I was on the Burner Turner train in the offseason, thought he would have been an ideal compliment to Ronnie. 22 carries, 220 yards. Matt Ryan had a quiet day, but was a solid start. 9/13 for 161 and a TD no picks. Cant complain. Yeah it was against the Lols (err, Lions!) but still, I really wish we had Turner! Thought some of the Ryan hate was a bit premature as well, nice to see him have a decent enough start.
Turner is a stud, but he won't pull off that kind of performance every week. 80 yards and a touchdown would still be great. Still, a good start for the Falcons. Not a bad way to kick off a new era. Wish we could have done the same. (Thanks, Henning.)
Im a bit surprised how well the falcons looked today. I definately didnt expect that out of them today.
I'm more surprised in Detroit's bad defense. I thought they looked good in pre-season. So much for that. Calvin Johnson showed up though.
The Lions probably walked in there way too confident... playing an awful team from last year, starting a rookie QB, and the Lions themselves with a stellar preseason... Knowing that team, it was probably all attitude. I saw some clips from the game... Kitna blew up on the coaches on the sidelines also. Johnson did have a big game though... Loved Roy Williams' td catch though... pretty damn impressive.
Yeah, they went 4-0 in the pre-season so that may be the case. Kitna needs to be quiet lol. Once he learns how to turn down his INT rate then he can talk.
I liked Matt Ryan's debut. Small but efficient. Certainly beats Beck's first game debut. Lions showed why they should have one of the best passing offenses in the league. I'd kill for just one of their top WR's.
The Falcons are an interesting team to follow this year just to compare to us. We had the same needs on Dline, Oline, QB, LB going into the draft. We decided to go LOT, DE and QB. They decided to go QB, LOT, ILB. Their offensive line played great. Sam Baker has really played well throughout preseason and week 1. Matt Ryan has shown from day one why he is on pace to become a franchise QB. He is being protected by a simple game plan and great running game but his poise as a rookie is just unbelievable. Anyone who thinks "intangibles" are a joke when scouting college QBs needs to reevaluate his scouting methods. Curtis Lofton is playing very nicely. I think he's going top develop into a good LB down the road. The Falcons have hit on all of their first three picks Like was said before, the Lions really surprised me in how poor their run defense was. I really expected more out of them. Hopefully they just came in overconfident. Time will tell
Ryan looked okay, but heck, if I was a QB on a team that ran for way over 300 yards, I would look okay also. They did the best thing for a rookie QB, ran the ball very well and just let him manage the game.
I suppose so but a lesser QB might not have played a clean game. Ryan still threw for a TD and still got the offense moving when Detroit tried to tighten up.
