Atlanta Falcons lay preseason egg in 32-7 loss to Houston Texans
The 2014 preseason started with such promise for the Atlanta Falcons after an impressive victory over Miami last week, but the Dirty Birds were quickly shoved off their pedestal by the Houston Texans (seriously, the Texans, who did not score last week), and the Birds will head back to Atlanta 1-1 in tune up competitions after Saturday night’s 32-7 loss.
Overall, it wasn’t a very good game for the Falcons, except for the opening defensive series, in which they didn’t allow Houston to gain a yard of offense and forced a three and out. Matt Ryan got sacked for the first time this preseason, and simply did not look comfortable during Saturday’s game. Ryan finished his night (in which he, along with most of the first-stringers, played into the second quarter) going 3-for-7 through the air, but some of those misses weren’t entirely his fault, and he threw for a measly 37 yards. The good news for the Falcons was that Julio Jones returned to the field, but he didn’t look comfortable either, as he had three passes hit him right in the hands and, for a multitude of reasons, he couldn’t keep the handle on it.
The starters stayed on the field for so long because they couldn’t get anything going – Julio, Roddy White and Devin Hester each caught two passes, which is good enough for most on the team tonight. Yeah, it was that kind of night.
The first string defense didn’t play nearly that bad, but they were hurt by allowing a handful of big plays – many of them scrambles from Texan’s QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. Where it really cost the Falcons in having the first string out for so long was the injury sustained to Sam Baker, which was initially diagnosed as a hyperextended right knee.
Where there were positives tonight, it was in the form of number one draft pick Jake Matthews, who played well again this week, holding his own, and not losing confidence once Matthews went down. Unfortunately, top overall draft pick Jadeveon Clowney wasn’t matched with Matthews, and he made the Falcons pay on back to back plays in the first quarter.
Overall, this is a game that Falcons fans…and hopefully the team as a whole…will forget very quickly. Fewer than 100 yards rushing, poor special teams, and a pick-six combined to form an ugly night in the lone star state.
The Falcons will resume their preseason schedule next Saturday, as they host the Tennessee Titans at the Georgia Dome. Stay tuned.