The Falcons were looking to keep the good times rolling and improve their record to 5-1 when they took on the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. The Eagles were looking to win their first home game of the year and were coming off a big win over the San Francisco 49ers. Philadelphia was able to carry the momentum the gained last Monday as the dominated the Falcons with a 31-17 win.
The Eagles started the scoring on their first possession of the first quarter when DeSean Jackson scored on a 31-yard touchdown run to give the Eagles the early lead. Later in the quarter, Jackson scored again, this time it was through the air, catching a 34-yard pass from Kevin Kolb to give the Eagles the 14-0 lead. Jackson gained a total of 75 yards on three touches in the first quarter.
Philadelphia continued the onslaught midway through the second quarter when Kevin Kolb threw his third touchdown pass of the game to Jeremy Maclin for eight yards and the Falcons were down 21-0 before they could blink. Kolb finished the game 23-of-29 with 326 yards and three touchdowns.
For the Falcons they were able to get on the board before halftime as Matt Ryan threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Tony Gonzalez to cut the Eagles lead to 14. That play was possible thanks to William Moore intercepting a Kolb pass with less than two minutes left in the half. That was Moore’s third interception of the season and the Falcons 11th interception of the year.
The Falcons were able to get on the board again on their opening series of the third quarter when Matt Bryant kicked a 26-yard field goal to cut the lead to 11. That did not last long, though, as Kolb found Maclin for an 83-yard touchdown strike a few plays later which put the Eagles up by 18 and the Falcons could never recover.
This was a game where the Falcons started slow and could never get on track on offense or defense. Matt Ryan did have 250 passing yards and two touchdowns, but he was 23-of-42 through the air and was missing open receivers throughout the entire game. Michael Turner could not get anything going on the ground with 15 carries for 45 yards and Jason Snelling saw little action on the field, caring the ball three times for 17 yards. He did leave the field due to injury in the first half, but returned in the third quarter.
As much as the offense struggled, the defense had a rougher afternoon. The unit gave up 474 yards of total offense and the 31 points the surrendered was the most all season. They allowed the offense to convert 50 percent of their third downs and the Eagles offense average seven yards per play. They had no answer for Maclin or Jackson who 257 yards of total offense and four touchdowns combined.
The one bright spot for the Falcons was the return of Michael Jenkins who made his season debut after a suffering a shoulder injury at the Friday Night Lights event at North Gwinnett High School in the beginning of August. He led the team in receiving with 99 yards on five catches. Roddy White added 83 yards on six catches and Gonzalez ended his day with 19 yards on three catches and two touchdowns.
The Falcons could have put themselves at the top of the NFC with the 5-1 record. Now they are in a group with the New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears, New York Giants and the Eagles for the best record in the conference at 4-2. In order for the Falcons to get back on track, they have to do what they were doing in during their win streak and that’s running the football effectively and playing sound defense. They will look to bounce back when they take on the Cincinnati Bengals at the Georgia Dome next Sunday which will be only their third home game of the year.
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