Atlanta Falcons put together most dominant win in several years

The Atlanta Falcons put together their most dominating win in several years.

At home, against a playoff team, the Atlanta Falcons put up 43 points, their season-high, and held the Las Vegas Raiders to just six points, their season-best. They hadn’t beaten a team by 30 or more since beating the Bucs 56-14 way back in 2014.

Until Sunday’s game against the Raiders, every opponent had put up double digits on the Falcons.

So what changed?

The Falcons forced multiple turnovers, namely forced fumbles, and actually got pressure on the quarterback. As everyone knows, a pass rush is the best way to hide a young secondary but even they made some plays Sunday.

AJ Terrell, Ricardo Allen, Deion Jones, and Foye Oluokun all made plays Sunday. Jones with a pick-six, Oluokun was always around the ball, and Terrell held his own against Henry Ruggs and on other deep balls thrown his way.

The Falcons weren’t beating the Raiders so bad, Derek Carr got to leave work early Sunday.

And let’s not forget the obvious, they did so without Julio Jones and Todd Gurley.

The Atlanta Falcons, staying true to their ways of the past two seasons, turned into a playoff contender just in time for the second half of the season but once again too late to make a difference for anything except sliding in the draft.

They have been plagued all year by a lack of identity and Sunday, it looked like they were starting to find it. The run game wasn’t effective early but it was enough to keep Las Vegas from sitting on the Falcons undermanned receiving corp. It even paid off later in the game with Brian Hill and Ito Smith broke off legitimate runs as the Falcons ate up the clock and didn’t blow a lead of historic proportions.

Defensively, the Falcons finally proved they can get pressure on the quarterback and not give up the explosive play.

Fans knew it was going to take a while for all the team’s young pieces to finally round into shape, but now it’s starting to happen. Missing two offensive stars, at home where they’ve struggled all year, the Atlanta Falcons ripped off their most dominant win of the season.

And it felt good to watch.