Birds Soar To 5-3 With 24-0 Dumping Of Raiders
November 2, 2008 by Dan Rakusan
Filed under Falcons, NFL Football
In the post-game interview, head coach Mike Smith gave the game ball to every player on the defence, and that seems appropriate in a game where the Oakland Raiders mustered a completely unconvinving 77 net yards of total offence.
To be honest, I was a birthday party with my kids for most of the afternoon, and wasn’t privy to the early stages of the game, but rather walked into my home and saw “21-0″ on the board for the Falcons with just over 5 minutes remaining in the first half. Not half bad!!
To make matters better (if you’re a Falcons fan), they had limited the Raiders offence to just 14 total yards in the first half!! I was wondering, at that point, if the Falcons hadn’t landed in Toronto to play the Argos rather than Oakland to play the Raiders, but my wife quickly informed me that there was no weird stuff afoot, and that the Birds were simply flying…
Here are the quick and salient points from the game:
- Matt Ryan went 17/22 for 220 yards in the air, with his longest pass being a 37 yard touchdown to Michael Jenkins. He also managed to be interception-free after last week’s 2 pick effort… He did, however, lose a fumble, which was Atlanta’s only turnover lost in the game.
- Roddy White, despite stifling coverage, was second on the team with 54 yards receiving on 5 catches (which led the team), behind Jenkins, who put up 64 yards receiving.
- Michael “The Burner” Turner was great on the ground, rushing for 139 yards on 31 attempts.
- The Falcons put up a whopping 453 net yards of offence!
- Atlanta recovered one fumble and forced an interception, making them a +1 on turnovers recovered/lost.
- John Abraham picked up 3 more sacks, bringing his season total to 10.
Now, I know I called for Lo-Pan to be in the lineup in my pre-game post, but it looks like instead of his actual signing, he simply possessed Michael Turner for the afternoon. It turned out to be pretty damn effective, either way!
Hope you all enjoyed the game, and for you Falcons’ fans out there, I’m sure we can all agree that this season has been quite the Cinderella story to this point. But, before we get any playoff aspirations, we need to consider our remaining schedule. We’re entering the thick of it next week, as we host New Orleans and their vaunted passing game, then Carolina, then Denver, before heading out on the road to face San Diego and then New Orleans. After that, we host Tampa, then go to Minny, then finish up at home against the seemingly improved Rams…
I’m seeing 8-8 as a very attainable (and satisfactory) record at the end of the season…
What do you think?
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November 2nd, 2008 at 9:17 pm
8-8 would be a great season, especially with a rookie QB, but man, Matt Ryan looks great so far! He has single handedly transformed that team on offense. Everytime you think he might have a rough outing, he proves otherwise.
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:19 pm
From a source close to the team: “He [Matt Ryan] ate Chuck Norris for breakfast, and it showed”…
My source is a pitching wedge that seems to talk… But damn, it makes sense!!!
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Whatever this Falcons team does from here on out is impressive in itself. It just goes to show you how much of a problem DeAngelo Hall was last year. Losing Vick and Hall has been glorious for the ATL.
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Might be right there Zach. Case of two superlative talents going south because they couldn’t keep their stuff together overall in life.
Still, I think the best addition by subtraction was that pass-catching FAILURE Alge Crumpler, who’s entire career stats are padded at best because he was the only guy Vick could actually pass to at short range (maybe Vick’s got a Favre-like bullet - think back about 35 years…lol)
Anyway, you’re right that we’ve already hit the marker, and every other win will be gravy. I’m already trying to pick my playoff alternative team, so I’m not drunk off the kool-aid…lol
We’ve got gaps, but they seem to be experience related for once, not personel-related…
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:55 am
Its amazing what a new attitude can bring to a team. Your Falcons either look really good, or my Raiders just look God awful.
(maybe a bit of both)
The funny thing is that I knew I should have taken the Falcons in this one, but my stupid pride got in the way.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:30 am
Yeah Lee, I think the Raiders helped us look extra-good this weekend… While Atlanta is definitely drinking Mike Smith’s kool-aid, and are playing really solid football this season, I believe the result on Sunday was a little bit false… Oakland made us look like a Super Bowl calibre team, when in reality it would be a miracle to land a wild-card berth…
November 4th, 2008 at 3:17 am
Although I agree that the Raiders made the Falcons look better, I wouldn’t say that little about ATL. Your team is good, and getting better, and a wildcard, or even the division is nowhere near out of reach.
Carolina is inconsistant, TB is overrated, good, but not that good, and NO dug themselves a hole that they are trying to climb out of, and injuries will make that hard.
ATL is right there with the rest of them!
November 4th, 2008 at 9:14 am
I am not giving up hope Lee, but I prefer to expect less and be pleasantly surprised if they over-achieve based on my expectations… I believe they could go 4-4 the rest of the way, which might be good enough for a playoff wildcard spot, but they could also poop the bed as we tend to do against divisional opponents (at least in years past), and finish 3-5, 2-6, or even 1-7, although I suspect that won’t be the case…
Hey, let’s face it - I’d LOVE to see the Falcons make the playoffs, as that would mark the start of a new season for us, and all teams go back to 0-0. If we do get in, we’ll be a very interesting team to watch, as we have upset potential written all over us…