Third-and-12 from the Denver 12: Peyton Manning’s pass intended for tight end Jacob Tamme was intercepted by Falcons safety William Moore and returned 33 yards to the Denver 1-yard line. Three plays later, running back Michael Turner jumped over the pile and crossed the goal line to give Atlanta the early lead.
Second-and-11 from the Denver 27: For the second time in the team’s first two possessions, Manning’s pass was intercepted by a Falcons safety. Thomas DeCoud came down with the deep pass and returned it 15 yards to the Broncos 43-yard line. Denver’s defense held Atlanta to one first down on its ensuring drive and the Falcons settled for a Matt Bryant field goal.
First-and-10 from the Atlanta 40: With the Broncos driving into Falcons territory, Manning’s pass again wound up in the wrong hands. This time it was Robert McClain who picked off the deep pass and returned it to the Atlanta 47-yard line, ending a potential scoring drive.
Third-and-9 from the Atlanta 48: Following the third interception, Atlanta had the ball with prime field position to add to its lead. On third down, safety Mike Adams tipped Matt Ryan’s pass, forcing it to fall harmlessly to the turf. The officials threw a flag for defensive pass interference, but Head Coach John Fox challenged the call, which would eventually be overturned to force a fourth-down punt.
First-and-10 from the Atlanta 45: After starting with solid field position of its own, the Denver offense turned over the football for the fourth time in the opening quarter. Running back Knowshon Moreno fumbled the football and after much discussion, it was ruled that Atlanta had recovered. The Falcons converted that turnover into another Bryant field goal to go ahead 20-0 early in the second quarter.
Tags: Atlanta Falcons, Key Plays, Week 2
We need to run the ball more, and re-establish our dominate run game, and control the clock. Getting Kuper back will help, but if we continue a game plan where Manning is passing for 30+ times a game, it won’t get us far into the playoffs IMO. Week one win (27 pass attempts), week two loss (37 pass attempts). It’s glaringly obvious to me.
Great Read Bay.
I’m not totally sold on Rahim either way yet. He has made huge strides from where he was last year. In this game though, he had his hands on 2 different passes, if he makes those picks we would all be cheering his praises. He has a lot of work to do for sure but I wouldn’t call him horrible yet.
I’m with ya Cat, very proud of our team and QB. It would have been easy to blame everyone and everything but that wasn’t done. Stood in there, took our licks and kept fighting back. It will all come around and then the critics will be silenced. Just a few tweeks and we are good to go,
And Manning said it himself that with the 3 INT’s he threw and put the team in a hole, it’s hard to come back from it. We came close, near the end, but no cigar. I’m proud of the Broncos for fighting through all of this!!
A lot of people are commenting on the pass rush. I agree with you guys, a pass rush is huge.
You have to look at how this game was schemed though. We knew our weekness as well as Atlanta. That weakness is between the hashes in the passing game and it was multiplied with Chris Harris out of the game.
Atlanta lined up with three recievers, a RB, and a TE most of the night which meant we needed to play nickle (this is where we desperately need Harris). Atlanta runs the no-huddle which limits defensive substitutions. Matty lines up in shotgun so he can see the field or under center and runs play action freezing the LBs. Either way, the ball is out of his hands before a pass rush gets there.
We played nickle personnel and knew the pass was coming quick and between the numbers still couldn’t stop it.
There was hardly a blitz and more personnel deadicated to pass coverage than rushing the passer. Doom and Miller did a great job but unfortunately when the ball comes out that fast, they didn’t stand a chance.
This team can stop the run though. Which we will need to go next week for sure.
Well. Just read that the NFL has a record 20 teams at 1-1…
Huge game for us this week. At home. With Rod Smith’s induction to the ring of fame!!!
My condolences to Steve Sabol’s family and friends. Sabol died of brain cancer today. This is a huge loss to the NFL and NFL film’s who was an important part of the NFL football for many years. Football Follies for starters comes to mind. His father Ed Sabol was the pioneer NFL Film’s and Steve had taken it over after his father passed away. RIP!
It’s a long season with a long way to go.
My condolences also, Strand I couldn’t have said it better.
new blog.