In Sunday's 19-13 grinding win over the Cowboys, the Falcons accomplished something not seen out of them very often this season. They had a 300-yard passer, two 100-yard receivers and a 100-yard rusher, which isn't the surprising part.
The surprising part is the offense only produced one touchdown, a 3-yard run from Michael Turner. Atlanta's dynamic duo at receiver, Roddy White and Julio Jones, were the 100-yard receivers for the day, the two of them combined for 247 yards. Their total accounted for 72 percent of Matt Ryan's passing yards.
The Falcons struggled on offense in the first half, particularly on third downs, but as the game progressed they continued to stick to their plan, allowing the passing game to help open things on the ground. As they did this, the yards came and the go-ahead score did as well.
"We played real, real good in the second half on offense," White said. "We missed that field goal early and didn't convert on third down early in the game so we were kind of struggling. They're a good defense though, a good defensive team. We learned a lot from this game. We were consistent down the stretch and did what we had to do to win the game."
For Jones, it was the first 100-yard game of his career inside the Georgia Dome. His seven other 100-yard efforts have come on the road in his two years in the NFL. Four of Atlanta's ten longest plays on the night came from Jones, including 48- and 38-yard gains. Jones' 17 catches of 25 or more yards since December of last season leads the NFL.
White also chipped in four of the ten longest plays of the night, gained 26 yards, 18 yards and 20 yards twice. Of those four, three were for third-down conversions.
It was also a historic night for White. His fourth catch of the game gave him 574 on his career, moving him past Terance Mathis for first place all time in Falcons history. White said coming into the game it wasn't something he gave much thought to, but after the game when given a moment to reflect, he said he was happy with the reflection it gave on his eight-year career.
"It means a lot, just speaks to how consistent I've been in the last five years," White said. "I got off to a rough start. To come this far speaks volumes about how I come to work every day, prepare myself and get ready to play football games."
Dallas' pass defense was ranked third in the league in fewest passing yards allowed coming into Sunday against the Falcons. Ryan credited the two big guys on the outside with being able to win their matchups in the passing game as things got later in the night.
"We have some unbelievable players on our football team, but specifically our wide receivers and tight ends," Ryan said. "We've got some playmakers and I'm lucky to have them around me."
