47 for 1st and 20. But those chances improved dramatically on the very next play, as White got open against Chris Gamble and Ryan found him for a 23 yard connection and a first down at the Carolina 30 yard line. Ryan dropped back on the next play and took off for a 6 yard scamper before getting out of bounds at the 24. On 2nd down, Douglas took a short pass 3 yards to the 21 to give the Falcons a 3rd and 1 as the clock ticked down to around a minute left in the half. On 3rd and 1 the Falcons tried to run for the first down with Norwood but he was stuffed at the line. It got much worse, as the Falcons wouldn’t even be able to try and convert a 4th and 1 or kick a 38 yard field goal, because Dahl was called again for holding and the Panthers chose to take the penalty and push the Falcons back to the 31. On 3rd and 11, Ryan didn’t have a chance and threw short and incomplete to bring up 4th and 11 from the 31. Jason Elam was 2 for 2 in the game and now 8 for 8 on the season, but 6 of his 8 kicks had come from less than 40 yards, and his longest on grass had been the 44 yarder he booted earlier in the game. This time Elam was unable to get the job done, missing from 49 to keep the Falcons down 8 and give the Panthers the ball near the 40 with 3 timeouts and 50 seconds to work with. But once again the Panthers shot themselves in the foot and gave the Falcons a major break. Carolina was flagged for having 12 men on the field, the ball was moved ahead 5 yards, and Elam got a second chance, this time from 44 yards. The Panthers mistake would indeed be costly, as this time Elam booted it through to get the Falcons within 5. The Panthers ran one play and the half ended with the Falcons hanging around, down just 14-9 on the road.

The Falcons went into the second half with Carolina down just 14-9 after being down 17-3 going into the second half in their first road game against Tampa. Not only were the Falcons closer on the scoreboard this time, it also felt like the Falcons were a little bit closer to making things uncomfortable for their hosts. Carolina would get the ball first in the second half and it would be pretty important for the Falcons defense to hold the Panthers. Even if Carolina got a FG on its first drive of the second half, the Falcons would still be down just one score. But if they gave up a TD it would make things much more difficult, as they’d be down 12 on the road with an offense that had not yet scored a TD in 6 quarters away from home.

The third quarter began with the Panthers making yet another mistake, as an illegal formation penalty on the first play of their first second half drive made it 1st and 15 from their own 16. But on the next play the Panthers hurt the Falcons on the ground for the first time, as Williams went to the right for 21 yards and a 1st down at the 37. The Panthers converted a 3rd and 5 on a 7 yard pass to Muhammad to get the ball to their own 49. However, when the ball got around midfield, the Falcons defense once again bowed up and the Panthers’ drive stalled. Williams gained 3 yards on 1st down to cross into Atlanta territory and Smith caught a ball on 2nd down but Chris Houston tackled him at the 43 to bring up a 3rd and 2. On third down, Delhomme threw incomplete to bring up a 4th down at the Atlanta 43 and the Panthers decided to punt. The Falcons didn’t figure to have good field position but stopping the Panthers for no points on their first drive of the second half was a big stand for the Atlanta defense.




After a touchback the Falcons took over at the 20 for their first possession of the 2nd half and Ryan got a ball to White for 7 yards on 3rd and 4 for a first down and a rare 3rd down conversion for Atlanta on the day. After dropping a pass on 1st down, Michael Turner was blown up in the backfield for a huge loss on 2nd down and Ryan threw incomplete on 3rd and long to setup a punting situation. This time Koenen did a good job and the Panthers took over at their own 25 after a 53 yard punt and a return of 5 yards.

The Panthers had been successful running the ball on their first drive of the 3rd quarter but not successful enough evidently, as they threw the ball on 3 straight plays on drive number two. Delhomme threw incomplete on all 3 plays and the Panthers punted away again. This time the Falcons had better field position after a 9 yard return by Adam Jennings put the ball at the 32. On consecutive plays, Ryan found White and then Michael Jenkins for short completions that the receivers turned into gains of 14 and 11 to move the ball into Carolina territory. On first down from the 43, TE Ben Hartsock was flagged for a false start, moving the Falcons back to the 48. After a 5 yard run by Norwood, Ryan threw incomplete for White on 2nd down and the Falcons had a 3rd and 10 from the Carolina 48. On third down, Ryan dropped back and saw Harry Douglas open over the middle. Ryan got it to him and Douglas had plenty of room to run but he dropped the ball. Douglas would have had the first down easily and might have gone for a big gain. Instead, the Falcons would have to punt. This time Koenen managed to keep the ball from going into the end zone and the Panthers took over at their 14 with 5:15 to play in the 3rd quarter.

