Last week was opening week of the 2019 NFL season and it could not have gone any worse for the Atlanta Falcons. Well, yea it could have, they could have scored zero points, but they did score 12 points in the 28-12 lost to the Minnesota Vikings in the big ship in Minnesota.
My Sunday started by wearing my Falcons polo to church and being very excited to get home after church so I could watch the game. That excitement lasted all but 5 real time minutes as the Falcons received the ball first and on the opening play, the Minnesota lineman was untouched and dropped QB Matt Ryan to the turf. The wind went out of my sails right then and there.
The Falcons couldn’t get any drives going. Even on that opening drive where Ryan was sacked, it was 4th down and punter Matt Bosher had the punt blocked and the Minnesata player took it back to the house for the Vikings first score. It was a route from there.
There were five bright spots for me, all on offense. Though the defense really didn’t do a bad job. The defense wasn’t helped out by the offense with all the turnovers. Put the defense in very bad field position the entire game. But my keys on offense is 1) QB Matt Ryan. Even with the overpowering Vikings defense, he still went 33-46 for 304 yards and two TD’s. But he did throw two picks. 2) Wide receiver Calvin Ridley caught four receptions for 64 yards and one score. 3) Wide out Julio Jones didn’t have to wait until week eight like last year to catch his first TD. He did it in week one this year, but only had 31 yards and was targeted six times and caught all six. 4) and 5) are my most happy moments of the game, and of course there were not many, were both first rounder’s guard Chris Linstrom and right tackle Kaleb McGary held up their own. Most of the Viking running attack went left, and both Linstrom and McGary play the right side of the offensive line. Unfortunately Linstrom was placed on injured reserve with a broken foot. Expected to be out eight weeks, my prediction will be longer than that.
So time to put week one of the 2019 NFL season in the rear view mirror and focus our attention to week two as the Falcons have their opener at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, September 15 at 8:00 pm versus the Philadelphia Eagles. This is the national televised Sunday night game. The Eagles come into this game 1-0 as they defeated the Washington Redskins 32-27 in their home opener last week. I am a little debating on which team will win this game. I would say my Falcons, but I am always doubtful because I do not know which Falcons team will show up. So no predictions for me here. I will just watch the game and have a write up sometime after the game.
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