The Falcons jumped out to a quick start and haven’t looked back in today’s matchup with the 8-2 Carolina Panthers, taking a 17-3 lead into the half into the locker room.
Atlanta has enjoyed a simply dominant performance offensively, racking up 203 yards of total offense behind a balanced attack. The Falcons kicked off the scoring with a 23-yard field goal from Jason Elam. Then followed that up by forcing a three-and-out, and scoring on Harry Douglas’s first career touchdown on a reverse from 7 yards away to make it 10-0 just five minutes into the game.
After another three-and-out, Douglas returned the punt to the Carolina 37-yard line. Atlanta cashed in on its good field position, getting a 1-yard score from Michael Turner to extend the lead to 17-0.
The birds looked to be on their way to yet another score on their next drive. But Roddy White was stripped of the ball at midfield after catching a first-down pass from Matt Ryan, and Charles Godfrey fell on the ball to give Carolina great field position at the Falcons 48-yard line. The Panthers turned that into their only points of the game thus far. Jake Delhomme hit Steve Smith getting on a 31-yard pass to the 1-yard line. But the Panthers could only muster a 23-yard field goal from John Kasay to close the gap to 17-3.
The Falcon offensive line has owned the Panthers so far. Turner has enjoyed seeing a multitude of large holes at the line, and has turned it into 56 yards on 12 carries. Meanwhile, Ryan has been efficient throwing the football, hitting 10 of 15 passes for 131 yards. Despite the fumble, White leads the Atlanta receiving corps with four catches for 70 yards. He is one of seven Atlanta receivers to tally a reception in the first 30 minutes. The defensive line has been active as well, having batted down several passes from Delhomme, notching two sacks and holding the Carolina run game to just 33 yards.
Bagriansky can be reached at jbagriansky@scoreatl.com.
Loading ...