The Falcons were still very much in the game but it turned out that Douglas’ drop would be the turning point in the game. On their 3rd drive of the second half the Panthers flew down the field, with Delhomme hitting Muhammad for 14, Smith for 17, and Muhammad again for 18. The Panthers had a first down at the 32 of the Falcons before their drive stalled once again. On 3rd and 9 from the Atlanta 31, the Panthers showed respect for the Falcons defense and disregard for the Falcons offense by running the ball to get in better position for a FG. John Kasay hit a 44 yarder to extend the Panthers’ lead to 17-9 with a little over a minute and a half to play in the 3rd.

The Falcons were still by no means out of the game, down only one score with over a full quarter left to play. The Falcons started their 3rd possession of the half at the 20 and after a couple of runs by Turner they had a 3rd and 3 at the 27. Ryan dropped back but couldn’t find anybody on third down and the Panthers brought him down at the 24 for a sack and a loss of 3. It was just the second 3 and out of the game by the Falcons offense but you could feel the Panthers starting to take the game over. The Falcons were down just 8 points going to the 4th quarter but you had a feeling they could be finished at any moment.

On the first play of the 4th quarter Koenen got off just a 34 yard punt that gave Carolina the ball at its own 44. The Falcons defense would have little room to play with once again, and this time it really wouldn’t be good enough just to hold Carolina to a field goal. The Panthers ran twice with Williams and got just 3 yards, bringing up a big 3rd and 7 from the Carolina 47. On third down, Delhomme had all kinds of time and found Hackett over the middle for 12 yards and a first down at the Atlanta 41. That was a back breaker. Two plays later Delhomme threw one up for Muhammad down the right sideline and he went up and caught it between Falcons DB’s Eric Coleman and Brent Grimes and then dragged Grimes into the end zone with him for a 36 yard TD that put the game away. It was Muhammad’s 8th catch of the game and gave him 147 yards receiving on the day.




Now down 15 with just over 12 minutes to play, the Falcons took over at their own 23 and got moving quickly. Norwood caught a pass for 9 yards and Turner got the first down on a 10 yard burst on the next play. The Falcons used a no-huddle offense to try and save time but they came up with a 3rd and 6 from their own 46 with less than 10 minutes to play. On 3rd down Ryan dropped back and had White open for what looked like a first down but he dropped it. Koenen got off another returnable punt that Mark Jones took from the 20 to the 39 but a holding penalty brought it all the way back to the 10.

With a 15 point lead, less than 10 minutes to play, and the ball deep in their own territory, the Panthers went to the run on their next possession. James Stewart got the ball on the first 3 plays and gained a total of 16 yards. Smith caught a short pass for 4 yards on second down, and on 3rd and 3 from the 30, the Panthers stayed safe and gave Stewart the ball and he was stopped short of the first down. It was a good stop by the Falcons defense but the Panthers were able to milk the clock under 6 minutes.

Adam Jennings returned the punt 16 yards to the 35 and the Falcons took over needing points in a hurry. On 3rd and 10, Ryan hooked up with White for 15 yards and a rare conversion. The Falcons were teetering on the brink but they got another big break from the Panthers and the officials. A roughing the passer foul on 2nd down moved the ball from midfield to the 36, and instead of a 3rd down and 11, gave Atlanta a first down with just over 4 minutes to play. An offsides penalty gave the Falcons 5 more yards and then Jason Snelling caught a ball for an 11 yard gain down to the 20. Finneran caught a 5 yard pass on 1st down but Ryan and his receivers couldn’t connect on the next two plays and the Falcons had to burn a timeout to discuss what to do on 4th and 5 from the 15 yard line with 3:17 to play. The Falcons had to go for it and Ryan’s pass for Jenkins on 4th and 5 fell incomplete to end the competitive portion of the game.

