Apologies to The Grinch, but the three words which best describe that game were as follows, and I quote: Stink, stank, stunk.
The fact that the Atlanta Falcons walked out of there with a win was, frankly, a miracle. You rarely see a team lose so many starters to injury in one game, play like a team of soccer players learning the American version of football for the first time and still pull out the victory. It was the kind of finish that necessitates someone blasting you with a dart full of elephant tranquilizer so you don't go insane and destroy Tokyo. I'm too jazzed up to make sense. Be patient with me.
But the win does not mask a host of failings from the Falcons that must be addressed if we're going to have a prayer of hanging in for the rest of the schedule. My advice is to soak this one in, enjoy the fact that we somehow actually won it, and then begin preparing for an ugly week ahead. While you're here, some pennies for my thoughts?
-
Chris Redman came in and essentially willed the Falcons to victory, with an enormous amount of help from Tony Gonzalez, Michael Jenkins and Roddy White. The passing game was the only thing working well today, and it eventually ended up saving the Falcons. Big ups to all of them.
- Jason Elam must go. I'm aware of the limitations of the other options out there, but it's time. He very, very nearly cost us the game.
- The defense clamped down when it counted in the second half, but they never made it look easy. If not for that missed field goal by Tampa Bay, we might be having a different conversation, but it could have been a lot worse the way Josh Freeman was playing.
- We're going to delve into this more deeply in the near future, but the injuries were crushing. The decision to play Michael Turner today is at the top of a short list of things this coaching staff has done that are indefensibly dumb, but I would love to hear a reason.
- ....Holy crap! We won!