NFL 2010: Falcons repo the Buccaneers

The Atlanta Falcons sprinted south to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  A victory today for the Falcons would be most appreciated not only by the players and the coaching staff but also by the fans.  First ever back-to-back seasons win!  That was the goal.

Televised by Fox, the Buccaneers’ kickoff was returned by wide receiver Eric Weems, who was tackled.  Falcons head coach Mike Smith challenged that the Buccaneers recovered a live ball.  Atlanta lost the challenge.  Tampa Bay scored soon with a field goal.  On Weems’s second return effort, he was brought down at the twenty-yard line.  The Falcons did not score.  Tampa Bay 3 and Atlanta 0.

The second quarter started with a pretty strong Falcons offensive drive.  Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris lost a challenge as to where Falcons running back Jerious Norwood caught quarterback Matt Ryan’s pass.  Tampa Bay’s defense responded very strongly as well.  Matt Ryan threw an interception into Buccaneers cornerback Ronde Barber’s arms.  Luckily for the Falcons, a holding penalty on Tampa Bay gave them a first down.  Buccaneers fans booed.  The Falcons got a field goal out of it.  On their next possession, tight end Justin Peelle made a TD catch just inside the end zone.  Atlanta 10 and Tampa Bay 3.

Watch me watching that play:

The third quarter chugged a few minutes and Matt Ryan intercepted by safety Tanard Jackson.  WHAT THE PORK TENDERLOINS?!! Did I spy a male, sunglasses-wearing Tampa Bay fan IN A SNUGGIE in the replay of cornerback Aqib Talib knocking down the ball before Falcons wide receiver Michael Jenkins could catch it in the end zone?

The Buccaneers demonstrated an energized offense in the fourth quarter.  They tied the game with a TD connection between quarterback Josh Freeman and wide receiver Antonio Bryant.  Matt Ryan’s pass was plucked by Buccaneers safety Sabby Piscitelli five minutes into the quarter.  Falcons cornerback Chris Owens responded by intercepting Freeman’s first pass after the turnover.  Falcons running back Jason Snelling carried the ball twenty-two important yards down the field.  Halfway through the fourth quarter, Falcons Roddy White caught the ball far enough away from Aqib Talib, realized he was still in bounds and made his way into the end zone for a touchdown.  Atlanta 17 and Tampa Bay 10.  Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes intercepted Freeman in the bottom of the fourth quarter.  Sixty seconds left in the game and Matt Bryant made a thirty-six yard field goal.  Atlanta 20 and Tampa Bay 10.  Final score.  Consecutive seasons losing streak is over.

Observations & Miscellania:

1.  Commentary was provided by Dick Stockton and Charles Davis.

2.  The stadium was filled with red.

3.  Interesting Volkswagen Sign Then Drive commercial that aired twice in the middle of the first quarter.  A heterosexual couple buys a vehicle from a male, brown-haired sales rep.  When the couple is standing inside the dealership, the woman appears to be Asian and the man of Mediterranean descent.  When they get inside the car, however, they become ethnically ambiguous.  I don’t remember the last time a car commercial featured a couple whose ethnicity wasn’t ostensibly obvious and the same.

4.  There was a minor shove-and-shove back between a Buccaneer and a Falcon in the middle of the first quarter after Atlanta punted the ball to Tampa Bay.

5.  Falcons owner Arthur Blank was featured in a close-up on the sidelines.

Get game summary, stats, and play-by-play here.

NFL 2009: Falcons max out the Bills

The Buffalo Bills shed of some wintry accoutrements as they plod south to play the Atlanta Falcons.  Broadcast on CBS, the Bills took to offense first.  Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan’s first throw of the day at the top of the first quarter was a forty-two yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Roddy White.  Atlanta 7 and Buffalo 0.

The second quarter began with kicker Matt Bryant making a fifty-some-odd yard field goal.  Atlanta 10 and Buffalo 0.  Bills quarterback Bill Brohm threw an interception nearing the middle of the second quarter.  The ball sailed into the end zone, headed into the bosom of Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens but was nabbed by Falcons cornerback Chris Owens.  No score for the Falcons.  Matt Bryant went onto the field in the final seconds of the second quarter to try a fifty-five yard field goal.  The Bills blocked the attempt and played a series of hot potato all the way back up the field into the end zone.  An official booth review confirmed the initial ruling that cornerback Reggie Corner’s knee was down before he got rid of the ball.  Thus, saftey George Wilson’s run into the end zone did not count.

