Falcons romp over Packers helps bury Super Bowl memories

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Falcons' romp over Packers helps bury Super Bowl memories Published: Sep 17, 2017 at 06:27 PM Senior National Columnist ATLANTA -- It is an annual truism of the NFL: Defenses are ahead of offenses early in the season. The fine tuning required for perfectly timed pa ses is not completed in a few half-hearted preseason games. In the first two weeks of this season, the situation has been particularly acute. This week, 19 teams failed to score 21 points. The shock is that the barely escaped that group, falling to the , who emphasized offensive execution this week to devastating effect. The were riddled with injuries Sunday night -- both starting offensive tackles were backups, receiver went out of the game early with a quadriceps injury and had a shoulder injury later -- so the points they managed is a testament to ' ability to create something out of not much. But the fast, aggre sive defense Dan Quinn has craved since his arrival was on full display, Brian Bellows Men Jersey too, hara sing Rodgers, slamming him to the ground and mostly bottling up his weapons, providing a small counterpoint to the constant reminders of a certain big lead the couldn't hold in February. The might never be able to live down -- and they almost certainly will never stop hearing about it -- but the defense that swarmed the seems intent on burying questions about the psychological scars that game might have left. What they could not do to in the second half, they did to Rodgers early and often. It was not quite as lopsided as the the put on the in the NFC Championship Game, but the rematch still proved a point: The have not closed the gap with the , at least not on Atlanta's home field. Whatever deep-seated burdens the still bear from LI, they might be able to exorcise with the weekly ministrations of long touchdown drives and field-tipping defensive plays. In a 97-second stretch that spanned the end of the first half and the start of the second, the game turned completely on two tangos between Rodgers and cornerback . On the first, with 54 seconds left in the second quarter, Rodgers threw deep down the right sideline, where Trufant, his back to the play, . At that point, the trailed by just 10. Four plays later, they were going into the locker room down 17. Then, Mike Modano Kids Jersey with fans barely returned from the conce sion stands on the second play of the third quarter, to his upper chest by linebacker . Rodgers' pa s went backward, making it a fumble. Trufant scooped it up and returned it 15 yards for another touchdown, completing the 14-point swing. On the next drive, with plenty of time remaining for a comeback, the had first-and-goal from the 13 when Rodgers was sacked for a 12-yard lo s by defensive end . They settled for a field goal. Even later, after and Beasley went out with injuries, the defense held the off long enough. "We knew we were going to get challenged," Quinn said. "It was going to be all-night kind of battles. That type of effort and strain. They had to really battle." The defense was able to tee off on Rodgers because the had jumped to such a big lead quickly that it was clear the would have to pa s their way out of a hole. The scored on five of their first seven po se sions, racing to a 34-10 lead, correcting the slight offensive flaws they detected after . It was a point of emphasis in practice this week and the return of precision was obvious immediately, when the went 86 yards on nine crisp plays, a combination of runs -- mostly by -- and pa ses. "We thought our effort was on point last week," Quinn said. "Could we take our execution up a notch?" Apparentely so. Incorporating new offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian into the fold will be a storyline that will follow the throughout this season, as they seek to distance themselves from the catastrophic decisions that cost them a . Atlanta and Carolina are, remarkably, the only two 2-0 teams in the NFC right now (the , at 1-0, play the on Monday night), but while the are leaning on their defense for their victories, the seem to be playing the kind of complementary football that the points-challenged teams in the league haven't yet attained. When Ryan was asked -- again -- about using games like this to further pack away the memories, he sighed a little before answering. The might never be too far in the distance, but the seem intent on building a wall of new wins to make it harder to stare at. "I don't think about it too much," Ryan said. "I think everybody else does because the question keeps coming up. But for us, we focused on playing Week 1 against Chicago, getting better this offseason, we tried to answer it that way. But it kind of seems like nobody believed you when you were saying it. But it's felt that way in our building, for sure. Were we disappointed with how it ended? Absolutely. But we got past it. We started working on becoming the best 2017 football team we can be. We're two games into it. Mi sion accomplished on those first two games." This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be mi sing content or contain faulty Thomas Harley Men Jersey links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an i sue.
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