I've tried to erase all my thoughts and feelings past halftime from Sunday night's game. It's not as easy as you would think.
The only thoughts I have left over from that game are where we can improve what we did wrong and how we can make sure it doesn't happen again. I think at this point we've figured out everything not to do.
Most of it revolves around finishing the game, playing 60 minutes and not having a drop off after halftime.
We've shown we can start fast. We can play well, but we just haven't shown we can play consistently.
The 24-hour rule helps us not dwell too much on a loss, plus the fact that we know it's a long season. We can't keep on losing games and keep saying at Weeks 8, 9, 10 or 11 that it's a long season, but at this point, we have a lot of games left. I think Green Bay was 3-3 before they went to the Super Bowl last year, so being at 2-3 doesn't mean that we're out of it.
We know if we buckle down, play Falcon football and get back to what we know, we can still have a great season that allows us to keep pushing forward.
Speaking of that, Carolina comes to town Sunday with a very good defense. The fact that they have a high-powered offense also factors into our offense. Just like last week, we've got to keep their quarterback and their offense off the field by running the ball, controlling the clock and converting on third downs.
But while we're out there on offense, their defense is going to give us some trouble with their defensive ends and their pressure. They definitely aren't going to hand us the game. Despite their record, they are a very talented defense and can give us trouble if we let them.
It's also an NFC South game. It seems like every division game is an automatic rivalry, whether we want to admit or not because we seem them twice a year every year. If you've been with the same team, it become a habitual thing — like Christmas or Thanksgiving, you know it's going to come every year at the same time.
We know how important division games are, especially to reaching our goal of making it to the playoffs, so we're going to give it a little more effort.
