Falcons do the unthinkable

By: T. Love

It feels good, it really does. Atlanta picked up its first victory of the season with a win over wonderboy Matt Schaub and the Houston Texans 26-16. It was pretty much expected that the Falcons were going to lose quite a few games, but this is one that the team wanted in the W column.

Great games by Joey Harrington, Michael Jenkins and Michael Boley.

Harrington was 23-of-29 for 223 yards and two touchdowns. Since the Falcons signed Byron Leftwich on Sept. 19 and head coach Bobby Petrino called him “conservative”, Harrington has passed for 584 yards and four touchdowns. Joey is still a bit timid throwing the ball downfield and he missed plenty of wide open receivers, but it is obvious that Petrino’s offense will work in the NFL.

One of the beneficiaries of Harrington’s back-to-back offensive explosions is Jenkins, who hauled in six catches for 64-yards and two touchdowns. The fourth-year man out of Ohio State has 15 receptions on the year for 168 yards. Averaging 11.2 yards per catch and working out of the slot, Jenkins is becoming a possession receiver while Roddy White continues to emerge as a deep threat.

Before I get ahead of myself, these two have only played well the last two games. This should have been happening a long time ago and it should happen every week, but it is nice to see them finally show some indications that they can play the game. Amazing what a few coaching changes will do for you.

As a whole, the offensive unit played well and the running game was not completely non-exsistent. Jerious Norwood is not much more than a scatback and Warrick Dunn is at his end. Darren McFadden will be totin’ the mail next season.

On the defensive side, Boley was all over the field with nine tackles and one forced fumble. John Abraham picked up another sack, bringing his total to four and Lewis Sanders had seven stellar tackles because receivers were constantly torching his ass. It’s time for Chris Houston to start.

Good day for the Falcons. The defense gave up way too many through the air, but the run defense was satisfactory. Houston is terrible at running the ball, but any confidence booster is a plus.

The offense continues to progress and show fluidity, it should be real impressive once a big running back and some better linemen step in front of a big-armed QB.

Next Sunday is the Tennessee Titans. Game time is 1 p.m. at LP Field.