Rams vs. Falcons 2013: Atlanta fans worry about durability following win
SB Nation’s writers react to the Week 2 win of the Falcons over the Rams.
Both teams exchanged quite a few scores, but Atlanta proved to be the better team in Week 2. The win for the Falcons is a positive, but there is room to worry about the amount of injuries that are piling up for Atlanta. Dave Choate of The Falcoholic is very worried about the team’s durability:
The Falcons did some truly impressive things in the Georgia Dome Sunday, but they also showed a worrying tendency toward the same bad habits that always seem to doom them. They did get the win in spite of suffering a half-dozen major injuries that clearly hurt them as the game wore on, especially considering five of them were starters. Five.
The Falcons have won and lost messy, close games thus far this season. Those kinds of slugfests take a toll on the way through the season, but walking away with a win certainly makes them more than tolerable. Don’t get it twisted, either: The Rams are a good football team with a bright future. This was never going to be a pushover.
The Rams were able to comeback in the fourth quarter of the game to get into striking distance of the Falcons. Their resiliency over the past couple of weeks has been worth praise, but the team seems to have issues with building a lead early in a game. Brandon Birkhead of Turf Show Times believes the sloppy start to Week 2’s game was the nail in the coffin for the Rams:
I don’t think many expected the Rams to come out of Atlanta with a win, but if it wasn’t for a horrendous start to the game, the Rams would have had a very good shot. The Rams out-gained the Falcons 421-393, but sadly, points aren’t given for yards.
As they did last week, the Rams started very slow. They had horrible field position the entire first half. The best starting field position for the Rams was the 20, as there were three flags on consecutive punts for the Rams. It’s nearly impossible to score on the road with such poor field position, and the Rams were only able to muster three first half points, and entered the locker room down 24-3.
