The Falcons won, and we enjoyed it

Caleb Rutherford

The Falcons handled their business against a bad team. That’s basically it. The Rams did not play up to us at all, and we did not play down to them. I would caution you not to take too much from this game. The Rams defense is not terrible, and we had our moments where we struggled against them offensively. Of course, no Julio and Sanu would do that to any QB, so it’s not an overly huge concern. It’s nice to see the Falcons dominate a lesser team, but it’s hard to gauge how good the Falcons actually are because the Rams are so...bad. It was a fun win, and that’s pretty much it.

DW

The Falcons beat up a very bad team, but there are some things that can carry over when they play a non-Jeff Fisher lead team. Vic Beasley looked dominant and the Falcons proved they can move the ball against a good defense even without Julio and Sanu. I don’t want to get too excited about beating up the Rams, since it feels a lot like a high schooler beating up a kindergarten student, but it’s a win so I’ll take it.

Jake Bennett

Going into this game, the Falcons had several excuses to come in and underperform. The Rams are not a good football team, but the Falcons proved with a completely dominant win today that they are capable of performing well without a plethora of their most talented players. If the defense can catch fire over the next several weeks, watch out for this team in the postseason. Next week they’ll have another shot at building momentum versus San Francisco.

Matt Chambers

It is impossible to be disappointed with this game. The Falcons were short a few dynamic playmakers. And also Mohamed Sanu. They traveled across the country after a wrenching loss. Then they absolutely manhandled the Rams. Offensively. Defensively. The Falcons did exactly what they should do against a bad team. Can they keep it going and secure a playoff spot?

Kevin Knight

Well, if you wanted to see the Falcons dominate a lesser team on both sides of the ball, you got that on Sunday. If you wanted to see the Falcons find success on offense without their top two receivers, you saw that too. Atlanta absolutely abused the Rams on offense and defense on the back of phenomenal games by Deion Jones and Vic Beasley. While Los Angeles isn’t a great measuring stick for how good this team actually is, it was important for the Falcons to defeat them convincingly. That’s what a playoff team does, and this team has a great shot at making it there this season.

Torgo

The Falcons were already without Julio, Sanu, Tamme, Trufant, Clayborn, Shelby and ‘Spoon, and Ishmael, Brooks Reed, Laroy Reynolds and Nick Williams would all be banged up during the game. Never mind the opponent. If you knew before the season that the Falcons would be that short-handed in any particular game, could you have imagined being ahead 42-0 at the end of the third quarter?

What impressed me most about the performance of Nick Williams is that all four of his receptions were first downs. He truly is a good route runner, and I’m glad to have him back on the roster. Hopefully we’ll find room for McKissic as well so that we won’t have to worry about some other team plucking him from our practice squad. It was also great to see so much playing time for so many backups and prospects in the third and fourth quarters.

Allen Strk

Considering the circumstances, this was a very encouraging performance. Los Angeles has clearly imploded, but their front seven can’t be ignored. It was going to be an uphill battle for the offense. Not turning the ball over and managing three scoring drives were realistic goals. The offense achieved both objectives, which allowed the defense to feast on a dysfunctional offense. Vic Beasley, Deion Jones, and Robert Alford had standout games. This game doesn’t give us any indication on what to expect in January. It was simply a morale boosting performance that keeps the Falcons right on track. They need to reach ten wins at minimum.

Dave Choate

Good teams should beat bad teams handily, but it doesn’t always work that way in the NFL, and it rarely works that way for the Falcons. This Rams game, which was so lopsided that it finally, mercifully got Jeff Fisher fired, was so satisfying because Atlanta was banged up, on the road and still did exactly what they supposed to do. May this be the eternal status quo.

Kendall Jackson

This is what we wanted to see: the Falcons dominate a clearly lesser opponent. And that’s exactly what they did — without several key players. The Falcons take on another lesser opponent in the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, so let’s hope they can do something similar again.