Monday Night Football Afterword: Falcons vs Broncos

How frustrating was last night’s game? I was frustrated on so many levels. You all know I am a huge Peyton Manning fan, so seeing him make two terrible decisions and one very poor throw was tough, not to mention the fumble later in the first quarter. Somehow Denver managed to claw their way back into the game in the fourth quarter, but some of the excitement was taken out of it by something else that was very frustrating about that game.

Primetime games supposedly are assigned to the best of the replacement officials. But multiple times throughout last night’s contest the refs showed a lack of understanding of rules and an inability to maintain control of the game.

At one point Denver head coach John Fox got into it with Atlanta defensive back Asante Samuel, and all hell broke loose along the sideline. It took about five minutes for the officials to break up the scrum and then another ten or so before the game actually started again.

The first quarter lasted around 55 minutes of real time, and the game as a whole lasted somewhere between 3:45 and four hours.

The first quarter of last night’s game marked the first time in almost a full 10 years that a team turned the ball over four times in the opening quarter. The last time it happened was in October of 2002 when the Washington Redskins threw 3 picks and fumbled the ball away against the New Orleans Saints (Patrick Ramsey was the quarterback back then).

Manning’s first interception, I don’t blame entirely on him. Jacob Tamme looked wide open from a view behind the pocket. William Moore just had a great reaction on release, tipped the ball to himself, and returned it to the Broncos’ 1-yard-line.

Peyton’s other two interceptions rest squarely on his shoulders. He made poor decisions, tried to fit the ball into tight areas, and didn’t look for his check-downs, as he admitted in his post-game press conference.

Denver’s defense kept the team in the game. After Atlanta’s first interception was returned to just a yard out of the end zone, the Broncos made a valiant goal line stand, and it took three plays before Michael Turner broke the plane for a touchdown. The next two times Atlanta had the ball in scoring position, Denver held them to field goals, limiting the damage to a 13-0 early lead for the Falcons.

After the first quarter, however, Matt Ryan got into a rhythm with his receivers. He looked very solid in the pocket. He looked great last week, and, unlike Joe Flacco who took a small step back this week, Ryan continues to look as strong as he has in his 4+ years in the NFL.

Atlanta’s defense forced the four early turnovers, but during the fourth quarter they had a difficult time containing Peyton Manning. The Falcons entered the final 15 minutes with a 27-7 lead. Peyton battled his team back to a 27-21 deficit, and it came down to a must-convert third down for the Falcons. Ryan was under pressure from Von Miller, but checked it down and Julio Jones managed to get the extra three yards he needed for the first down, barely. But barely was good enough, as Atlanta just had to kill the ball a couple times to end the game.

Atlanta improved to 80-0 in franchise history when entering the fourth quarter with a lead of 20+ points. Manning almost executed another of his trademark comebacks. But, as he also said in his press conference, he “put his team in too far of a hole.” Still, it was good to see the fight-to-the-bitter-end mentality we have come to expect from him.

Tonight we have a special broadcast of The All-Sports Crew on WMUC Sports at 9 p.m. We will still air tomorrow at our regularly schedule time, but a time slot opened up for us to have a second show this week, and we jumped on it. Both of this week’s shows will be on iTunes, as is our show from last week. So be sure to subscribe to the podcast if you cannot listen to the show live.

Thanks for all your support, listening to my radio show and reading my blog. I appreciate it very much, and always feel free to comment. I may not always like your feedback, but believe that I do appreciate it and take it to heart, so please be kind, but as brutal as you need to be in the same breath.

Tomorrow I will publish my 10 Things You Need to Know post, so be sure to check that out. My predictions for Week 3 will be announced on tomorrow’s broadcast of The All-Sports Crew and will be published on the show blog and here on Thursday.