The Falcons are right smack in the middle of the playoff picture. They cemented that status in Sunday’s 45-28 dismantling of the Carolina Panthers. Here are a few thoughts from Sunday’s game, and what lies ahead for this team.
DOMINATING UP FRONT
Atlanta’s offensive line is among the league’s most inexperienced. And they’ve had their ups and downs when it comes to run blocking. Certainly one of their lowest of lows came last week, when a putrid Denver run defense shut down the Atlanta ground attack. They responded this week with one of their best games of the season. Michael Turner was dominant on the ground and had plenty of large holes to run through, scoring four times and eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career.
Meanwhile, the defensive line was also on point. But it wasn’t all about John Abraham as it has been in recent weeks. Jamaal Anderson made a few nice plays, countless balls were batted down at the line, and defensive tackle Chauncey Davis stepped up with two huge sacks.
“We know we can get to the quarterback,” Davis said of his fellow d-linemen, “Our secondary did a great job of holding them off and the front line did a great job of getting a push.
And they got that push with the Panthers pouring most of their energy into keeping Abraham at bay, although he still ended up with a sack on the afternoon.
“We’ve been working really hard every week to take pressure off of John,” Davis said, “that’s what we did today. They were concentrating more on him and we had opportunities to go make plays.”
A TALE OF TWO GAMES
Sep. 28 now seems so long ago. That was when the Falcons and Panthers met for the first time this season in Charlotte, and the home team emerged with a 24-9 victory to drop the Falcons to 2-2. I think it was safe to say the Panthers were shocked on Sunday when Atlanta jumped out to at 14-0 lead right off the bat.
“You can’t get down by that many points against good teams,” said Carolian defensive end Julius Peppers.
The Panthers learned a lot of new things about the Falcons during their 45-28 defeat. Harry Douglas’ performance perhaps best embodied the new Atlanta team that Carolina encountered. After dropping two crucial passes in the first matchup, he emerged by catching four passes for 90 yards, and scoring touchdowns from a run off of a reverse and a punt return to ice the game in the fourth quarter.
“I was focused then but I’m more focused now,” Douglas said of what changed for him after the loss at Carolina, “The one thing I learned that game was just to do my job.”
He’s only one of many Falcons who has come to that realization since Sep. 28.
BACK ON THE ROAD
The Falcons have dominated at the Georgia Dome since the season began, but they struggled mightily on the road before taking two of the next three away from home. So is this team have more belief in their ability to win road games today then it did earlier? It depends who you ask. While Chauncey Davis assured me that he was “always confident,” another Falcon wasn’t so sure.
“Starting out we had trouble on the road,” said fullback Ovie Mughelli, “But after coming together and maturing as a team, we were finally able to get it together.”
Mature they did, and now they think they can beat anyone.
“We’re more confident now,” said Mughelli. “Home or away, we can get the job done.
Bagriansky can be reached at jbagriansky@scoreatl.com.
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