The third quarter tick-tocked to about seven minutes when Matt Ryan threw a TD pass to wide receiver Marty Booker.  Atlanta 17 and Buffalo 0.  Upon returning from commercial break, Falcons defensive end Kroy Biermann kicked the ball away to the Bills.  Just two or three plays later, Falcons defensive end Lawrence Sidbury snatched the ball from Bills running back Fred Jackson’s hands and, with Bills defensive players dragging him down, got into the end zone for a touchdown.  Atlanta 24 and Buffalo 0.  Biermann kicked the ball away again.  The Bills finally got onto the score board in the bottom of the quarter with a forty-some-odd yard field goal.  Atlanta 24 and Buffalo 3.

The fourth quarter was scoreless until the clock got down to four minutes–Matt Ryan and Roddy White connected again for a TD.  When the Bills returned to offense, Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes intercepted Brohm.  Chris Redman stepped in as QB for the duration of the game for the Falcons.  Atlanta 31 and Buffalo 3.  Final score.

Observations & Miscellania:

1.  Bill Macatee and Steve Beuerlein were the commentators today.

2.  After returning from commercial break in the top of the second quarter, Terrell Owens was featured in a medium shot cutting his finger nails.

3.  Falcons running back Michael Turner and tight end Tony Gonzalez were shown sitting on the bench in a medium shot.  Gonzalez sustained a calf injury in the first half of the game.

4.  I dreamed of Matt Ryan this morning.  I took a photograph of him in sepia-and-white.  He looked like he had just gone surfing.

5.  According to the commentators, Kroy Biermann kicked pretty well in the middle of the third quarter.  He got the ball to the three-yard line.

6.  Falcons defensive end Jamaal Anderson got some camera time as he was shown, in medium close-up, sitting next to Michael Turner on the sidelines.

Get game summary, stats, and play-by-play here.

NFL 2009: Falcons ground the Jets

The Atlanta Falcons flew north to hang-glide on New York Jets’ thirty degree and 17mph wind territory.   Having started with a season full of possibilities, the Falcons have seen their season slip into uncertainty.  By the time they went up against the New Orleans Saints, running backs Jerious Norwood and Michael Turner, wide receiver Ben Finneran, and quarterback Matt Ryan had missed games due to injury.  Atlanta’s record was 6 – 7 going into today’s game.  Would Turner and Ryan’s reactivated status yield a victory for the Falcons?  They may be out of playoffs running, but a first ever back-to-back winning seasons is still up for grabs.

Televised by Fox, and narrated by Dick Stockton and Charles Davis, the first quarter began with the Falcons on offense without scoring.  A few plays into the Jets’ turn, Falcons safety Thomas DeCoud intercepted Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez.  The Jets’ defense allowed a Matt Bryant field goal for the Falcons in the middle of the first quarter.  Atlanta 3 and New York 0.  The Jets got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the quarter with sixty-five yard touchdown reception by wide receiver Braylon Edwards.  New York 7 and Atlanta 3.

Halfway through the second quarter, the Falcons defense was able to keep the Jets to a field goal attempt, which turned out to be a fake field goal attempt.  Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes was there to nix that option.  Moments later, Mark Sanchez threw a second interception towards the bottom of the quarter–Brent Grimes was on it.  The rest of the first half ticked down to three seconds and the Jets tried but failed at a real field goal.  New York 7 and Atlanta 3.

The third quarter saw the Jets performing well offensively and Jets running back Thomas Jones was flagged for unnecessary roughness for getting his hands on Falcons defensive end Kroy Biermann’s face mask (after the whistle had blown on a play).  Both teams’ defensive players have been doing much better than the other team’s and their own team’s offense.

Watch me eat seaweed during the commercial break before the fourth quarter started:

Matt Bryant missed a forty-eight yard field goal in the top of the fourth quarter.  The Jets had a chance to score three points nearing the bottom of the quarter, but Falcons defensive end Chauncey Davis blocked it.  The clock ticked down to under the two minutes and VERDANT VALENTINE VIXENS Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez caught a TD pass just inside the end zone (and then used the uprights’ cross bar as a basketball hoop, dunking the ball behind it).  Three or four plays into the Jets’ last go on offense, Brent Grimes made another interception.  Atlanta 10 and New York 7.  Final score.

