Sunday Football Afterword: Falcons vs Patriots

New England's young receiver corps of Boyce, Dobson, Edelman (11)
and Thompkins (not pictured) are improving drastically every game.
With Gronk and Amendola due back soon, the Patriots are in a good spot.

Cory Puffett

The final score of this was not what most of America expected, especially New England’s score in the Georgia Dome. No disrespect intended to the Patriots, but the Falcons aren’t a team that gets beat at home very often. It is only the eighth time Matt Ryan has lost in the Georgia Dome during the regular season.

Tony Gonzalez had a big game for Atlanta, catching almost every ball thrown his way and scoring twice. But the Patriots were willing to let him get his while shutting down the rest of Atlanta’s receiving corps, and they did just that.

The Falcons are a depleted offense, but it was still easily the best offense the Patriots have faced to this point in 2013, and they handled them quite well. The final score was closer than the game was due to some garbage time points and a recovered onside kick leading to even more garbage time points for Atlanta. It should be interesting to see how they do in Cincinnati next week against an offense that really struggled against the Browns on Sunday.

Atlanta is in serious trouble now. They were one of only two teams to be unanimously voted as division winners by ESPN experts and yet they will be three games behind the Saints if New Orleans beats the Dolphins on Monday Night Football, and only four games into the season no less.

Atlanta’s offense is hurting and this might be the worst Atlanta defense since Matt Ryan has been with them. The Falcons are already in serious trouble, but the NFC is looking as bad as it’s ever been. 8-8 could get the first wild-card spot at this rate, so it isn’t time to panic yet. Still, Matt Ryan has struggled in big spots, not just making bad passes but bad decisions, too. That will have to change if he wants a chance to compete for career playoff win number two.

Final Score:

New England Patriots – 30

Atlanta Falcons – 23

Follow me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl, keep up with the Football Freaks by liking The All-Sports Crew’s Facebook page and listen to their live shows on WMUC Sports as well as their podcasts on iTunes.