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Game plan: Colts at Falcons

Never were Pagano’s trusty clichés more evident: The Colts stuck to the process Sunday, despite a double-digit deficit on the road, rallied, and won. Adams did not make the trip to Atlanta. I don’t think this is a good matchup for Indy’s defense either, and the markets have certainly cooled on Atlanta since their hot start. Facing the third straight backup quarterback in recent weeks, the Falcons looked awful offensively.

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“The bear is not loose here inside the building”. Chuck Pagano said. “We control our own destiny and that’s what’s great right now”. “That’s who we are, and this team knows how to finish”. Luck goes down again, they win again.

According to the National Football League, Hasselbeck joins Brett Favre and Warren Moon as the only quarterbacks since the 1970 merger to win threee consecutive starts at the age of 40.

The Colts find themselves in first after a win over Denver in Week 9 despite a losing record, while the Falcons have lost three of their last four games and are a full three games back of the undefeated Panthers for first in the NFC South. Nevertheless, the Falcons are still favored to win the game between the two. Ryan’s crucial interception came on first down from the 1. Carolina became the 16th team in the Super Bowl era to start 10-0, with all of them reaching the postseason and nine of those teams advancing to the Super Bowl. But they’ve slipped to 3-3 in contests decided by four points or less, largely because of puzzling breakdowns on the offensive side and, more specifically, the struggles of quarterback Matt Ryan. They are now allowing over 8 yards per attempt and have given up the 7th most yards per game through the air. After that, it looked like a totally different offense. The Colts pass defense is the league’s fifth worst, and while injuries have played no small role, this week has plenty of those two.

It took Bradshaw a couple of weeks, but he’s up to speed now, as his two touchdowns would indicate.

It does make some sense that the Falcons didn’t address the receiver position this offseason.

So it all rests with Ryan. “But there’s a lot of things he’s doing well, too”. They will happily give up yards, but they demand an offense stay patient and take all the short throws underneath.

“We are working together, we are working hard”, said Hasselbeck, who is 3-0 as a starter this season as fills in for an injured Andrew Luck. This is the fifth time this season Bosher has averaged at least 50 yards per punt.

But that doesn’t excuse some huge blunders. Jones wound up with nine catches for 160 yards.

Indianapolis Colts running back Ahmad Bradshaw (44) runs into the…

Key play: A Daniel Adongo holding penalty was a 52-yard difference in the Colts starting this drive at the Atlanta 38-yard line following a 42-yard return from rookie Quan Bray. So, the guy is human, but he’s still the man you want when the game is on the line. “Those are the decisions we count on him like insane for us”.

Freeman was running very well before he left Sunday’s game.

The loss ruined DiMarco’s career day.

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“You always have to keep your foot on the accelerator”, said Matt Ryan, who threw for three touchdowns but also was picked off three times, including a desperation heave on the final play. They are tough. They are hard-nosed and have the respect of everybody in the locker room.

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