Guys - I love my Falcons with a passion

[Tandy]

There was a lot more to this game than that lousy ref. He blew the call - he blew several calls.

We were not the better team today. By the same token - we certainly could have won the game today - but we will never know, now because of a bad call. I do know this - we were better than I believe anyone thought we would be against the "mighty" Eagles today. The score doesn't reflect how well we played on the road, in Philly, against a physical team and a future hall of fame QB, plus pro-bowl players out the ying-yang. We played well today in a lot of areas, and poorly in some areas. We made some definite mistakes.

But please - when it comes down to managing your clock not to have the best chance to come back against the other team, but to "make sure you have a time out left just in case the refs screw up a call" - I have to say - this is the most ridiculous logic I have ever heard from fans in 40+ years of being a fan.

Mike Smith should not have to alter his clock timing to cover the "possibility" that the refs will blow a call. If that is what this league has come to, then we have more problems than one lost game.

Did he make some bad calls - yes - most coaches do. Did we miss some opportunities to win - absolutely. Should we have given up our best chance at a comeback and saved that timeout in case the ref screwed up a call that badly that it cost us a chance at a comeback - hmmmm?

On another note - does anyone have an injury report?

I want to say I'm sorry to my Falcons - my heart is breaking for you. You have played better this year that I could have expected - and you played better today against a good Philly team than anyone would have expected considering that we are still rebuilding.

Go Falcons - Put this behind you - learn from your mistakes - come out stronger next week and kick the Raiders ***** - I'll still be here cheering my heart out.

Go Refs - go to **** for your sorry officiating.

Go Philly fans - go back to your board and celebrate your win while we lick our wounds.

That's all I'm gonna say on this - but they were blitzing all day - I still think Ryan handled it not just well, but downright amazingly - especially since Sam Baker was out.

[Biggie_Falcon]

We'll, I see it like this. It wasn't a muffed punt, it was a MUFFED CALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tandy]

We'll, I see it like this. It wasn't a muffed punt, it was a MUFFED CALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with that 100% - but we can't do anything about it now.

By the way I hate that crew - and we seem to get them a lot.

[Norwood32]

Oh... I'm not listening to this "We were not the better team" BS, we have a **** good team and the ref blew that call when we had a chance to win.

[SWIFT HITTER]

as inconsistent as we played today we would have been in position to win this game if gotten the chance.The refs did not allow this to happen and thats a shame

[Happy Mondays]

IM not saying it is all down to that call but

that call didn't allow Ryan to go down and score and he would have if he was given the chance thats what annoys me the most, Ryan not being given the chance.

[tonegully]

both teams played like ****. but the game was still winnable until that call

[dirty bird]

I like it a lot.

[Theyhateme : )]

We'll, I see it like this. It wasn't a muffed punt, it was a MUFFED CALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I see it like this...Jennings should've caught the ball. He caught many like that before... :wacko:

[crumplin]

This is bout as bad as the Hurculall (sp) call

[ltstorm1]

BUMP that. We drove down the field and scored the possesion before. We would have had the ball around our 40 yard line. If the Ref's had't blew that call we would have atleast had a chance to win. We didn't get the chance. So therefor the ref's blew our chance to comeback and win.

[falconidae]

Tandy,

Agree completely with your post- i'm looking forward to the rest of this year.

And, if before the year started you'd have told me that the worst the falcons could be at the halfway point was 500, i'd have said i'd be happy with that.

We'll probably be 5-3 after next week with a 3 game homestand upcoming.

[thirdnlong]

That's all I'm gonna say on this - but they were blitzing all day - I still think Ryan handled it not just well, but downright amazingly - especially since Sam Baker was out.

Matty Ice is an absolutely amazing rookie. At this time I'm only hoping he stays healthy and continues the learning process. I'm becoming more and more disappointed in Mularkey. 2nd and goal from the 2.5 is not the time for a flair pass.

[Durrty]

I hear you tandy, those guys did a lot better than all our naysayers believed I'm sure...they'll even try to discredit the call by saying that we should've capitalized on the opportunities we had to score, but IMO, **** that. We had the opportunity of all opportunities and it was taken from us...so let everybody vent the anger out. I'm sure we'll all be on to Oakland by Wed. It sucks because I knew Ryan would be the leader that he is and take this team on a winning drive to shock the world...

