Five Thoughts on the Falcons

1. I hope that I wasn't the only one who watched Mike Peterson force one turnover with a crunching hit and then pick off a pass and then thought "gee, so this is what a linebacker with a reputation is supposed to do." For those of you who thought that the Keith Brooking jokes would cease now that he's in Dallas, the joke's on you!

2. One of the best aspects of the game on Sunday is that the Falcons won comfortably without playing all that well. If Matt Ryan would have thrown the ball like he normally does and if Jason Elam would have made kicks like he normally does, then the final score would have been an eye-catching rout as opposed to a mere comfortable win.

3. In retrospect, Miami was a very favorable matchup for the Falcons. Atlanta's weakness appears to be its defensive backs, but the Dolphins don't have the receivers to take advantage. The corners weren't really tested in the game, although part of the credit would have to go to a pass rush that embarrassed Jake Long on a number of occasions and harassed Chad Pennington into a poor performance. Kroy Biermann was the pass rusher opposite John Abraham that the Falcons have lacked...well, as long as they have had Abraham.

4. I can definitely get used to Tony Gonzalez.

5. My one complaint about the game called by the Falcons was the heavy dose of runs on first downs. Miami was clearly sniffing those runs out, but we kept pounding away with Michael Turner on first and ten. To repeat myself from last season, the strength of this team is the passing game, but Mike Smith and Mike Mularkey sometimes fail to realize it. Turner carried the ball 14 times on first and ten for 25 yards. I'll assume that Miami was selling out on the run in those situations, so it would make a lot of sense to be a little pass-happy going forward until opponents back off. Matt Ryan isn't a baby anymore. He can handle it.