Of course it’s terrible to lose, especially after that valiant comeback.

The silver lining is that in the third and fourth quarters (mostly fourth), Ryan looked like his old self. He had his poise and accuracy back. I’m hoping this trend continues.

Let’s not forget that the Giants had two weeks to plan for us, and we didn’t have our starting RB. Obviously, that doesn’t really matter for that game, but it can give us hope for the future.

We definitely have a shot at a winning record, and at the post season.

Is in order.
Our schedule has been very tough so far. We have played poorly in 3 or 4 games, Dallas, Carolina, and maybe New England. Dallas and New York had two weeks to prepare for us. We have a young team and a tough schedule. We all knew that a playoff appearance would be nice, but that it was unlikely. We also have had injuries to our best two running backs, our defensive line, and our secondary. I can’t honestly say that I’m happy with our record or how we’ve been playing, but its understandable.
We still have three games against two of the worst teams in football. We have another game at the slumping Jets. We have two games at home against the Eagles and the Saints. I believe we can take one of those. The playoffs may be out of the picture, but certainly not a winning record.

I’m an Atlanta native and a life-long, long-suffering Falcons fan.

There are no moral victories in the NFL. Fighting back and coming short is still a loss.

We’d have to go 4 and 2 down the stretch to pull out a winning season. Sadly, I don’t see that happening.

He’d be a good pickup, I’d say.

To see Ryan back on the Highlights and off the Lowlights

well there are reassurances, no?

call it what you want, but when the most crucial player on your team has been in the mdidle of a deep funk, and en route to a loss he suddenly emerges back into his old form, that’s got to make you feel better.
matt was clutch in the second half.

last year did anyone else think that the big contract we gave jenkins was premature?

i think if we bust our tail, 9-7 is definitely doable. honestly this season has been on par with my expectations, and that makes it easier to take. i think a lot of us around here were drinking the kool-aid in the off-season. we knew our defense was still a year or two out, although who could have predicted the sophomore slump?

anyways, here’s to 4 more wins and key losses for our wildcard competitors.

looking for some feedback on this, but it seems like matt implicitly throws elam under the bus with a hidden quip about special teams.

granted, elam continues to throw our win-loss record under that proverbial bus, but it struck me as kind of messed up given the fact that nobody criticized matt to the media during the 5 game stretch in which someone could have easily claimed he was costing us games.

low-down, slip of the tongue, casual immaturity, or no big deal?

Could we just be happy with that? We need Lawyer Milloy

I think you forgot one. This guys gets burned Sunday after Sunday. Undrafted 110 lb 5’2 Brent Grimes plays better out of just sheer hustle than our 2007 Round 2 Draft pick.

Jenkins drop was unacceptable. Why are we paying 5 mil/yr for a Receiver to block. We certainly aren’t paying him to catch balls.

Agree with Elam. Time for him to stop blaming his holder and accept he is DONE.

We had six of ten games away. Now we have four of six at home. Undefeated at home!!!

And I don’t think you’re crazy for giving up on the playoffs, i think you’re just being realistic.

Here’s the thing – statistically, it’s still very doable and we’re very much in the hunt. It’s not crazy to think we go 5-1 which would almost lock us in, and going 4-2 would put us at 9-7, and many years 9-7 teams make it in.

So the question is, is it reasonable to think that we go 5-1 the rest of the season, and i think the answer to that has to be a resounding “no”. Yes, I am encouraged by seeing Ryan play better, and yes, I hope our running game will get back on track… I would love for the offense to start clicking and become what they should have been all year… if that happens, playoffs become more realistic.

The problem is this: Last year, someone was always there to make the big play or come through in the clutch, and this year, it’s like the inverse of that… if the D makes a good play, the offense blows it on the next possession. If the offense finally puts it together, the defense becomes unhinged. If both sides of the ball get it together, the special teams blows it and Elam misses a 25 yard field goal. We just have something in us this year that HAS to blow it. Even when we do something good, someone HAS to follow it up with something bad. And it’s been like that even in the games we’ve won (with the exception of SF).

I don’t know what that “thing” is – coaching, bad play, injuries, or something else entirely. It’s the kind of thing that makes me glad i’m not a coach or a GM because i don’t know how to pinpoint it, much less fix it. But I see it plain as day in every game. Yesterday it was the secondary. The game before that it was Ryan.

I watched the Pats-Jets playing last night, and even when someone on the Pats does something bad (which they frequently did), someone follows it with something good. And that’s what good teams do. But it’s the direct opposite of the Falcons. Whenever we hit a point in the game where we need “X” to step up, “X” NEVER DOES IT.

Until I see that quality go away and until I see every facet of this team showing up to play every week (like they did last year, even when they lost), i have no reason to think this is a playoff team. And you can call me a bad fan if you want – i’ll still watch every game this year and i’ll go down with my team, but i’m not going to pretend things are great when they obviously suck so bad.

is young and inexperienced. Our only hope for this season was for Hill and Williams to be solid contributors. Obviously, that hasn’t happened. Pass rush hasn’t been great either.

