Game Result
Week #5 (October 7, 2007)
Atlanta 13
Tennessee 20

Game Analysis
This is the first time I have every seen a team give the visiting team every opportunity to win the game and the Falcons still couldn’t get the “W”. It was almost like the Titans felt sorry for the Falcons and continued to give them turnovers to help them win, but the Falcons could not score in the red zone. Atlanta even blocked a punt, drove down to the Titans goal line and turned it over to lose the game. Joey once again had very little time to throw the ball. Even when he did, he had those indecisive happy feet and could not get the ball out of his hands. I am tired of watching these 2 yard dump off passes to the running backs and tight ends. I would like to see them start attacking down field a few more times during the game. But it is hard to run those long routes when you are scrambling for your life. The Falcons still cannot get the running game going and it isn’t going to get any easier now that Wayne Gandy is gone for the season. Now with two rookies on the offensive line, it is going to be a tough season for the Falcons backfield. On the brighter side, maybe it will be good to get the rookies some playing time together for the future. I totally disagree with the decision to replace Harrington with Leftwich at that time in the game. I could see if Atlanta was being blown out and they were trying to get Byron some snaps in a live game, but the Falcons still had a good chance to win this game. Byron looked good on his first pass of the game, but after that he was throwing souvenirs to the fans. He missed the rookie Laurent Robinson wide open in the end zone for a touchdown that would have tied the game. I am really impressed with Laurent and wished they would get him more involved in the passing game. Petrino says Joey will be the starter next Sunday versus the Giants. I think Petrino also needs to punt the ball more. Both field goal kickers are struggling from beyond the 45 yard line and when they miss, they are giving the opposing team good field position.
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Game Result
Week #4 (September 30, 2007)
Atlanta 26
Houston 16

Game Analysis
The Falcons proved on Sunday that they don’t need Vick or Schaub to win football games. Atlanta got Petrino’s first NFL win and their first win of the season at the Georgia Dome. Joey is showing all the Harrington Haters that all you need to do is complete passes and take care of the ball. In the past two weeks, Harrington has passed for almost 600 yards, 5 touchdown passes and no interceptions. The offense line continues to improve giving Harrington time to complete passes. The running game started to get going a little during this game, but the Falcons have yet to have a 100 yard rusher and are averaging under 90 yards a game. Atlanta is still struggling scoring touchdowns and settling for field goals. But when you have Morten Andersen, it is almost an automatic 3 points. With that being said, I was very disappointed with the play calling after the fumble recovery deep in the Texans territory. It seemed like Petrino really wanted to get his first win and was very conservative with his play calling. He called three straight running plays for a total of negative 5 yards. > more <

Game Result
Week #3 (September 23, 2007)
Carolina 27
Atlanta 20

Game Analysis
Even though the Falcons lost this game, I was very impressed with the effort on both sides of the ball. The offensive line only gave up 1 sack and the wide receivers made some big plays. It goes to show that no matter who is under center, if you give an NFL quarterback enough time to throw the ball, they can complete passes and move the ball down the field. Joey had 361 yards with 2 touchdown passes and most important, no interceptions. He distributed the ball very well passing to eight different receivers and six of them having multiple catches and Harrington had a 70% completion percentage. Joey Harrington proved that even with all the criticism surrounding him the past week and with the Falcons bringing in Leftwich that he is and deserves to be the starter for this team and he should thank his offensive line for that. The offensive line really stepped up their pass protection in this game. Julius Peppers who usually is a Falcon sack master, did not get one sack and only had one pass block. The down side of the offense this game was the fumble by Warrick Dunn and the missed field goal attempt do to a bad snap and hold. With that being said, it was nice to see the football go through the yellow posts. Morten Anderson was perfect today on field goal attempts and extra points. The Falcons still had costly penatilies on kick returns and still need to finish off drives with touchdowns instead of field goals. Norwood had a couple of impressive kickoff returns. I only wish he could do punt returns also. Is it too late to get Rossum back? > more <

Game Result
Jacksonville 13
Atlanta 7

Game Analysis
If the NFL only played 3 periods like the NHL, and neither team could kick field goals for points, the Falcons win this game. Once again, the story for this week is the passing game and kicking field goals. The Falcons offensive line is really struggling against teams pass rushing and blitzing. Defenses are stopping the run and the Falcons are finding themselves in a lot of third and longs and teams are just having a field day blitzing and adding to their sack totals. The Falcons gave up 7 sacks this week and gave up 6 sacks last week. Harrington has no time to throw the ball once they get into passing situations. Even when Joey has time to throw, he holds onto the ball too long. I don’t know if it is that the receivers are not getting separation from the defender or if Joey is having a hard time seeing the field. Either way you look at it, the results are the same — another sack. > more <

Game Result
Minnesota 24
Atlanta 3

Game Analysis:
It is 8:30 in the morning, my alarm goes off. It is finally here; the first day of the NFL season for the Atlanta Falcons. I am so excited! I got my permission slip in hand from my wife and my two daughters to go up to my dad’s house and watch the game. My dad has the NFL ticket, so I go up to his house every Sunday so I can watch the Falcons play. I was really looking forward to this game because Joey Harrington and the wide receivers looked fairly impressive in the third pre-season game against the Bengals. During the off-season and pre-season all I heard about is how that now Mike Vick is no longer the starting quarterback, the Falcons have no chance. I even read one sports site were they predicted the Falcons at 3-13. I had convinced myself if a RB/QB like Vick could win 7 games, I thought the Falcons could at least win 6 games and maybe more. I even made a bet with a guy at work that the Falcons would win the Minnesota game. I was pumped up today, hoping that Petrino and the Falcons would proved everyone wrong. The only thing they proved to me today, is that I was blind.
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