John Abraham - Falcons Un-Prepared for what Eagles showed today

[The Falcon Jedi]

Eagles use big plays to dismantle the Falcons, 31-17

By D. Orlando Ledbetter

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

PHILADELPHIA -- There was no last-second field goal, no clutch fumble recovery, no tipped-pass interception. On a day without their usual heroics, the Falcons turned predictable and got beat by a backup quarterback, losing to the Philadelphia Eagles 31-17 at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.


Kevin Kolb, replacing an injured Michael Vick as Philadelphia's starting quarterback, completed 23 of 29 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns to end the Falcons' four-game winning streak and drop them to 4-2. The Eagles improved to 3-3.

"It was a very tough day for the Atlanta Falcons," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "It's very difficult when you fall behind 21-0."

During the streak, the Falcons pulled out late victories over New Orleans, San Francisco and Cleveland. It wasn't always what they did, but what they didn't let happen.

Over the last two games, the Falcons hadn't allowed a play of 20 yards or more while facing San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith and Cleveland quarterbacks Seneca Wallace and Jake Delhomme.

However, the Eagles rattled off four big plays early in the game and then dropped an 83-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin over the Falcons' secondary in the third quarter. In all, they had eight plays that went for 20 yards or more, and that was more than Atlanta could handle.

The Eagles attacked the Falcons' defense from the outset with a variety of misdirection plays, reverses and screen passes.

"What we prepared for was totally different from what they did," Atlanta defensive end John Abraham said. "They did more tricks ... and they did plays to slow down our line. They did a great job. We prepared excellent for what they were doing. They just came out with something different."

The Eagles' first two plays from scrimmage went for 22 and 31 yards, the second one resulting in a touchdown run by DeSean Jackson on a reverse.

On their next possession, the Eagles scored on a 34-yard pass from Kolb to Jackson to make it 14-0.

Jackson's impending career day didn't last. Early in the second quarter, Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson and Jackson had a frightening head-to-head collision that knocked both players out of the game. Neither player returned.

After stopping the Falcons, who were 4-for-14 on third-down conversions, the Eagles received a 44-yard punt return from Jorrick Calvin to set up their third touchdown, Kolb's 8-yard scoring pass to Maclin to make it 21-0.

The Falcons finally caught a break before halftime. William Moore picked off a pass at his 20, that was tipped by linebacker Curtis Lofton and cornerback Brian Williams, and returned it 34 yards into Philadelphia territory.

Taking advantage, quarterback Matt Ryan put the Falcons on the scoreboard, tossing a 1-yard touchdown pass to Tony Gonzalez to make it 21-7 at the half.

The Falcons' defense stopped Philadelphia on the first possession of the second half, but it was a momentary reprieve.

With 6:11 left in the third quarter, the Eagles practically put this one away with Kolb's 83-yard touchdown pass to Maclin, good for a 28-10 lead. The Falcons couldn't recover.

"It was a big back-breaker," the Falcons' Smith said. "The coverage that we were in, the ball should never get over our heads."

Atlanta safety Thomas DeCoud, who should have been between Maclin and the end zone, said he heard his teammates yelling "reverse."

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IMO - Abraham looked like an Old, Crappy DE today - and that had nothing to do with preparation of the overall defense.

[JKH5785]

That's when you make adjustments. They are an NFL team, did the thought never cross our coaches mind that Philly would watch tape and try something different.

Just because Atlanta is stubborn as hell don't mean other teams are.

[FireDawg85]

@ DeCoud

The D-line heres Hike Hike all the time, but they know they cant listen... they have to watch. I really wanna see Coleman in at that position again

[The Falcon Jedi]

>>the Eagles received a 44-yard punt return from Jorrick Calvin to set up their third touchdown, Kolb's 8-yard scoring pass to Maclin to make it 21-0.<<

SPecial Teams again. Are they trying out for the Special Olympics this season? Seems that way.

[Falconmama]

Kinda reminds me of last year game vs the Patriots. Mike Smith mentioned that they were shocked that the Pats had 3 TE's activated for the game (that they ran down our throats) and that they didn't expect a heavy run Pats team.

[ChrisD]

I feel like we would have been better off if a different situation played out a few weeks leading up to the Falcons/Eagles game, and Vick was never injured. We had much better match-ups if Vick was in the lineup. I'm taking the loss with a grain of salt. On to next week.

[Drathdon]

Every coach tries to out-coach the other side.

Seeing as how our coach has done it before, I'm still baffled when people are amazed that a team lands a good game against us.

Every team gets out-coached each year at least once or twice. Bad teams fall for this more than good teams. I think we're still proving to be decent at keeping our team ahead of the other side, even though failures like today sting bad.

We are made to play from ahead. Being behind fast is not something we recover from easily without breaks, and we got few today... not nearly enough.

[phocis850]

Drath,

I couldn't agree more. We were definitely out-coached. It will happen again.

[b3nz]

(10-17-2010 11:13 PM)JKH5785 Wrote:  That's when you make adjustments. They are an NFL team, did the thought never cross our coaches mind that Philly would watch tape and try something different.

Just because Atlanta is stubborn as hell don't mean other teams are.

amen. i hate how stubborn our coaching staff is.

[keithbrooking56]

This was one of the few games in the Mike Smith era that I felt we were completely outcoached on both sides of the ball.