The Panthers ran the ball 3 times and the Falcons used their last two timeouts as the defense forced another punt. The Falcons took over at the 24 and tried to move the ball quickly but drops continued to plague the offense. On 3rd and 10 from the 36, Peppers got to Ryan for a sack and a 5 yard loss. On 4th and 15, Ryan dumped one off to Norwood but he came up well short of the first down and the ball went back over to Carolina. The Panthers kneeled it 3 times and the game ended with the Falcons losing by the exact score that they had two weeks earlier in Tampa, 24-9.

The Numbers

The Falcons ended up rushing for 118 yards but they had just 268 total yards. Carolina outgained the Falcons by 133 yards, 401-268, and had 2 more first downs than Atlanta (19-17). Neither team committed a turnover, although the Falcons avoided having an INT returned for a TD because of a highly questionable call by the officials. The Falcons hurt themselves with 5 penalties for 45 yards but that was nothing compared to the 90 yards in penalties piled up by Carolina on 9 fouls. The Falcons defense held Carolina to just 3 for 12 on 3rd down but the Atlanta offense converted only 2 of 13 third downs and went 0 for 2 on 4th down. Turner ran 18 times for 56 yards, averaging just 3.1 yards a carry. He had no TD’s and no run for more than 10 yards. Norwood carried the ball 3 times for 51 yards, with 40 of those yards coming on one play. Matty Ryan was protected a little better than he was against TB but he was sacked twice and completed just 21 of 41 passes for 158 yards and no TD. On the positive side, other than the pick six that was called back, Ryan did not turn the ball over. And he got little help from his receivers, who dropped at least 7 catchable balls. A few of those drops came on 3rd down and negated would-be first downs. Brian Finneran, Turner, and Norwood each dropped a pass. Harry Douglas dropped 2, including a huge drop on 3rd down in the middle of the 3rd quarter that was a major turning point in the game. Roddy White caught 7 passes for 90 yards but had 2 drops. On the other side, the Falcons never came close to sacking Delhomme, who was 20 of 29 for 294 yards, 2 TD and no INT’s. Muhammad and Smith combined for 14 catches, 243 yards, and a pair of TD’s, catching balls for gains of 36 and 56 yards. Jason Elam did a good job again for the Falcons, going 3 for 3 on FG tries, with his one miss from 49 yards negated by a Carolina penalty. The Falcons hung with Carolina in the first half, being outscored just 14-9, but in the second half the Falcons got shutout, 10-0.

Positives and Negatives

Matt Ryan was protected a little better on Sunday than he had been against Tampa and he played a little bit better as well. The Falcons defense did a pretty good job limiting the Panthers to 24 points despite the fact that Carolina often had great field position. The Falcons were a little more competitive against Carolina than they were against Tampa even though the scores were identical.




On the other hand, the Falcons had mostly the same difficulties in their second road game as they did the first time. The running attack was much less effective than it had been in the two home games. Ryan was under pressure much of the time and struggled for the most part. The old problem of dropped passes also resurfaced on Sunday. And once again the Falcons struggled mightily in the red zone just as they did in Tampa. Defensively, the Falcons were unable to get any kind of pressure on the QB and the defensive backs were beaten time and again throughout the day.



This Sunday’s Game

Next Sunday the Falcons face yet another tough assignment on the road, as they head to Green Bay to play the 2-2 Packers at Lambeau Field. The Falcons will be underdogs again, despite the fact that QB Aaron Rodgers has a shoulder injury and will be a game time decision. Green Bay has lost its last 2 games after opening the season 2-0 with wins over Minnesota and at Detroit. However, their 2 losses have come against good teams, at home against the Cowboys and last Sunday in Tampa against the Bucs. Green Bay has not run the ball well so far this season and if Rodgers can’t play the Falcons should have a decent chance of holding their offense down. Defensively, the Packers are strong but injuries to their defensive backs have hurt them.

As always it will be tough to win at Lambeau and the Packers are a good team that made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game last year. At this point, it’s probably asking too much to expect the Falcons to go on the road and beat a good team. I guess we just need to hope that the Falcons keep it respectable the way they have in their first 2 road games. There are some other winnable games on the schedule but the Falcons are entering a pretty difficult stretch of time during which wins may be hard to come by. The Falcons players just need to stick with it and fans need to be patient and supportive.