Winning on the road in the NFL isn’t supposed to be easy, but it was just that for the Atlanta Falcons yesterday. The road team was rolling from the outset, thoroughly dismantling the Oakland Raiders in a 24-0 victory that was all but over by halftime. Here’s a quick review of what we saw in Sunday’s victory.
TAKING CONTROL
When I studied the Raiders last week, I saw a rare opportunity for the Falcons. This was a game where they had a chance to simply pummel their opponent from the opening kickoff. But inexperienced teams usually don’t take care of business in that way against inferior opponents, allowing them to hang around and sometimes even getting upset because of it. But for the umpteenth time this season, this team showed off poise far beyond its years.
“We wanted to control the tempo of the ball game from the very beginning,” said head coach Mike Smith.”
It was immediately clear that the Falcons came to Oakland with the goal of not just winning, but winning convincingly. They put their stamp on the game by dominating Oakland at the line of scrimmage and successfully running the ball on their first drive, and followed that up by surprising the Raiders with the deep ball to Michael Jenkins for the first score.
“Any time you can get out to a good start, that’s beneficial,” said quarterback Matt Ryan. “We definitely did that today.”
That first drive set the tone for the game, and the Raiders didn’t put up much of a fight when they realized what they were up against.
MAKING THE JUMP
We’ve discussed the Falcons’ inconsistencies quite a bit over the past few weeks. But Atlanta played a solid four quarters in the areas where they had previously struggled to string a good 60 minutes together.
The performance in the passing game may have been the best sign of all. This is what that passing offense can do when it’s about more than just Matt Ryan and Roddy White. No. 2 wideout Michael Jenkins stepped up and caught two deep balls for scores.
But Jenkins was just one of eight receivers to catch a pass from Ryan, and it could have been much more had Atlanta not essentially shut it down in the second half and played conservatively on offense.
As for the defense, they finally strung together four quarters of good football. Of course some of it had to do with the Raiders being unable to complete a pass or run the football, but credit must be given to Atlanta as well for their performance.
“Defensively, I thought it was our best performance,” said Smith.
When John Abraham gets going, the defensive line is hard to deal with. In fact, the line was so dominant that the linebacking corps hardly had to do anything. How many times did we hear Keith Brooking’s or Michael Boley’s name called yesterday? They registered one tackle apiece, and that’s a good thing.
You can also add red-zone efficiency to the mix, as Atlanta finished the deal with ease on long drives to put the game out of reach in the first two quarters.
Again, the opponent was as bad as they come, but drumming a team like that will still do wonders for this team’s confidence. If the Falcons can build on the progress they showed last week, then maybe the playoffs aren’t such a pipe dream after all.
AS FOR THE RAIDERS …
There are an inordinate amount of stats I can cite to indicate Oakland’s futility when it had the football. The Raiders finished the first half with negative yardage on offense and a grand total of zero first downs (which they increased to just three over the next two quarters). When it was all over, JaMarcus Russell had thrown for a paltry 31 yards, and the offense had netted a grand total of 77 yards.
The much-criticized Greg Knapp offense was inconsistent here during the Michael Vick Era, but it has completely gone down the drain in Oakland. I was surprised that Knapp didn’t try to attack corner Domonique Foxworth, who was starting only his second game of the season. A lot of that had to do with Abraham being in the backfield on virtually every passing play, a lot of it had to do with the inability to run the ball. No matter how you look at it, the Knapp offense looks to have failed for a second time out West.
Knapp is only a small part of the problem. The Raiders are a bizarre mish-mash of personalities that haven’t come together as a team. Al Davis’s major offseason signings of wideout Javon Walker (13 catches on the year), and DeAngelo Hall (Jenkins beating him deep on the first Atlanta TD spoke for itself) have both been flops thus far this season.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
What exactly does it take to beat the Tampa Bay Bucs? They pulled off yet anther last-second comeback in yesterday’s OT win in Kansas City, responding from a 24-3 deficit late in the first half to win. One of the keys to their success has been the emergence of wideout Antonio Bryant. Bryant, viewed by many as an underachiver over his six-year career, has made up for the absence of a banged-up Joey Galloway by catching 45 balls for 566 yards this season. Now with Galloway back at full speed, the Bucs have a legit 1-2 punch at the wideout position for the first time in a while.
The Colts may have saved their season by pulling out a big win over New England last night. Now they head into the bye week with a chance to morph into one of the most dangerous Wild Card teams in NFL history. Indy has a week to fix its problems on offense and become more consistent in that area. And Bob Sanders is back on defense. Catching the undefeated Titans in the division is too much to ask for, but no one is going to want to be playing this team in the postseason.
As for the Pats’ loss, it just made the AFC East one of the most intriguing divisional races nationwide (aside from perhaps the ACC Coastal and Atlantic divisions). The Buffalo Bills and New York Jets joined the Pats for a three-way tie at 5-3 atop the East. And the resurgent Dolphins are just one game behind at 4-4. It’s going to be fun to watch those teams battle it out in the second half of the season.
Bagriansky can be reached at jbagriansky@scoreatl.com.
Loading ...
