FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Sunday night in the Georgia Dome locker room a member of the Falcons public relations staff announced the news...
"Victory Monday, tomorrow. Victory Monday."
The Falcons picked up their first win of the 2007 season Sunday night against the Houston Texans and the good feelings carried over into Monday as Head Coach Bobby Petrino gave the team some time off.
But, before full attention can swing to making it two games in a row this weekend at Tennessee, the coach reviewed some of his likes and dislikes from the 26-16 victory.
"After watching the video this morning I came away from it very impressed with our defense," Petrino said. "I thought our defense made the plays when the game was on the line.
"We came out on top. We (had) four stops on third-and-1. We won all four of them. We got a stop early on third-and-3 that was huge for us and a real nice turnover early in the second quarter that allowed the offense a short field and went and scored... Then, we did a great job in the red zone. We felt like we had three wins in the red zone and ended up giving up only one touchdown on defense."
The defense allowed 398 yards of offense but, as Petrino noted, stood strong and made plays when it counted. A fourth-quarter sack and forced fumble by John Abraham sealed the victory and showed the team could close out games in the fourth quarter.
Abraham said after the game more rest during the week kept the team fresh in the second half.
"We were well rested," he said. "I think Coach did a good job resting us in practice this week. Instead of hitting a lot we did a good job taking the pads off. I think we were fresh for the fourth quarter this week."
Approached with Abraham's words Monday, Petrino seemed pleasantly surprised.
"After we got our goal line work on Thursday we took the shoulder pads off," the coach said. "We still had the same amount of reps (and) the same amount of time out there. I guess getting rid of that three pounds helped a lot."
Work for this week includes more attention on the running game. The Falcons have yet to rush for more than 96 yards in a game this season and Petrino knows the running game will be crucial in winning more games in the second half. The Falcons tried to get the ground game established late against the Texans, but three straight runs on a fourth-quarter drive netted minus-3 yards.
Morten Andersen's subsequent field goal attempt was tipped no good.
That series of events proved moot, but it did snap a streak of offensive success.
"Offensively we did some good things," Petrino said. "At one point we scored on six of seven possessions... We still want to run the ball better. We're still going to work extremely hard on it."
Atlanta also surrendered two sacks. That's one more than last week and well below the 13 surrendered in Weeks 1 and 2, but not perfect. Petrino said the team's pass protection is "coming around."
The coach also liked the team's continued success on third down. The Falcons converted 47 percent of their third down attempts against the Texans and have hovered around the 50 percent mark the entire season.
"We probably work on third downs as much as we do anything," Petrino said. "I like it when we get the third-and-short and third-and-medium. But, you'd be surprised at how our third-and-long stats are probably our best."
The Falcons will look to tweak that and other issues, but will have to wait for Wednesday because this, is Victory Monday.
"You notice it around the building," Petrino said. "We needed a win. There's been a lot of stress (and) a lot of tense moments here over the last three weeks. I give the credit to the players. They kept practicing (and) kept working."
MORE FROM THE FALCONS-TEXANS GAME:
- GAMEDAY: All the coverage from the Texans-Falcons game
- STATS AND PLAY-BY-PLAY: NFL.com Game Center
- GAME NOTES: Updates and injury news from the Georgia Dome press box
- INACTIVES: Inactives and starters from Week 4
- QUOTABLE: Thoughts on the game from Falcons players and coaches
- VIDEO: Head Coach Bobby Petrino
- VIDEO: Quarterback Joey Harrington
- VIDEO: Defensive end John Abraham
- VIDEO: Linebacker Keith Brooking
- VIDEO: Wide receiver Michael Jenkins
- AUDIO: Tight end Alge Crumpler
- HIGHLIGHTS: Game highlights from NFL Network
