A big play sent the Falcons to their first loss of the season. Five big plays sealed their fate in their second loss.
In the season opener at Pittsburgh, Atlanta played stellar defense against the Ben Roethlisberger-less Steelers for 60 minutes. Unfortunately, 60 minutes were not enough. Rashard Mendenhall ended the contest in overtime as he sliced his way through the Falcons’ defense for a 50-yard touchdown run.
Since the Week 1 setback, head coach Mike Smith has placed an emphasis on limiting–if not cutting out altogether–opposing offenses from highlight-reel moments. Atlanta did a relatively good job of that over the next four games and, not coincidentally, stormed into Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon with a 4-1 record.
The momentum of a four-game winning streak went away just about as fast as DeSean Jackson can run 31 yards.
Jackson’s 31-yard touchdown scamper less than three minutes into the game was one of five Eagles plays in the first three quarters (in the first 42 minutes, to be exact) that went for at least 20 yards. Three of those went for scores, including a 34-yard strike from Kevin Kolb to Jackson later in the first quarter and an 83-yard pass-and-catch from Kolb to Jeremy Maclin midway through the third.
“We gave up way too many explosive plays,” Smith said in his post-game press conference. “You’re not going to put yourself in the chance to win ball games when you give up the explosive plays that we gave up. Defensively, Philadelphia definitely took advantage of the mistakes that we made.”
While it looked like a blowout right from the start, the Falcons managed to turn things around to the extent that their mistakes in the third quarter proved to be crucial in determining the afternoon’s outcome. Atlanta cut the deficit to 21-10 after a Matt Bryant field goal on its first possession of the second half, but it found itself trailing by 18 points just two plays from scrimmage later.
“Big backbreaker,” Smith said of the 83-yarder to Maclin. “It was a big backbreaker in terms of we went out there and we drove the ball down the field. The coverage that we were in, the ball should never get over our heads and it did and we’ve got to make sure we address that as a football team, of course on the defensive side of the ball.”
“I read my keys,” added safety Thomas DeCoud, who was burned by Maclin on the play. “I was going over the top of him. I whipped my head back to see what the actual play was. He took off on me. I had bad eyes on the play. It was just one of those plays where they got behind us and they made a play.”
While the Falcons were admittedly at their poorest on Sunday, the Eagles played top-notch football. Defensive end John Abraham gave credit where credit was due in an interview with the team’s website afterward.
“I think he (Philly head coach Andy Reid) did a good job of getting us with the reverses early and the deep pass, things like that,” Abraham noted. “I think he did a good job tricking us. They just got some plays on us. What we prepared for was totally different from what they did. They did more tricks than we thought and they did plays to slow down our D-line. They did a great job.”
If there is good news for Atlanta, specifically the defense, it’s that the next road game on the schedule is not until November 21. None of the Falcons’ next three opponents (Cincinnati, Tampa Bay, and Baltimore) is in the Top 18 in the NFL in scoring offense and none is in the Top 10 in total offense.
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