As an aside, wonder how high Rolando McClain goes? I’d love to grab that dude, stick him inside next to Lofton, and run the 3-4. Nicholas could be your third ILB (or start until Ro was ready) with Abe and Biermann standing up. JA looks like he’d be a good fit as a 3-4 DE, Babs would be the other, with Walker/Jerry in the mix at NT. The speed at LB would be phenomenal and should increase QB pressure.

you see, all we need to do is win the games we should win- like 2 vs tampa , buffalo, and the jets that puts us at 9 wins, now all we have to do is beat philly or the saints, both of which are at home, so very winnable games. So win just one of those 2 games and win the 4 games we should win will put us at 10-6 and possibly in the playoffs with the NFC being so closely bunched together this year except for the saints and vikings. The only problem is that even if we do go 10-6 and make the playoffs we will be on the road for our first game and that means one and done, since we can’t seem to win on the road at all- ONE WIN this season on the road- at SF. I know we will reach 9-7 without a doubt and break our streak of never having BTB winning seasons- I KNOW THIS WILL HAPPEN. But making the playoffs is a long shot and even if we do we’ll be knocked out the first game!! Same as last season!!

I think its hard to heap too much blame on the secondary when there is absolutely zero pas rush being generated, but I for one, am getting very tired of seeing our defensive backs face guarding as opposed to turning and looking for the ball. Its been going on all season, and the announcers yesterday wouldn’t shut up about it, and rightfully so. I was watching the game with a ton of giants fans, who believed that if Houston et al had been turning their heads to look for the ball, they would have gotten burnt even worse than the were…in my eyes, our secondary wasn’t getting burnt, but seemed all too content to allow the receiver to make the catch and to limit the yards after the grab.

Obviously if we had a great pass rush, the secondary would look better; heck if we even had a decent pass rush (which at times this season we have, although I am beginning to wonder if Abe is hurt, or if opposing tackles have learned his moves..or if he’s lost a step) the secondary would look much better, but unfortunately, we have little to no pass rush.

I am not ready to give up on this season, I still believe that the two Tampa games will be W’s, as will the Jets & Bills game; and I have a feeling we’ll knock off the saints in the dome, but even if that all comes true, this team is not winning more than 1 playoff game.

I think that we need to target defensive ends, or a pass rushing linebacker in free agency, and not in the draft, we can’t afford another Jamal.

i watched every down of yesterdays game, and i’d wager to say i’ve seen 99% of the falcons total snaps (offensively & defensively) this year. There are two distinctly different falcons defenses, the one that showed up yesterday & the one that showed up when Kroy Bierman, and Chauncey Davis, or Thomas DeCoud gets a pass rush. When we are able to create pressure, be it from the blitz, or from the front four (which is very rare, save for week 1, and week 3 or 4…) the secondary looks good; as you mentioned in your post, our corners seem to stay with opposing receivers very well, and this factor, coupled with good pressure (which again has been spotty at best this season) causes quarterbacks who are under duress to try and make perfect throws (which usually causes the opposite effect) or results in check downs (which are usually well covered by the strong suit of our d, the linebackers) or even better the rare pick or throw away. However, as I am sure you’ve gathered from the tone of my post, the good results have been few and far between. The line has failed to consistently generate pressure, the blitzs have also failed to consistently generate pressure, and lately opposing teams have picked up on the fact that our secondary is seemingly taught to face guard, and not look back for the ball.

You are correct, Abe was close to Eli a number of times, but this is not necessarily a good thing. First, I am sure it is frustrating as all hell for the predator to not come away with a quarterback hit or even better a sack. Second it serves to boost the quarterbacks confidence that the rush is always a step or two too slow, so he’ll step up into the pressure and deliver accurate passes like the ones we saw on sunday, and that we’ve seen all season (someone mentioned that qbs have career days against us on a weekl basis). This scenario has been all too familiar this season, Abe gets close, but more often than not, he gets no cigar.

I cant recall the birds having a consistent pass rush since we had Kerney and Rod Coleman on the line at the same time. If you remember, we added Abe to that line in order to create a pass rushing monster, and for 1 whole game (season opener against carolina) it was…then Kerney got hurt, and he and Abe were seemingly never on the field together at the same time.

The bottom line is, and will always be (and those of you who know / remember me, will probably remember my long rambling posts on this topic in the past) that this game is won and lost by the offensive and defensive lines. Its no surprise that when Matty Ice feels safe and secure, he looks like the next great qb, and when the line leaks like a sieve, he looks anywhere from good and poised, to happy footed and awful. More often than not the O-Line performs, however its been the same story for the D-Line the last two years…decent at stopping the run, awful at generating a pass rush.

Theres a few solutions; switch to the 3-4 (whcih someone suggested earlier) and try and generate a pass rush using nicholas and a newly signed pass rushing line backer (and most likely standing Abe up in obvious passing downs), which is the most unrealistic of the ideas. Option 2 involves signing a genuinely good pair of pass rushers in the offseason, and yes a pair, because 1 guy won’t cut it, especially if Abe has lost a step…option 3 is to roll the dice in the draft again and hope we don’t end up with another jamal…

I tip my hat to the Falcons.

4th quarter comeback from 14 down to tie at 31 and send it to OT.

Ryan used all his weapons on the 2 TD drives and must have had a perfect QB rating. Only 2 incompletions and those were in the hands of the receivers. Snelling made some clutch runs. Passes were caught by White, Jenkins, Peele. Weems had the 1st TD.

Gonzalez’ TD to tie the game was a classic. Giants only had 2 defenders on him instead of the 3 they had been using so it was a cinch. I’ll remember that catch for a long time.

Lofton and many others came up big as well in a road game against a healthy, talented, and rested team that was equally desparate for a win.

I saw this game as defining the Falcon character. They have a lot of heart – enough to take them into the playoffs and do damage this year.