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Reaction from Atlanta
Reaction to the game from Atlanta:
The Falcons suffer a thumping loss but learn a needed lesson
Patriots' approach surprised Falcons' defense
Falcons falter late against Patriots
Patriots double up on Falcons' Gonzalez
Reaction to the game from Atlanta:
The Falcons suffer a thumping loss but learn a needed lesson
“We said this would be a benchmark for our organization,” said Thomas Dimitroff, the Falcons’ general manager but once New England’s chief scout. “And the reality is that we still have a lot of work to do. And I knew — I knew — that [the Patriots get] agitated when it’s suggested they’re losing something. I knew they would play physically and come out with all guns blazing.”
To use the Dimitroff buzzword of 2009, the Pats played with urgency. They’d rushed for a total of 156 yards in the season’s first two games; they ran for 168 Sunday. They kept possession for nearly 40 minutes.
“They ball-hogged the ball,” receiver Roddy White would say later, and in so doing the Pats hogtied the Falcons.
The Pats weren’t precise — the great Tom Brady missed more open receivers in one game than he used to miss in a full season — but they were persistent. The Falcons hung around and seemed about to seize the lead in both the second and third quarters, but Michael Turner fumbled and Michael Jenkins was flagged for offensive interference in the end zone (the right call, by the way) and the Falcons didn’t score over the final 38 minutes and 48 seconds.
And you’re not going beat New England, which has been the NFL’s best team over the past eight seasons, that way. And that’s what showed Sunday. One team knew what winning such a game entailed. The other was still guessing.
Patriots' approach surprised Falcons' defense
In particular, several Atlanta players said New England’s reliance on a play-action passing attack surprised them. Because the Falcons had to respect the Patriots’ running game, they couldn’t rush Brady as aggressively as they’d like.
“They kind of did a little mind games on us. That’s all it was,” defensive end John Abraham said. “They did a good job. I’ve got to credit them with how they played. We watched a lot of tape, and they didn’t do as much play action before.”
One year after setting a franchise record and personal best 16.5 sacks, Abraham had two sacks in the season-opening 19-7 victory over the Miami Dolphins. But the Patriots’ offensive line did a nice job containing the 6-foot-4, 263-pound Abraham and the rest of the Falcons’ line.
Falcons falter late against Patriots
The Falcons were about as precise as a team could be Sunday in an annoying drizzle. The performance, especially by the secondary, was gritty too.
But in the catch-a-break department, they were was not as fortunate. A shaky pass interference call seemed to take the steam out of their sails on the way to a 26-10 defeat at Gillette Stadium, Atlanta's first loss of the young season.
"They were the better team today," coach Mike Smith said of the Patriots. "Guys, its real simple and you want to search for answers. They were the better team."
On the key interference call, wide receiver Michael Jenkins started to celebrate what appeared to be his 64-yard touchdown catch, which would have brought the Falcons' a 17-16 third-quarter lead. Until out of the corner of eye, he saw the penalty flag. On replays it appeared that Jenkins gave Patriots defensive back Leigh Bodden a little too much of his right arm to create some separation and was called for offensive pass interference.
The drive stalled and New England went on to hold Atlanta at bay to improve to 2-1, while the Falcons dropped to 2-1 heading into the early-season bye week. If Smith wanted no parts of discussing that play, Jenkins disputed the call.
"I felt like there wasn't anything extra, but the ref thought there was something extra," Jenkins said. "He felt like I pushed off and he made the call."
Running back Michael Turner thought he witnessed a touchdown.
"It looked clean to me," Turner said. "It looked like a normal touchdown catch."
Patriots double up on Falcons' Gonzalez
As Tony Gonzalez walked off the Gillette Stadium field Sunday, he ran into Bill Belichick. The two share a mutual respect and have known each other for a few years, since Belichick coached Gonzalez at the Pro Bowl.
All afternoon, the Patriots had focused on the Falcons tight end, swarming him with “bracket” coverage and rarely assigning just one defender to him.
Afterward, New England’s coach had a reason to feel good about his team’s performance in limiting Gonzalez to one catch. What did Belichick offer?
“I’m not going to tell you exactly what he said,” said Gonzalez, grinning. “Something to the effect of, ‘A double team was on today.’ ”