[Tandy]

Oh... I'm not listening to this "We were not the better team" BS, we have a **** good team and the ref blew that call when we had a chance to win.

I said we were not the better team today. If we had of been, we would have converted some of those touchdowns earlier and this call would have meant crap in the end.

We messed it up for ourselves - I believe deep in my heart that we would have come back and scored there at the end - but I will never know - and neither will you - because of a bad call. But the fact is - it shouldn't have come to that. We should never have let them score before - should have caught a few of those balls we missed - should have punched it in when we had the chance - should have gone for it on 4th down instead of punting it there at the end. Should not have given up so many running yards.

Lot of reasons we lost the game.

Ref just made it impossible for us to make up for our mistakes - but we should have been ahead anyway, so what do you do?

[Tandy]

I hear you tandy, those guys did a lot better than all our naysayers believed I'm sure...they'll even try to discredit the call by saying that we should've capitalized on the opportunities we had to score, but IMO, **** that. We had the opportunity of all opportunities and it was taken from us...so let everybody vent the anger out. I'm sure we'll all be on to Oakland by Wed. But it sucks because I knew Ryan would be the leader that he is and take this team on a winning drive to shock the world...

I did too - and nobody sees it right now because they are furious (as am I) but he did damned exceptional out there for the blitzing they did.

[Tandy]

Matty Ice is an absolutely amazing rookie. At this time I'm only hoping he stays healthy and continues the learning process. I'm becoming more and more disappointed in Mularkey. 2nd and goal from the 2.5 is not the time for a flair pass.

Yup - that ticked me off too - why not Ovie or Jason or Turner - any one of them could have punched it in there.

[ltstorm1]

These are two different things. I understand why we lost the game. To be honest, we started to lose when Philidelphia downed a punt in the 2nd quarter at the 2. We go three and out from the endzone and punt away, completly changing field position and leads to philidelphia's first TD. I can clearly see all of the mistakes we made. I can still clearly see the mistake the ref made.

We had the momentum, we just scored a TD and shut down Westbrook on 3rd and short. The Ref cost us a chance to win the game.

Before this year I have never said a Ref help decide a game. This year it has happened twice. Once to San Diego and now once to us.

Of course there are some good things to take away from this game, but to say the Ref's didn't have anything to do with our loss is bogus.

[vabchbirdlover]

We'll, I see it like this. It wasn't a muffed punt, it was a MUFFED CALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Frigging move on, ****, we got our azzes handed to us today. Today, we were beat by a BETTER team. I love my Falcons, but Westbrook/ Mcnabb and the Philly defense, for most of the game, had their way with us. Looking forward to a win at Oakland.

FALCON FEVER, CATCH IT!!!

[cyofish]

I agree we are a **** good. The problem is that the team didn't execute that well today as they did in the prior weeks.

Roddy's dropped pass on Ryan's bomb. The CB didn't make a "reat play", no Roddy bobbled the ball and didn't make a solid catch. Had he caught it cleanly that would have been a competion and possibly a TD.

Finneran dropping the ball in the end zone. It was a perfectly thrown ball but he didn't come up with it. That burned off additonal 2 minutes before the Falcons finally scored.

Also, they need to get rid of Jennings. He makes too many of boneheaded plays. All thought that was clearly a blown call on the officails, Jennings didn't need to make it look that dramatically close. Why didn't he just run under the ball instead of waiting until the last second to get in position. In fact, he should have just called a fair catch as it would have pu the Falcons in a good field position. There's been other instances where Jennings just make it look too close. He really hasn't had much of a run back when he did make the catch.

[xapno]

Good points, Tandy..

Ryan did a great job leading the team downfield for that second touchdown. He also showed good mobility and awareness in the pocket.

Sucks about the "muffed punt" call. That was the game changer...

(thanks to the refs (mostly).. but also a combination of jennings and his "ball/catch fright".. and our lack of time outs.. and the fact that it was outside of 2:00 and it couldn't be reviewed officially.)

It could have easily been a 21-20 victory for the Falcons if Jennings had caught the punt, or if the refs had made the right call.

But we didn't do enough offensively in the third quarter.. and we still have redzone problems.

