Originally posted by Thrash88:
Ryan had 2 interceptions and one touchdown...one interception came when they were driving and well withing field goal range on a TIPPED PASS. The other came when they NEEDED him to drive them down the field and he threw the ball right to us...Alex Smith was not the difference between a win and a loss in the game, he played even keel with Matt Ryan. The difference was when we needed it most, Clements screwed up - THE END. Yes Smith had a bad game, yes the defense let them drive down the field and kick a winning field goal, but all of the negative could have been erased EASILY, all he had to do was go down. With all of the s**t that we have gone through this season we had an opportunity to, in spite of everything, to win that game and Clements decided otherwise. We have to now regroup and start fresh next weekend. I am a fan until the end but that hurt to watch - I don't get mad anymore because I don't expect them to win all the time like I used to lol, I get upset when they tease me and lose like that, it's hard to watch and not cringe!
Its not just about the stat line, if anything that says something about our defense.
We forced Matt Ryan to a BELOW average "Matt Ryan game." The Falcons did not force Alex Smith to a below average Alex Smith game; they simply forced him to an average game, which implies that our defense played better.
The Falcons defense didn't do anything special, and our defense caused Matt Ryan to have a bad day.
Every year, every week, every game we blame our defense, because when you don't have an offense, the only way you can win is with your defense. If our defense holds the opponent to 0 points every week, we can never lose, so by that logic, every loss we have ever had is the fault of the defense.
The defense did a terrific job on the road in a hostile environment against a very good quarterback. It would be nice if the offense could win a game once in while, but they never do, its always our defense.