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As some of you know, I spent some more time with my girlfriend this weekend. Before you object, men, in the past two months I've seen her maybe.....chunks out of 5 or 6 days, total. The Falcons have played 6 games, of which I have witnessed all of 4, and part of the 5th one, and an even smaller part of the 6th one. Tryin' to keep everyone happy! Next week I'll be back on track to see the next 3 or 4 games, at least, so I'll be there to brighten (dampen?) your spirits on gameday! Woo!
In any case, I had a chance to watch some highlights, look at some game stats, and formulate an opinion of what I saw in the second half game thread, of which I curiously read every single comment.
Join me after the jump and we'll take a look.
The Good
The Defense. Yeah, there were times when they couldn't stop a runny nose, but they hunkered down and baked a recipe to the tune of three delicious interceptions (thus extending their consecutive games forcing a turnover streak) and didn't allow a passing TD. 17 points to the Panthers who have hung in every game thus far? I'll take it.
The second half adjustments: Boy, when I walked in the door (just in time to watch Cam evade everyone and walk into the end zone, and then proceed to seal his demise by doing Deion's dance) I was not too happy. The first half also looked pretty awful. We weren't doing much of anything. Our D couldn't get the Panthers off the field (At one point, they had twice the total ToP as us in the 3rd) and our O was ehh....but we quickly turned things around in the second half and, overall, looked pretty good.
Turner: This was probably Turner's best overall game in a while. 5.1 YPC? Yeah, I'll take it. I don't remember his other games' YPC but it's safe to say that this was definitely one of his better games.
The offense CAN function without Julio: I think this is important. HD only had two catches, but they were both for huge gains. Glad to see him get some big plays in there.
The ehh.....
Matty's Stats: Less than 200 yards passing in a league where 300+ yards per game is becoming the norm? I don't like that. I think it suggests that we should stick to running the ball, which is fine, but even Cam had more yards, and he had 3 picks. I think Matt is not as much of a game manager as his stats would suggest, but he completed 63.6% of his passes - a good number, for sure. It's not bad, it's just eh.
On a side note, Matty hit 9 different receivers, including Reggie Kelly. I love that he spread the ball around this game, even though most of them only had one catch. Sometimes, that's all it takes. He also had 7.4 YPA. I think 7 is the generic league standard, isn't it?
Bosher: Averaged 43 yards a punt this time! Well, that's an improvement. Not as good as we'd like, but 43 is still much better than 36, or whatever his season average is.
Not much else to go there. I'm not going to have a bad segment, although I'm sure there were some things that could be pointed out, much like the revolving door OL we have. Though I have to give them props. Blalock exploded the defense on Matty's QB sneak TD, and they only gave up one sack. Not bad.
Game MVP: Corey Peters. If only because he made a heck of a snatching of the football. Props to him for covering the ball as well.
Sound of the Game: Run outside and yell, "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH FALCONS! WOOOOOOOOOOO!" That should do it.
In A Word: Winning.