There were a number of crucial plays that decided last Sunday’s 20-17 thriller at the Georgia Dome between Atlanta and Green Bay in favor of the Falcons: the 4th-down completion to Tony Gonzalez that prolonged a scoring drive, Gonzo’s ensuing touchdown catch, Eric Weems’ final kickoff return, and Matt Bryant’s game-winning field goal to name a few.
But the bottom line is this: the Packers turned the ball over; the Falcons did not.
The Packers turned it over only once on Sunday, but once is one too many against the Falcons these days. Plus, this one was especially critical. With the score tied 3-3 in the second quarter, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers appeared to be on the verge of giving his team a seven-point lead. Instead, Rogers was stuffed for no gain on 2nd-and-goal at the 2 and then fumbled into the endzone one play later.
After Atlanta linebacker Mike Peterson recovered it for a touchback, the Falcons promptly marched 80 yards for a touchdown of their own. Instead of trailing 10-3 at halftime, they led 10-3.
Maybe that’s why the Falcons have decided not to turn the ball over; they know how costly mistakes can be. They have seen their own defense (and even offense!) end the hopes of multiple opponents; Kroy Biermann with a pick-six in Cleveland, William Moore with a goal-line interception in St. Louis, and Roddy White with a post-interception strip of San Francisco’s Nate Clements.
To heck with the costly turnovers. Atlanta is not turning the ball over, period. Mike Smith’s bunch, +11 in giveaway/takeaway margin this season, has not committed a turnover in a whopping four consecutive games (all wins). Matt Ryan has not thrown an interception since Oct. 24 against Cincinnati and he has just five this entire year. Not only has Michael Turner not lost a fumble this season, but he has not even fumbled at all this season.
“Ball security is paramount,” Smith said in his Monday press conference. “I don’t know that many teams go four games (without a turnover). It’s the first time in the history of our organization that we’ve gone four games without turning the ball over.”
At the other end of the spectrum was Rodgers, who learned that coughing it up even once is not going to get it done against the Falcons. “When you play a game like this against a good team, you got to play well, and you can’t turn the ball over, and you can’t take points off the board,” GazetteXtra.com (Janesville, WI) reported Rodgers as saying.
The Falcons are not taking points off the board, and because of that, they aren’t taking wins off the board. Thanks to near-flawless football, the 9-2 Falcons have the best record in the NFL.
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