I'm POd today, after the game.. but tomorrow I'll get back to being optimistic for the Falcons. Let's just hope the injury situation isn't bad.

[Tandy]

Good points, Tandy..

Ryan did a great job leading the team downfield for that second touchdown. He also showed good mobility and awareness in the pocket.

Sucks about the "muffed punt" call. That was the game changer...

(thanks to the refs (mostly).. but also a combination of jennings and his "ball/catch fright".. and our lack of time outs.. and the fact that it was outside of 2:00 and it couldn't be reviewed officially.)

It could have easily been a 21-20 victory for the Falcons if Jennings had caught the punt, or if the refs had made the right call.

But we didn't do enough offensively in the third quarter.. and we still have redzone problems.

I'm POd today, after the game.. but tomorrow I'll get back to being optimistic for the Falcons. Let's just hope the injury situation isn't bad.

I am PO'd too - over a lot of things - especially some of these blinded refs - but I won't let it ruin my perspective - or my optimism about this team and the coaches.

I happen to have been one of the "few" fans on here who agreed with that time out. Thirty seconds is a lifetime in the NFL - and it could have been the difference between us winning or losing in the end. Remember those precious 11 seconds against the Bears?

[FalconsDynasty]

There was a lot more to this game than that lousy ref. He blew the call - he blew several calls.

We were not the better team today. By the same token - we certainly could have won the game today - but we will never know, now because of a bad call. I do know this - we were better than I believe anyone thought we would be against the "mighty" Eagles today. The score doesn't reflect how well we played on the road, in Philly, against a physical team and a future hall of fame QB, plus pro-bowl players out the ying-yang. We played well today in a lot of areas, and poorly in some areas. We made some definite mistakes.

But please - when it comes down to managing your clock not to have the best chance to come back against the other team, but to "make sure you have a time out left just in case the refs screw up a call" - I have to say - this is the most ridiculous logic I have ever heard from fans in 40+ years of being a fan.

Mike Smith should not have to alter his clock timing to cover the "possibility" that the refs will blow a call. If that is what this league has come to, then we have more problems than one lost game.

Did he make some bad calls - yes - most coaches do. Did we miss some opportunities to win - absolutely. Should we have given up our best chance at a comeback and saved that timeout in case the ref screwed up a call that badly that it cost us a chance at a comeback - hmmmm?

On another note - does anyone have an injury report?

I want to say I'm sorry to my Falcons - my heart is breaking for you. You have played better this year that I could have expected - and you played better today against a good Philly team than anyone would have expected considering that we are still rebuilding.

Go Falcons - Put this behind you - learn from your mistakes - come out stronger next week and kick the Raiders ***** - I'll still be here cheering my heart out.

Go Refs - go to **** for your sorry officiating.

Go Philly fans - go back to your board and celebrate your win while we lick our wounds.

That's all I'm gonna say on this - but they were blitzing all day - I still think Ryan handled it not just well, but downright amazingly - especially since Sam Baker was out.

Excellent post. I agree, that Smith shouldn't have to worry about saving a timeout for ref's bad calls, but in the future, I'm sure this will become a consideration when managing the clock. Jennings should not have been in that position. If the ball bounces another way, it could have been a real muffed punt. But it was refs that screwed up.

[Quicksand]

I completely disagree. Take away our mistakes and we demolish the Eagles, we were absolutely the better team. Even after all that, we end up overcoming every odd and obstacle to come back and then the REFS FLUSH THE GAME DOWN THE DRAIN ON A PHANTOM CALL!

Jennings should've fielded or fair caught the the punt, but it is absolutely inexcusable to blame the loss on him. This is SQUARELY on the referees making a non-existent phantom call.

[FALCONS IN FLIGHT]

we may have lost the game, but that don't make the Eagles better than the Falcons. You have to find a way to win the game and that is what we had done until we got screwed out of it. We did make mistakes and fell behind, but when the game was on the line and we were fighting back, we literally got "DRY HUMPED" Bad things are going to happen to great teams, we have a great team here. Maybe no World Champions just yet, but we are working on it, and it is hard to do when your the Falcons and everyone wants to try and run it in your face that this franchise hasn't had alot of glory. They always have to bring up the past and try to bring people down and players also. So to say the Falcons weren't the better team out on the field today is about as $hitty to say as that call was to make in the last 2 minutes.