Alright. Prediction time.
For one of the few times in my life, I am optimistic about the Falcons ability. That uncharted optimism is how I am coming to my prediction today. I have the score along with a few player predictions, etc.
Score- Falcons 34 Patriots 23 (although the game will seem a lot closer than the final score would indicate)
Falcons 4 TD's, 2 FG's
Patriots 2 TD's. 3 FG's
Michael Turner has a big day, going for over 100 yards and 2 scores.
Gonzalez goes for over 60 yards receiving and a score.
The defense for the Falcons continues their bend but dont break style, forcing the Pats to settle for 4 field goal attempts instead of TD's. Gostkowski makes 3 of the 4.
Brady throws for just under 300 yards, but cant seem to get it done in the redzone. He gets sacked twice, and on one of them he fumbles. He throws no picks, but isnt quite back to being Brady yet with his accuracy. Solid day by other QB's standards, but not stellar.
Moss scores one of the TD's on a 40-60 yard play.
Abraham will get one sack and the forced fumble.
Pats rushing by committee gets just under 160 yards on the ground.
So thats it. Feels weird to be optimistic, but thats how I feel right now and I am not going to fight it.
Been fun hangin on this site for a week. I will come back after the game or Monday to eat crow or give thoughts and disappear.
Getting this one over with.
Overall great game for the Pats. Beat the Falcons. Played harder. Controlled the ball. Kept our offense off the field. Took away Turner by keeping the ball the entire 3rd quarter.
Was right about some things. Wrong about others.
Did force the Pats to kick field goals once they hit the redzone. Deep plays were most of the TD's.
Turner didnt have a big day. Ran well early. Had the tough fumble. As mentioned before...Pats offense took him away in the 2nd half. Did have the one score.
Gonzalez was a non factor. Wont know why until I break down film. Saw him open several times...not sure why Ryan didnt go his way.
Our Dline was the main reason we lost the game. No pressure. Not sure what it takes to get a holding call in Foxboro. Abe got raped consistently and the refs didnt blink. Cant blame the refs for the loss, but they sure didnt help us with the PI on Jenkins that would never have been called on Moss, and the forced challenge early that could have hurt us if we needed that challenge later. That ball was on the ground for 3 seconds and the refs were still clueless. Either they were dumb or having a little homecookin. As I said though, you dont blame this loss on the refs. You rarely can, and teh Falcons did enough to beat themselves.
So, Abe didnt have a big day. He was irrelevant. I will know more when I break down film, but on first look, it was only partially his fault. I counted 6 plays he was held solidly on and didnt get the flag once. If the o-line has free reign to hold, no one is going to have a big day. He still disappeared, even when not held.
Brady was as expected. He made enough plays but still didnt look like the Brady of old. Seemed very inaccurate and refused to plant that foot, despite having no pressure on 90% of the passing plays. He didnt throw any picks, as expected. It makes me wonder about his long term greatness going forward.
Great gameplan by the Pats of playing keep away. I thought in the 2nd quarter the Falcons showed they were going to have a big day offensively. After that they simply didnt have the ball enough to get anything going. Props to the Pats D for stepping up.
Basically, Belichick and his staff gave the Falcons nothing, and took from us everything (well, almost everything, the refs took some too, but what are you gonna do on the road).
As JSn predicted, I am headed out looking for dinner. I didnt like several key plays in the game. The Turner fumble was the play of the game. Also, didnt like the 3rd and 2 play call in the redzone early to go to shotgun that they didnt convert...and took Turner off the field in the process. Didnt like rolling out Ryan to the right so often. It took away 1/2 the field, and the Pats scheme is too smart for that and didnt give Ryan anywhere to throw the ball. Poor calls by Mularkey. The wildcat was unnecessary. We punted multiple times when I think a great coach would have felt the urgency to go for it. Instead, the game was over with 8 minutes left and there was nothing Ryan or the offense could do about it.
I still feel well about our team, knowing where we were 13 months ago staring at a possible 0-16 season. We go into the bye with a B grade from me so far. When the schedule came out, I saw 0-3 as a possibility, 1-2 as likely, 2-1 as a very good start, and 3-0 as nothing short of a miracle. Going into today, we had a shot at the miracle, so I dont feel too bad about it. Two things really bother me...I fear our run D was exposed even further, and the film from the first 3 games wont help us win games. The lack of pressure vs the Pats was disheartening as well...so both of my worst feelings are mostly resting on the d-line.
Anyway, I could probably make this one post 3 pages long, but I will stop now. Its been fun bantering here this week and I hope I have represented the Falcons fan base well.
Good luck to you guys later this season, especially vs our NFC counterparts, especially NFC South. We will need the help being that the Aints look great and I expect the Panties to get back on decent track to compete for the wildcard. Right now, I see the Falcons as being a wildcard team. Deep down I just want back to back winning seasons...as that will make me feel like this is a different Falcons team than I have watched my whole life.
