MAKING A RUN: Michael Turner, who rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown, looks to break a tackle by Dallas safety Danny McCray during the second half of the Falcons’ 19-13 victory over the Cowboys last night in Atlanta. (AP)
ATLANTA — The Falcons might be the NFL’s lone remaining unbeaten team at 8-0, but they can still safely play the “no respect” card.
That was clear last night as Atlanta had the national prime-time stage and a raucous Georgia Dome crowd at its back, yet still struggled to put away the reeling, depleted Cowboys with a 19-13 decision that surely didn’t add many believers in Matt Ryan & Co.
“It was good enough,” Ryan said after the Falcons won their first eight games for the first time in franchise history. “At the end of the day, it’s a league that’s based on wins and losses. That’s all that matters.”
Even so, the Falcons’ hold on NFC front-runner status over the 7-1 Bears and 6-2 49ers looks as shaky as their offense and special teams did for much of the evening against a 3-5 Dallas team that lost for the fourth time in five games and now appears to be playing merely to save Jason Garrett’s job.
It took big plays late from Julio Jones, Michael Turner and Jacquizz Rodgers before the Falcons could overcome two missed field goals from the normally reliable Matt Bryant and put down a Cowboys lineup riddled by injuries.
The outcome certainly didn’t qualify as a signature victory for the Falcons, considering they were locked in a 6-6 tie at halftime and still had to come through late after a 21-yard touchdown pass from Tony Romo to Queens native Kevin Ogletree with 5:21 left had cut Atlanta’s lead to 16-13.
But come through Rodgers did, as the backup running back notched critical receptions of 31 and 11 yards on the ensuing drive to clinch the victory and maintain the Falcons’ four-game bulge in the NFC South.
Atlanta piled up 453 total yards, but more than half of those came late against a worn-down Dallas defense and in the end resulted in just one touchdown. Bryant carried the night with four field goals but missed two others, marking his first game with two misses since September 2006.
Coupled with the memory of Ryan and the Falcons getting blown out at home by the Packers in the playoffs two years ago after rolling to the NFC’s top seed at 13-3, Atlanta still has a ways to go before the rest of the league truly fears Mike Smith’s team.
Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan was so unimpressed with the Falcons’ unblemished start that he had predicted a Dallas victory on Friday, and it looked for a long time — uncomfortably long for the capacity crowd — that Ryan’s charges might make their boss look like a genius.
Despite not having Pro Bowl linebacker Sean Lee, Dallas stoned the Falcons’ running game for three quarters and flustered Ryan with exotic blitzes and the inspired play of Lee’s unheralded replacement, Bruce Carter.
Ryan ended up completing 24 of 34 passes for 342 yards (129 of them on just five catches by Jones and another 118 on seven receptions by Roddy White), but it took an inspired second half from the much-criticized Turner for the Falcons to finally start distancing themselves.
And this latest Atlanta win probably wouldn’t have been possible without Turner, the Falcons’ workhorse.
Blasted as slow and over the hill, Turner turned back the clock with a 43-yard run in the third quarter and finished with 102 yards and a score on 20 carries. Turner had just 18 yards on eight carries in the first half, but he gave the Falcons reason to crow afterward.
And get used to that — the 6-3 Giants are the only team left on Atlanta’s schedule with a winning record.
“I understand why [the respect] hasn’t been there — we haven’t had success in the playoffs,” said tight end Tony Gonzalez, who has never won a postseason game in his 16-year pro career. “The buzz will come if we keep doing what we’ve been doing. It’s got to come.”