Last week, the New Orleans Saints suffered a 31-21 loss to the then winless St. Louis Rams and some thought the Saints overlooked the Rams because the Bucs were right around the corner.
On Sunday, the Falcons took on a winless Indianapolis Colts team and there were talks around Atlanta that this game could be a trap game because the Saints were coming to the Georgia Dome next week.
But the phrase “trap game” is not in the Falcons dictionary because they dominated from start to finish and came away with a 31-7 win.
The reason the Falcons were able to put away the Colts easily was they got off to a fast start. On the opening series of the game, Colts running back Delone Carter fumbled deep in their own territory and the ball was recovered by Ray Edwards. That led to a Michael Turner 1-yard touchdown run to put the Falcons on the board.
The Falcons scored again later in the first with a Matt Ryan 50-yard strike to Julio Jones who was playing for the first time in three weeks due to being sidelined with a hamstring injury.
Jones made his presence known again as Ryan threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to the Alabama alum and the Falcons were up by 21.
The Colts were able to get on the board for the first time later in the quarter, but that was not because their offense was starting to find a rhythm. The Falcons offense made their only mistake of the game when Ryan threw an interception to Jerraud Powers and he returned it six yards for a touchdown.
But that would be the only time the Colts would get on the board because the Falcons defense smothered the Painter and company. The Colts only gained 186 yards of total offense and 10 first downs. Painter was 13-of-27 with 98 yards and one interception. Backup quarterback Dan Orlovsky relieved Painter in the second half, but fared no better as he completed 4-of-6 passes for 20 yards.
For the Falcons, Cutis Lofton led all tacklers with 12 and forced the Carter fumble in the first quarter. Kelvin Hayden, a former Colt, had six tackles and intercepted a Painter pass in the first quarter. Jonathan Babineaux and Corey Peters each had a sack in the win.
Ryan threw two touchdown passes in the first half and had a 94 passer rating, but only completed five of his 14 pass attempts. He was able to settle down in the second half, completing nine of 10 passes and added another touchdown pass in the third quarter, which was thrown to Tony Gonzalez. Ryan ended his day with 275 yards and three touchdowns along with one interception.
The running game was also on point. As a team, the Falcons rushed for 163 yards including 71 yards from Turner. Jaquizz Rodgers did a solid job spelling Turner as he racked up 44 yards on 10 carries, and Jones, who finished with 131 yards receiving, had 33 rushing yards on two reverse plays.
With the win the Falcons improved to 5-3 and have won their last three games. This is the second time the Falcons have ever defeated the Colts and it’s the first time the Falcons have defeated the Colts on the road. They are in second place in the NFC South, but have a chance to take control of first place next week if they defeat the Saints.
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