Falcons vs. Seahawks: 5 Things We Learned From Atlanta in 30-28 Win

Although the Falcons won today, in Seattle, there are still a number of issues that are apparent.

One issue appeared to have been fixed, as the Falcons, who were struggling with opening games well, jumped out to a 24-7 lead.

They took that lead into halftime and added to it in the third quarter for a 27-7 advantage, but the defense and offense suddenly broke down and the Seahawks were able to fight back.

A heated and inspired rally from Seattle fell short with the score at 30-28 when they failed to convert a third-down play and had to try a 61-yard field goal attempt with just 13 seconds left in the game.

The Falcons' victory puts them at 2-2 on the season, and 1-2 on the road. Their lone home win, by three points, came against a clearly underachieving Eagles team.

This Atlanta team has all of the pieces in place to be successful, but their inconsistency has held them back and it nearly cost them again today.

Here are five things we learned from the contest.

The Running Team Mentality Continues to Dissolve

For the past two seasons I've convinced myself the Falcons have major issues with their rushing attack.

A team that once dictated tempo to perfection with a solid running game, Atlanta entered the game today with the 19th ranked rushing offense in the NFL.

For a team that is dubbed every weekend as a "run first," "ball control" offense, they surely have not looked it.

Their running game consists of a lot of unproductive plays, especially on first down, and only occasional breakout runs. That was evident again today.

Michael Turner rushed for 70 yards on 26 carries, which is already an underwhelming statistic.

But, if you take away that one breakaway carry (a 21-yard touchdown scamper in the first quarter), Michael Turner averaged a miserable 1.96 yards per pop.

Atlanta constantly wastes first down plays with runs that have Turner getting tackled or whistled down at the line of scrimmage, or behind it. 

This only puts more and more pressure on Matt Ryan. It's not all Turner's fault. Although Turner could be more explosive and violent of a runner, the offensive line has been wildly inconsistent with their blocking.

Matt Ryan Continues to Have to Throw to Win

This "run-first" team threw for 42 passes in the game today.

Matt Ryan went 28 of 42 for 291 yards and one touchdown to Tony Gonzalez.

Atlanta is averaging 41 passes thrown a game.

These are numbers that were unheard of from the Falcons in the past.

The Falcons controlled the ball for a huge majority of the game, but it was all through the air.

This is the flip-side of the struggling rushing attack. Ryan is continuing to prove just how good he is. Teams cannot stop him when he gets into a rhythm. 

The Offense Doesn't Have to Be Explosive

All of the talk in the offseason and preseason was about how this team was going to come out and fire for huge touchdowns from the start to finish of games.

Sure, the addition of Julio Jones made this an even more daunting team, but maybe those expectations were a tad unrealistic?

Who's to care though? Atlanta seemed to be trying to force those downfield plays in their first three games, and more times than not it turned into sacks and incompletions.

That was not the case against Seattle.

Ryan's passing game averaged 6.9 yards per completion, with Julio Jones catching 11 passes, Roddy White six, and Tony Gonzalez seven.

This spread out, methodical passing offense, for a lack of a better word, was the "ball control" game for Atlanta.

This is what Atlanta does best and needs to continue to do in the passing game. 

The Pass Rush Is Struggling to Get to the Quarterback

Atlanta's addition of Ray Edwards to their defensive line was expected to pay huge dividends in the sack stat column.

So far that addition has been a dud.

The Falcons have just five sacks after four games, and failed to sack Tarvaris Jackson on Sunday.

What makes that statistic (or lack thereof) more alarming is the fact the Seahawks entered the game with 14 allowed sacks.

That means they went from allowing nearly five sacks a game to allowing none. 

The pass defense has received a lot of criticism, and most of it has been justified, but today they were the victim of a lackluster pass rush.

Tarvaris Jackson, known to be one of the most inconsistent quarterbacks in the league, had a field day and looked very comfortable throughout the game. This is a guy who was getting beaten to a pulp in his first few games of the year.

Maybe the loss of defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux really will prove just how valuable Babineaux is to this defensive line.

The Defense, as a Whole, Still Has Major Issues

The Falcons defense had a stellar outing against Tampa Bay last weekend, but it's obvious that performance had a lot to do with the wet, sloppy, and slow field the teams played on.

In Atlanta's dry games against the Bears and Eagles they allowed 30 and 31 points respectively, and they nearly allowed 31 points and a win to Seattle.

This is a Seahawks offense that was sorely in 30th in passing offense and 29th in rushing offense when they headed into the game.

They allowed 319 passing yards to Tarvaris Jackson.

Jackson's career quarterback rating is 76.2, and he entered the game with a 73.7 rating for the season. Against Atlanta he finished with a rating of 96.3.

In the other "fast track" games Atlanta has played so far this year, it allowed a rating of 107.8 to Jay Cutler, 103.6 to Michael Vick, and 100.0 to Eagles backup Mike Kafka.

The Falcons host Aaron Rodgers next Sunday night. They could be in some serious trouble.