Last week, the Falcons beat the Tennessee Titans 23-17, but the mood on the floor of the Georgia Dome afterwards would never have been described as satisfied. After Sunday’s 24-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings, atmosphere in the locker room was much more upbeat.
The defense played well against Minnesota, sacking rookie quarterback Christian Ponder four times and rendered their opponents rushing game something below than worthless. But, the defense also performed well against the Titans. The difference in the two games was in the effectiveness of the Falcon offense.
After the Titans victory, head coach Mike Smith said his team needed to be more effective moving forward inside the opponents’ redzone and converting third downs into first downs.
Check and check.
Against Tennessee, the Atlanta offense was four of 12 on third down conversions and scored only two touchdowns in six trips inside their opponents’ 20 yard line. Against Minnesota though, the Falcons converted seven of 14 third down plays and scored three touchdowns in four trips in the redzone. (The Falcons ran just one play on their other redzone appearance after a failed third and 18 conversion, Matt Bryant kicked a field goal on fourth down from the Vikings’ 19 yard line and the one failed third down conversion was when Ryan knelt down to end the game).
So, specifically, what did quarterback Matt Ryan see as the biggest factor in his team’s one week improvement? “Execution.”
According to Ryan, there are no potions or spells from Harry Potter and Severus Snape, just good, solid fundamental football. The buttoned up Smith would agree. Smith modestly described the overall performance –including the only bad stretch of four failed third down plays beginning in the third quarter—in his typical understated postgame chat with the media, “We played through the ebbs and flows of the game, especially in the second half.”
When the venerable and future Hall of Fame tight end, Tony Gonzalez, summed up what occurred in the Falcons victory, he was a little more forthright. He tossed quite a compliment in the direction of Ryan’s locker, “It’s not a matter of ‘if’ for Matt it’s just a matter of ‘when,’ and you’re starting to see it when you run the same offense week in and week out, kind of like Peyton [Manning of the Indianapolis Colts] was.”
The numbers back up Gonzalez. Ryan posted his most efficient stats of the season against the Vikings. Ryan completed a season high 79.4 % of his passes for 262 yards and touchdown throws to three separate receivers.
The Falcons in 2011 are a team that is still growing, still learning who they are and what they can be. By staying the course, and trusting their coming of age quarterback, they took another step forward Sunday.
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