But what a whisper.

The Atlanta Falcons went north to Baltimore to play the Ravens. Despite a vehicular mishap involving quarterbacks Matt Ryan and D.J. Shockley and wide receiver Brian Finneran a couple of days ago, they all played in today’s game and helped win it for Atlanta.

Televised by myATLtv, both teams got a flavorful mouthful of each other’s defense resolve. There were no points in the first quarter. The Ravens eventually put a 9 on the score board (from three field goals made by Matt Stover). The Falcons’ 10 came from a touchdown (thrown by Shockley and caught by Finneran in the second quarter) and a field goal (by Jason Elam in the third quarter). Baltimore’s third quarter field goal (bringing Atlanta’s lead from 10-6 to 10-9) and two interceptions by Ravens safety Jim Leonhard (one of which was thankfully nullified on account of an offsides penalty) caused me much talking-to-the-TV. The monologue consisted primarily of “come on, Joey Harrington” (who had stepped in as quarterback for the Falcons in the middle of the third quarter) and “come on, defense; don’t let the Ravens get another field goal because then you’ll have to get a touchdown!”

Observations & Miscellania:

1. An excellent example of the longest perceived elapsing of five seconds must be those seconds between snap and the moment when a quarterback throws the ball or is sacked.

2. The Shockley-Finneran TD was made possible by a complete pass Shockley made to wide receiver Eric Weems.

3. Matt Ryan remembers seeing Brian Finneran trying to make it as a rookie for the Philadelphia Eagles…when Ryan was in eighth grade!!! And now they’re teammates. How puppy-eyes is that.

4. During one of many high angle long shots of the sidelines, Matt Ryan had finished his Gatorade cup and rather than setting it down on a table or chucking it to the grass, he went over to the trash receptacle and threw away the cup. I was very impressed. His face lit up after Finneran made that second quarter TD. Well-spoken and polite, he may very well be the sort of guy one would bring home to the family, but Matt Ryan transcends such heteronormativity. I would entrust him with my pets or plants for a couple of days or a couple of weeks.

5. I flipped to NBC during the commercials and saw a few plays from the Jaguars vs. Redskins game. The first time I clicked over, the score was 17 to 3 in the Jaguars’ favor. When I checked back in the third and fourth quarters, the Redskins were still at 3. Read more about this game here.

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