September 27th, 2009 
Matt Loede 
Posted in 
The Falcons on Sunday had a chance to show they could play with the big boys of the AFC, and while they hung in for quite awhile with the big bad New England Patriots, in the end the Pats were too much, topping the Falcons 26-10. It was the first loss of the season for the Falcons, who fall to 2-1. New England is now 2-1 as well.
New England’s offense really dominated the Falcons D, as they put up 445 yards to just 257 for Atlanta. They also had 28 first downs to just 13 for the Falcons. The score would have been worse, but the Falcons were able to hold the Pats kicker Stephen Gostowski to four field goals.
Matt Ryan was 17-for-28 for 199 yards, and he was somewhat of a one-man show for the Falcons, as Michael Turner was keyed on all day, and had just 56 yards on 56 carries. The Falcons had just 58 yards on the ground, and were never able to establish any run game at all.
The only Falcons TD tied the game at 10, as Turner scored from two yards out to tie it with 8:43 left in the second quarter. New England took the lead for good as Gostkowski kicked a 33-yard field goal with :20 left in the first half to make it 13-10.
The second half was all Pats, as they outscored the Falcons 13-0. Another player that was nowhere to be found for the birds was Tony Gonzalez, as he had just one catch that came early in the fourth quarter. “They did the same thing they always do to me, `bracket coverage,’ ” Gonzalez said. “If I get single coverage I am going to make them pay for it eventually.”
“The way they were trying to defend us, the reads took it in a different direction,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said, “but we have enough weapons on the offense (to adjust) if they defend us one way.”
The Patriots held a 266-78 advantage in the second half, which in the end was the downfall for a Falcons team that got an education Sunday.
