Falcons vs Saints – Who Earned Their Wings

Each week, after the game, I will name a few Falcons players who deserve recognition for their performance. We call it earning your wings. Here we go:-

• WR Harry Douglass – HD finally delivered the kind of performance, the Falcons had been hoping for after he shined in preseason. Showing off his clutch gene, he exploded on the final few drives for the Falcons, finishing the game with 8 catches for 133 yards. He was most effective throughout in the slot. I wish we would use more three WR sets to let him be utilized out of the slot more, with Roddy White and Julio Jones on the outside.

• QB Matt Ryan – Sometimes you give your all and you still come up short. This was the case with Matt last sunday. Aside from a few inaccurate long balls into double coverage, he was near faultless. The interception, was completely on Roddy White not being able to catch the ball, and dropped balls continued to plague the Falcons receiving core. He showed late in the 4th quarter that he still has ice running through his veins, pulling the Falcons back from a 10 point deficit to within a play from winning the game. Two key drops, one from Roddy and the other from Tony G, on the final drive of regulation, cost the Falcons the chance to win the game. If one of those balls were caught, we would be talking a totally different story.
• LB Curtis Lofton & LB Sean Weatherspoon – I include them together because it was a team effort from them that saw the Falcons completely shut down the Saints ground game. The two were also largely responsible for not letting Darren Sproles do any harm in the screen game. An absolute terrific effort from these guys, both fully deserve a pro bowl berth.

Who did i miss out? Whose play deserved recognition?