Observations & Miscellania:

1.  Mike Smith wore a Falcons beanie.  What a cutie-in-beanie.

2.  After glancing up from my laptop just before the third quarter began: “Did I just see cheerleaders wearing Santa skirts?”

3.  Michael Turner only played for half of the first quarter, if memory serves.

4.  The top of the fourth quarter began with a shot of a Jets-supporting Santa.

Get game summary, stats, and play-by-play here.

~!~

Attention all male readers, do you like cheeseburgers?  If you answered yes, do not consume these CB’s anymore.

Brittany Murphy has died from a heart attack?!

Classic film star Jennifer Jones passed away at age ninety on Thursday.

Finally, an explanation for cousins twice or thrice removed.

NFL 2009: Saints absolve the Falcons

Before I begin with the post-proper, I have to share something that I saw this morning while I was on my Starbux run.  I was driving down the street and saw a fifteen or sixteen-year old guy walking on the sidewalk on the same side of the road I was driving but in the opposite direction (we were facing each other).  I was possibly eight car-lenghths away from him when I noticed a small sedan drive by and splash him.  The youth turned around and patted the back of his head and neck.  I checked my rearview mirror and saw that no cars were behind me, so I approached very slowly.  Had I had a towel in my car, I probably would’ve rolled down the window when I got to where he was standing and asked, “Hey, I saw that … would you like a towel for your head?”

But, I didn’t have a towel.  Moreover, I wouldn’t have wanted to startle him just by saying that I saw what happened and if he was okay.  Of course he was okay…just a bit wet.  I did what any considerate, courteous driver would do, I drove very slowly over that puddle.  The youth was still looking in the direction that the splasher was headed; in my rearview mirror, I observed the boy putting his hand up in acknowledgement.  He probably realized that I had seen him get splashed and did my best not to do the same thing.

All right.  The New Orleans Saints crossed over into east coast time in an effort to maintain their all-win season this afternoon at the Georgia Dome.  The Atlanta Falcons, once more without quarterback Matt Ryan and running back Michael Turner, didn’t perform — haven’t performed as well as they know they can, and we know they can.  Whatever the explanations, elaborations, and legitimate excuses, would the Falcons be able to muster and channel energy and confidence sufficiently to interrupt the Saints’ perfect season?

Broadcast on Fox, with commentary provided by Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, the first quarter started with the Falcons on offense.  Chris Redman reprised his role as QB; Sam Baker was back in the game today.  Running back Jason Snelling made a solid impression early in the drive with a thirty-eight yard run.  The Falcons put up the first score with a thirty-six yard Matt Bryant field goal.  Atlanta 3 and New Orleans 0.  One needn’t wonder what the Saints would do in reaction.  Shall we say red zone pronto? But no to touchdown, yes to field goal.  The Falcons made another field goal at the end of their second possession.  Atlanta 6 and New Orleans 3.

The second quarter banged out with the Saints in the red zone following a stellar pass between quarterback Drew Brees and wide receiver Robert Meachem.  Two plays later, running back Reggie Bush sliced through the front, right corner of the end zone for a TD.  New Orleans 10 and Atlanta 6.  With roughly seventy seconds left in the first half, wide receiver Marques Colston made a TD catch. The extra point was no good.  New Orleans 16 and Falcons 6.  The Falcons would’ve wanted to get a TD too going into halftime but they took a FG instead.  New Orleans 16 and Falcons 9.

The third quarter sprang out with the Saints on an energetic, and eventful, offense.  They got into the red zone, the officials called defensive pass interference on Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes, Falcons head coach Mike Smith fumed and sent his headset crashing to the turf, the Falcons broke up a Saints TD catch and nearly recovered a Reggie Bush fumble.  The Bush ran the ball in for a TD on the next play, though.  New Orleans 23 and Atlanta 9.  The Falcons didn’t lose momentum.  They came back with a fifty-yard TD catch and run by wide receiver Michael Jenkins (who had missed a similar set-up in the second quarter).  New Orleans 23 and Atlanta 16.

