Two teams with similar casts butted heads at the Georgia Dome on Sunday. The Falcons, proud owners of a rookie quarterback (Matt Ryan), young players at key positions (Sam Baker at left tackle; Curtis Lofton at middle linebacker), and a bruising running back in Michael Turner, looked the mirror image of their 0-2 opponent for the first 8:16 of the game. Then Turner broke free.
After three consecutive drives of three and out in the first quarter, the Falcons remembered they were in the friendly confines of the Georgia Dome. With no pirate ships in the background or droves of veteran players patrolling the defense, Turner found his hole for 46 yards and the floodgates opened. The Falcons would strike a pose reminiscent of the Detroit game, scoring three touchdowns and a field goal in four possessions following Turner’s long run and racing out to a 24-0 second-quarter lead that the Chiefs could not respond to.
The key was the Falcons’ cast of young playmakers outplaying those of the Chiefs. Ryan was helped by a first quarter that saw him go 4-for-7 for 111 yards and a touchdown. While Ryan misfired on his first nine passes against Tampa, he was spot-on against a set of rookie starting cornerbacks in Kansas City’s Brandon Flowers and Brandon Carr. Chiefs coach Herman Edwards was under pressure before this game, but after tossing two inexperienced corners into the fray against the dynamic Roddy White (season-high 119 yards receiving), the wheels have officially come off of the Chiefs’ season. Ryan and White connected on the longest play of the day, a 70-yard teardrop long bomb that White capped with a backflip in the end zone.
Turner flipped another page in the Falcons record books with his first three-touchdown game in the NFL, countering the aggressive running style of K.C.’s Larry Johnson. Even though the Falcons conceded a season-high 184 rushing yards on the ground, only one of those yards led to a score. How was the Chiefs’ 6.5 yards-per-carry average negated? By a Falcons defense that at one point had one less turnover (two) than Kansas City first downs (three). The Chiefs didn’t get a first down until the 8:44 mark of the second quarter, locked up by a Falcons defense that put pressure on rookie quarterback Tyler Thigpen (John Abraham extended his league-leading sack total to six) and was around the ball all day. Three Falcons logged interceptions (Brent Grimes, Chris Houston and Erik Coleman), the defense forced three fumbles, recovering one, and Houston should have had two interceptions for touchdowns, but could only manage one after bobbling a telegraphed Thigpen pass late in the fourth.
That was the tale of Sunday’s game. As previously stated, the two teams share more similarities than the 38-14 thrashing would indicate. Both the Falcons and the Chiefs started first-round rookie left tackles in Sam Baker and Brandon Albert, respectively; both teams started rookie quarterbacks; and both teams trotted out relatively inexperienced players at the cornerback positions. But the difference was never more evident between the two teams than when rookie middle linebacker Curtis Lofton stuffed former All-Pro Johnson on fourth and goal in the fourth quarter. The rookie made the biggest stop of his young career and the Falcons’ message was sent. “Our young guys are better than yours.”
When asked about the difference between his young players and the Chiefs, head coach Mike Smith was hesitant to answer, but backup linebacker Coy Wire, who had his best game of the year with five tackles, summed things up nicely.
“We give a lot of credit to our coaching staff, but credit has to go to the players for buying into the system and executing it.”
The Chiefs and the Falcons, two similarly constructed teams, are heading in different directions. Thanks to the matured play and execution that arose as a result of last week’s road lesson in Tampa, for the Falcons that direction is north of .500.
GAME NOTES
Roddy White eclipsed 100 yards receiving for the eighth time in his career. … With his season-high of 121 yards, the Chiefs’ Larry Johnson moved to second all-time in rushing yards (4,885) for Kansas City behind Priest Holmes. … Michael Turner tied for fifth in Falcons’ history with three rushing touchdowns in one game. The record is four by T.J. Duckett.
Horne can be reached at ehorne@scoreatl.com.
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