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Mon. Nov 29, 2004

Falcons Fever Check

It’s a rivalry that goes back decades, as I can personally bear witness: the Falcons-Saints game. Back in the 80’s, I used to sit at the old Fulton County Stadium next to Saints fans who’d made the party trip up from New Orleans, and we’d argue about whose team sucked more. But for those two games per year, a ripple of competitiveness would often rise from the stench of both teams to make for a good football game.

This year is a bit different. The Falcons came into the game with the second best record in the NFC. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m reluctant to get hopeful about the Falcons each year, after being burned so many times in the past. But when a team is going into the 11th game of the 16 game season with an 8-2 record, you have to at least begin to believe.

The Saints? Well, after their loss last weekend, owner Tom Benson said they played like high schoolers, and then cancelled the company Christmas party. Seriously.

In addition, Jim Haslett and Jim Mora, the two coaches, have worked together in the past, and are insanely competitive friends (Mora: “Knuckleheads, that’s what we were”). There would be no punches pulled in this one.

That set the stage for Sunday’s tussle. And the Falcon’s once again managed to find a way to win. Down in the 4th quarter for the first time this year, 21-17, I thought, “well, I guess we’ll see what they’re made of now.” And the answer is something damn hard. The defense rose to the occasion, and despite a gut wrenching fumble with 3 minutes left, the offense somehow got the final touchdown needed. During the critical defensive stands near the end, half of the Falcons sideline, including Coach Mora, was wildly exhorting the crowd to make more noise.

How does a team that did so poorly last year (5-11), and has a new rookie head coach this year, keep on winning like this? Part of the answer is Michael Vick. As a half dozen people on TV asked Sunday afternoon, “what do you do?” I see it after so many plays; a defensive back pursues Vick at his usual angle of attack, but is barely able to touch him as he slashes past, and then stands there afterwards with his hands on his hips, shaking his head. You can almost see the little thought balloon over his head … “what more can I do?”

Or as Saints cornerback Mike McKenzie said after the game, “He’s from another world.”

Vick confounds defenses in so many ways. It’s not that unusual for a quarterback to account for nearly 300 yards in a game, but with Vick, they don’t all come through the air. On 3rd and 9, he is just as likely to run for the first down as pass for it, as he did on two of his 10 runs (for a total of 71 yards). Sunday afternoon, his 29 pass attempts and 10 rushes meant an average gain of 7.4 yards for each of those 39 plays. And that’s including his 13 incompletions in that average. You can’t keep the ball from him, and you can’t stop him just by shutting down the pass.

What do you do?

But with this year’s Falcons, it’s not just Vick. He is critically important to this team’s success (as we saw last year when he was injured). But equally important has been the play of the defense, a relative “no name” squad. The switch from the 3-4 defense to the 4-3 has made much better use of personnel, but this defense plays with heart that last year’s completely lacked. On Sunday, and all year long, they have risen to the occasion in almost every critical stand. They are as much a reason for the Falcon’s current record as Vick is. And Vick has had plenty of help on offense, too. He’s made all the more difficult to defend by the alternate running tempo of speedy slasher Warrick Dunn and pounder T.J. Duckett, as well as an All Pro year from tight end Alge Crumpler (who scored the winning TD, and got a post-game contract extension), plus the deep threat of Peerless Price. It’s a tough package to defend.

They’ve had a few ugly games this year, but no matter how ugly, they find a way to win, nine out of eleven times so far. And on next weekend’s trip to Tampa Bay, they have a chance to clinch their division with a quarter of the season left to be played.

This team still has some fragility to it. Although he’s done an outstanding “Coach of the Year” job, Mora may still make some … youthful … errors. The offense’s inconsistency is bothersome. But week after week, they play with real heart and tenacity, something I attribute to Mora’s methods. And for a Falcons team, that’s as a rare an occurrence as their 9-2 record.

So I’m officially a believer.