I assert that the Falcons played much better against the Saints today than they did against the Eagles last week (the Ch’i from last week was all off).  Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez made an excellent run, which preceded a Jason Snelling plane-breaking TD.  The Falcons tied the game in the top of the quarter 23 to 23.  The Falcons’ defense stayed the course as well, holding the Saints to an FG rather than another end zone visit with four minutes left to play.  New Orleans 26 and Atlanta 23.  Oh Lourdes.  After losing twelve yards, Chris Redman threw an interception…Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma snatched the ball.  With just about two minutes left, the Saints faked a field goal attempt but Mark Brunell’s pass to tight end Darnell Dinkins was incomplete.  Alas.  New Orleans 26 and Atlanta 23.  Final score.

Observations & Miscellania:

1.  Joe Buck and Troy Aikman looked like Ken dolls.   Joe wore a navy jacket, a white button-down shirt, and a shimmery light blue tie.  Troy wore a light gray jacket, a white button-down shirt, and a shimmery dark burgundy/purple tie.  It’s like Prom Ken and CEO Ken.

2.  Hmmm…the producers decided to air the feed from a camera that was taking in a high-angle close-up of Brent Grimes with a hand and an arm waving about while lining up for a snap.

3.  “That’s just good NFC South football right there: banging heads, knocking around…” Joe Buck remarked of the impromptu mosh pit that formed in the final second of the first quarter after the Saints returned a kickoff.

Get game summary, stats, and play-by-play here.

NFL 2009: Giants tremble over the Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons scampered northwards to play the New York Giants.  Televised by Fox, and narrated by Daryl Johnston and Kenny Albert, the two teams talked business in sunny, fifty-three degree weather.  Back at home?  Definitely not sunny.  A bit rainy.  Once again, another visually splotchy telecast.  The Giants went on offense first.  Quarterback Eli Manning threw quite well…until the Falcons defense brought on the pressure and he threw a poor one (recovered by a fellow Giant).  Two plays later (methinks), he was intercepted by Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes.  What would the Falcons do with the turnover?  Would they show might? Pas beaucoup.  Nearing the bottom of the first quarter, the Giants punched out three points with a thirty-nine yard field goal.  New York 3 and Atlanta 0.

The second quarter bounced off to an offensive start for the Falcons–AND A RUSHING TOUCHDOWN BY RUNNING BACK JASON SNELLING!!!!  Atlanta 7 and New York 3.  The Giants returned the favor with a field goal that was no good.  No matter, Giants tight end Kevin Boss would run the ball in for a TD soon enough.  The Falcons had an opportunity to score again before halftime; a TD didn’t happen and neither did a FG.  With under two minutes left in the first half, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan went down to the turf, the ball came out of his hands, and the Giants recovered.  Kevin Boss pulled up his team’s numbers just before halftime with a TD catch.  New York 17 and Atlanta 7.

The third quarter gave the Falcons something to smile about as Jason Snelling made his second TD of the day.  The Giants scored right back with a TD of their own, thanks to running back Brandon Jacobs.   The Falcons struggled to  get a TD on their next possession but took a field goal instead.  The scoring see-saw saw the Giants increase their lead with a TD catch by fullback Madison Hedgecock in the top of the fourth quarter.  New York 31 and Atlanta 17.  The Falcons proved in the second half of the fourth quarter that they’re still in the game with an Eric Weems TD.   New York 31 and Atlanta 24.  Two minutes left in the game…who would pass Go and Collect 200?  Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez got his team closer collecting 200 by making a TD in the end of the end zone.  Both teams tied with 31 points.  On to overtime with the Giants receiving the ball and a thirty-six yard field goal attempt.  Kicker Lawrence Tynes won the game for his team.  New York 34 and Atlanta 31.  Final score.

So close and yet so far for the Falcons, but at least Matt Ryan didn’t throw any interceptions.  Without Michael Turner, they still tied the Giants.

Say hello to my Falcons Gnome.

Observations & Miscellania:

1.  Daryl Johnston remarked towards the middle of the second quarter that “the Falcons don’t play to the whistle; they play just past the whistle.”

Get game summary, stats, and play-by-play here.