Missed opportunities. That was the theme of the Falcons-Broncos contest on Sunday. The game was supposed to be about Matt Ryan vs. Jay Cutler, which it was, but it was more about the Falcons failing to take advantage of the chances they had to win the game. As a result, the Denver Broncos hand the Falcons their first home loss of the year 24-30.
So what were some of these missed opportunities? The first had to be when Ryan overthrew Brian Finneran in the end zone in the beginning of the second quarter, which led to a Jason Elam 36-yard field goal.
“I’d like to a have a couple of throws back,” Ryan said. “I had a chance at Finn for a touchdown early in the first half and missed it. In that sense it’s frustrating.”
Another missed opportunity for Ryan and the offense was when Ryan threw a deep pass to Roddy White in the end zone late in the fourth quarter and White came up short.
“Yeah, it was probably a little wide but again that’s just one of those things,” Ryan added. “We didn’t make enough plays to get the win today. We’ll get better.”
He also threw an interception in the third quarter which led to a Matt Prater 20-yard field goal to give the Broncos the 17-14 lead. It was just his sixth pick of the year.
“You always want to be aggressive and you always want to try and make plays,” Ryan said. “But again you have to be smart and make better decisions. That led to points. Anytime you have a turnover as a quarterback and it leads to points, that’s frustrating.
But with all that said, Ryan had another strong outing, finishing the day completing 20 of 33 passes for 250 yards. Cutler had similar numbers with 216 yards on 19 of 27 passes. The only difference was that Cutler threw one touchdown and no picks and Ryan had the interception in the third quarter and had zero touchdown passes.
“Ryan had a really nice day,” head coach Mike Smith said. “He made some nice throws on third downs to keep drives alive. There was some tough sledding out there. Both teams had less than 365 yards in total offense. It was a hard-fought game.
There were a couple of times when Matt Ryan had to run the ball, and he did so effectively. He finished the day with five carries for 18 yards and one run included a naked bootleg play which fooled everybody at the Georgia Dome.
“Our coaches did a good job and watched tape,” Ryan said. “They thought it would be effective if we did it and it worked pretty well.”
Ryan may have to do some more running this upcoming Sunday as the Falcons face the first-place Carolina Panthers in a nationally televised game. The last time the Falcons faced the Panthers, Ryan went 21-for-41 with 158 yards, no touchdowns and no picks and ended up losing 24-9. A loss puts the team three games behind the Panthers in the NFC South, and that could mean the only way that they can make the playoffs is via a wild card spot. But Ryan realizes that and knows that he as well as the rest of the team will be ready.
“It’s a big game obviously because it’s in division,” Ryan said. “Anytime you play a division opponent it’s important. The way to approach it is the next game on our schedule. We’ve got to do everything we can during the course of the week to work hard and be prepared on Sunday.”
Jones can be reached at bjones@scoreatl.com.
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