The Atlanta Falcons’ offense may widely be viewed as the team’s strength, but it was the defense that pleasantly surprised the Georgia Dome crowd in the first half of today’s season opener against the Miami Dolphins. The much-maligned unit shut out Miami and forced a crucial late turnover to pace Mike Smith’s team to a 10-0 halftime lead.
The first two drives saw Atlanta miss several massive opportunities to open up the scoring. First the home team drove deep into Miami territory, but Matt Ryan overthrew a wide open Roddy White for what should have been a 49-yard touchdown strike in the early-going. Atlanta would continue the drive, converting on two third downs before stalling at the Dolphin 24. But Jason Elam missed the ensuing 42-yard field goal.
But the Falcons would get the ball back soon after as Kroy Biermann came un-evaded into the pocket and knocked the ball loose from Chad Pennington with Jonathan Babineaux falling on the ball to give Atlanta great field position at the Miami 37. But a personal foul on Justin Blalock pushed the Falcons out of field goal range, resulting a three-and-out.
With the Miami offense continuing to sputter, the Falcons finally took advantage after a John Abraham sack close to midfield ended a Miami drive. Then came what could very well be the first of many dynamic drives for the offense this season, as Atlanta methodically marched 89-yards on 14-plays and converting two third-and-longs on completions to Tony Gonzalez and Roddy White. Ryan capped off the possession with a one-yard strike from to Ovie Mughelli, giving Atlanta a 7-0 lead with 8:41 left in the half.
The defense appeared to have stopped Miami with just under three minutes to play after Pennington threw incomplete to Greg Camarillo. But after Cipriano called for a review of the catch, replays showed that Camarillo had spectacularly caught the ball in between his legs before it hit the ground, giving Miami a first down at the Atlanta 47-yard line. Then the Dolphins opened up the playbook when Chad Pennington threw a pass to Ronnie Brown, who threw back across the field to the quarterback before Pennington hooked up with a wide-open Joey Haynos over the middle for a 21-yard gain to the Atlatna 16. But Atlanta ended the drive on the next play, when Mike Peterson lit up Anthony Fasano on the next play, and fellow Falcons debutant Brian Williams recovered the loose ball and returned it 53-yard to the Miami 31.
Ryan again missed an open deep pass on third down, just overthrowing Jerious Norwood in the corner of the end-zone, resulting in a 36-yard field goal from Elam to give Atlanta the 10-0 lead.
Ryan missed a couple of potential big plays, but still finished the half at 13-of-21 for 146 yards and a touchdown. The Miami defense did hold the Atlanta run game in check, as Michael Turner rushed for just 28 yards on 12 carries. Stephen Nicholas led the defense with five tackles.
For Miami, Pennington was solid but unspectacular, completing 9-of-11 for 75-yards.
Bagriansky can be reached at jbagriansky@scoreatl.com.
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