Khadrice Rollins
krollins@ajc.com
For most of Sunday’s game, the Atlanta Falcons refused to beat themselves. The same could not be said of the Arizona Cardinals.
Clean play helped the Falcons (7-4), who were penalized only four times, in their 38-19 win over the Cardinals (4-6-1) in the Georgia Dome.
“That was one of the main things we wanted to do,” running back Devonta Freeman said. “Eliminate the penalties — the line of scrimmage penalties and stuff like that — and that’s what we did.”
Arizona cornerback Patrick Peterson was called for a pass interference penalties on each of Atlanta’s first two drives, negating a third-down stop and an interception, thus allowing the Falcons to score on both possessions.
On the other side of the ball, penalties set the Arizona offense behind the chains and took the unit out of sync after it had scored its first two times on the field.
At the start of the fourth quarter, an offsides on an Atlanta punt gave the Falcons a first down instead of giving the Cardinals the ball down 11. This led to an Atlanta touchdown that essentially put the game out of reach.
“The NFL is hard enough trying to earn yards on your own,” left tackle Jake Matthews said. “So getting them to jump offsides or whatever it may be, that’s a bonus for us. … All that stuff adds up.”
Overall, the visitors were flagged on eight occasions for 60 yards.
Against Philadelphia two weeks ago, the Falcons were penalized eight times, including three on third downs. This time around, the Falcons controlled what they could control and didn’t let yellow flags get in their way of a victory.
“The times we have struggled … had to do a little bit with us or penalties,” Matthews said. “And penalties, those are all on us because we control those. I mean obviously there’s going to be a holding call here or there, that’s just a part of the game, but more pre-snap penalties and stuff like that, that’s something we’re really focusing on and trying to get rid of.”
