The defense played good tonight. The offense was kind of shaky, but they made plays when they had too. Good stuff.

     How about that Falcon’s goal line defense all night? The Falcons were awesome at the goal line, and dominated the redzone also! Big drama in the 4th; I’m still buzzed from that FINISH! I did the Dirty Bird for, like, 5 minutes after the final whistle; this was a big win that the Falcons needed and we are now a safe bet to make the playoffs!
     Falcons win big, again!

Yes, we win and the bastard Eagles lose! We need to set our sights on the Aints, tho! Dallas pretty much sucks, and the Vikings are a passing fancy. We play the Aints twice, though, and we need to win at least once, but preferrably both times!

Falcons played a great game tonight

Props to :

Atlanta Defense
DeCoud
Babineaux
Bierman
Abe
Williams
Gonzalez
Ryan
Norwood
Snelling
The whole OLine
Burner
Lofton
Roddy
Coleman
JA98

Falcons red zone defense was tops – 2 great goal line stands was the difference

What a sweet victory. That was almost like a playoff game.

Anyway, today (well, yesterday, 40 minutes ago) was my birthday, and the Birds pulled off a huge win this week. A great birthday present, if you ask me! Tloz and I can revel in being one year older and getting a sweet win from the Birds for a birthday gift.

DeCoud is becoming a beast. It’s no wonder he’s starting in front of Moore, he can play ball.

And, if I heard correctly (haven’t watched highlights) none other than >Jamaal Anderson< tipped the 4th down pass to win the game.

But who else loved Gonzalez’s intro tonight: “I’m Tony Gonzalez? University of California?”

Will Atlanta finally be taken seriously by commentators? Probably not, but I personally can live with being considered a 4-1 underdog. People will call this an ugly win, but the reality is that both teams had their share of great plays AND mistakes, and ultimately the Falcons did what they needed to do to get the win. Despite being the closest win they’ve had this season, I think this game showcased the overall quality of the Falcons team better than any game we’ve had.

Excited for the win, but concerned about:
- the offense not playing up to potential. The Bears have good but not elite D, but with the weapons we have, we should have been more productive. Matty Ice didn’t have a great game, Turner did not have a great game, the wide-outs didn’t have a great game, but Tony G. stepped it up. it’s hard to stop all of our weapons, thank goodness!
- the defense relying on the HUGE plays. It seemed that the Bears were able to march down the field without too much resistance. A lot of that was Cutler making some really good throws. The goal line stands were AWESOME, but what are the chances of Forte coughing up the ball on two consecutive plays?
- Brian Williams’ injury. Did he come back into the game? That looked like an ACL injury to me, which means the secondary will be without its best corner.

The positives are:
-Pass protection was darn good.
- Def. line was great against the run, and got some pressure on Cutler as well.

Nevertheless, thought we were fortunate to escape with the W. The Bears lost the game more than we won it. The Bears missed a lot of opportunities.

Gotta give props to DeCoud, Lofton and for the first time Anderson. I’m really enjoying seeing him finally step up out of the DT position. He just may be a keeper.

Anyone have an update on Williams’ injury. This guy has been solid for us all season, don’t want to see him out.

Our freakin special teams!!
Eric weems, game ball.

Sure the defense deserves all the credit, but man how often do you get a chance to give this guy what he deserves. Hats off to him.

on the ground for the 4th straight game. And he gained 30 yards on 13 carries for a 2.3 average. The bears had their 3rd string MLB in the game! Does this concern you guys at all? I think it puts way too much pressure on Ryan because with no running game to speak of he’ll see blitzes a’plenty.

Good things from the defense however. They decided to bend but not break in 2 crucial moments. The matchups against the Saints look scary though.

there is still a lot of room for improvement. Which is what makes the Falcons really scary. They have the talent to be so much better on both sides of the ball and the coaching staff to bring the best out of the players. Although “process” was the word last year, I think the word applies to this year as well. We have gone from losing “ugly” two years ago straight to winning “ugly”. The next step is to win dominantly (like last week against S.F.) and consistently. I think the only NFC team clearly ahead of us in that respect is the Saints.

-The Red Zone defense has been outstanding this year. The coaching staff has done a fantastic job placing our chess pieces on a short field, particularly when our front four is doing a good job. It helps cover our deficiencies in our pass defense.

-Is it my imagination or is Matty Ice looking a little fearful out there? It seemed that there were a lot of throws to safety valves and out of bounds yesterday. Nice to avoid the sacks and the picks, but I thought the O-Line was giving Matty and our downfield threats time to create something. He played great and without fear last week. His conservative play this week did not spread out the defense and help the running game. He has the talent to put up some huge numbers, why doesn’t he do it more often?

-The coaching was a mixed bag. The team was unprepared for Bears offense, but quickly made adjustments. Likewise on the other side of the ball. It doesn’t happen often that we are outplayed in the first quarter, but it happened yesterday.

-Cornerbacks were frustrating when not in the red zone. Chris Houston had a tough game and has got to learn to turn his head. Bears receivers aren’t all that great, but Cutler and our corners made them look better than they really are.

-Safeties played well and individuals tackled well. But the Falcons defense outside the Red Zone did not seem to have the same energy level as last week and weren’t swarming to the ball as much. Well, I take that back. On running plays, it seemed the whole defense was there. On passing plays, not so much.

-I am concerned about Turner as well, but we are playing much better defenses this year. He does not seem to be seeing the field and spotting the holes as well as last year. But man did he put forth the effort yesterday! I loved his fight and determination to keep those tree trunk legs churning. He was dragging the pile on several occasions.

-Wide outs did not have an outstanding game. Either they were getting open and Ryan wasn’t seeing it or they weren’t getting open. Probably a little of both. They should talk to Tony G. about it because that guy knows every trick in the book about getting open. He had a great game yesterday and without him I think we would have lost.

-Defensive front four had a great game against the run and good game against the pass. Cutler holds the ball a little bit longer that Ryan, but usually still gets it off in time. he took a lot more shots than Ryan as a result.

-O line pass protection was great, but can’t seem to get the running game going without using tight ends and fullbacks to block.

Bottom line: As long as we continuously improve without too many bumps in the road, we are well positioned to get to the Big Game at the end of the season. The Bears game was a bump in the road, but we won against a very good team. it is a BIG positive that we can win a tough game like that without everybody playing their best. Even the elite teams have to win ugly every once in awhile.

Cant wait for 4:15 on sunday…I really believe the Falcons have what it takes to beat the Cowboys if they stay focused and not be in awe of the new stadium..go falcons