Three days before hosting the Patriots, Falcons coach Arthur Smith paid them a compliment.
“They’re physical as hell,” Smith told reporters.
He continued by saying the Pats don’t get enough credit for their physicality. Then Smith traced physicality as a through line from Bill Belichick’s current team to the defenses he coached in the 1980s. Traveling further back in time, Smith bottom-lined today’s Patriots as a team that wins the same way teams won in the ’50s: by playing physical, fundamentally sound football.
He had no idea how right he was.
The Pats pounded the Falcons 25-0 Thursday night, blasting them on both sides of the ball in a 60-minute show of strength. Belichick’s defense posted its first shutout of the season and has now held opponents scoreless for 19 straight series. The Patriots bullied Atlanta into five straight turnovers to close their latest win, including a Kyle Van Noy pick-sick.
Van Noy finished with a team-high eight tackles, two sacks and the interception. The Pats (7-4) followed their best defensive performance of the season last weekend with another gem that yielded a season-low 165 total yards.
Offensively, rookie quarterback Mac Jones outdueled Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, his most optimistic pro comparison during the draft process. The Pats defense shut Ryan out for the second time in his career, limiting him to 19-of-28 for 153 yards and two picks before Atlanta’s backup quarterbacks each got intercepted. Jones finished 22-of-26 for 207 yards, a touchdown and one pick.
Patriots kicker Nick Folk drilled four field goals, including a season-long 53-yarder in the third quarter. Running back Damien Harris rushed for 56 yards in his return from a concussion, trailing only Rhamondre Stevenson’s 69.
The Patriots’ five-game win streak is the second-longest in the league after Tennessee’s six-game roll. If the Titans beat Houston on Sunday, the NFL’s two hottest teams will collide next week in Foxboro.
But before they could come home, the Pats had to travel on three days rest and dispatch a wounded Falcons team.
Home cooking carried Atlanta’s defense early, when Jones and Co. punted on the first drive of the game. But after forcing a punt of their own, the Patriots followed with a field goal drive late in the third quarter. Folk hit from 32 yards after a miscommunication sent Jones’ third-down pass for Hunter Henry out of the end zone.
After another Atlanta punt, the Pats punched their way downfield with heavy personnel, and Harris ripping off gains of 14 and 17 yards to cross midfield. Once Harris reached the red zone, Jones stepped back and hit Nelson Agholor underneath against a busted coverage. Agholor then raced 19 yards untouched for his second touchdown of the season.
Trailing 10-0, the Falcons finally found a rhythm with a few third-down conversions over the middle. Ryan led his offense down to the Patriots’ 14, where Van Noy threw Atlanta in reverse starting with a 13-yard sack on third down. The Falcons’ field goal unit took another step back when an illegal formation penalty negated Younghoe Koo’s successful 45-yard try.
Backed up five yards, Koo swung his next kick wide left. Two more punts followed, before Jones’ 2-minute drill yielded another Folk field goal and a 13-0 Pats lead at halftime.
Two turnovers highlighted the third quarter, when Jones fired into heavy coverage on the outskirts of field goal range and found Falcons corner A.J. Terrell. But his defense did the rest, forcing a turnover on downs with 52 seconds left in the quarter at the Patriots’ 16-yard line. Dont’a Hightower halted a third-and-1 run for no gain, which led to a combined run stuff courtesy of backup defensive tackle Carl Davis and safety Adrian Phillips on fourth-and-short.
Devin McCourty killed the next Falcons drive by sliding under a Ryan overthrow that failed to find the sideline at 12 minutes left. J.C. Jackson snatched the next pick, then Van Noy and finally Phillips sent the Pats home happy and hunting for another opponent to shut out and outmuscle in 10 days time.
Here were the best and worst Patriot performances from Thursday:
Best
LB Kyle Van Noy: Two sacks, a pick-six and a team-high eight tackles. The best stretch of Van Noy’s season continues.
Pass rush: The Patriots totaled four sacks, a dozen QB hits and several hurries.
Safeties: McCourty grabbed the interception and tallied another pass deflection, but Kyle Dugger strapped himself to star rookie tight end Kyle Pitts, who finished with three catches.
K Nick Folk: There’s an argument to be made Folk is this team’s MVP. He’s 25-of-27 on the season, with his only misses from 54 yards out and further.
Worst
CB Myles Bryant: The second-year nickelback allowed multiple completions for first downs while in man coverage. He finished with two tackles.
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Patriots blank Falcons 25-0 on Thursday Night Football, win fifth straight - Boston Herald
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