Atlanta Falcons' Defense Just As Impressive As Offense in 41-7 Rout

When a team puts 41 points on the board, it’s easy to talk about the offense, even when the defense held the opposition to just seven points. However, the seven points the Falcons allowed doesn’t even begin to tell the story of their defensive dominance against the Cardinals.

The Cardinals never even crossed the Falcons’ 35-yard line.

Their lone touchdown came when running back Tim Hightower broke an 80-yard run for a score in the second quarter, and that was just about the only positive offensively for the Cardinals.

“It was a damn shame to give up that 80-yard run,” Falcons head coach Mike Smith said after the game. “If not, it would have been a really good effort from our defense.”

With or without the 80-yard run, the Falcons' defense was stout, allowing just 11 first downs. Take out Hightower’s run, and they yielded 187 yards of offense, 38 on the ground, and blanked the Cardinals on third down (0-for-8).

Cardinals quarterback Derek Anderson also had a forgettable day, throwing for 161 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions, fumbling once, and getting sacked twice. Max Hall was 1-of-2 for three yards with an interception in mop-up duty.

The Falcons committed six penalties for 75 yards, twice as many as last week against the Steelers. Despite the convincing win, Smith said the Falcons have plenty of things to work on.

“We played hard, and I think that the guys can build from this,” said Smith. “Just like every week, though, there are things that we’ve got to get corrected, and we will get in there tomorrow and start working on it.”

The Falcons are 14-3 at the Georgia Dome in Smith’s tenure. They travel to New Orleans to face the defending Super Bowl champion Saints next Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT.

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