Detroit, MI

Atlanta has now won two straight and is 4-3 thanks to Sunday's 23-16 win over the Lions at Ford Field.

The Atlanta Falcon defense knew what needed to be done to stop the dangerous Detroit Lions combination of Matthew Stafford-to-Calvin Johnson.

To put it simply, they did get the job done.

Quarterback Matt Ryan both ran and passed for a touchdown and threw for 218 yards to lead the Falcons over the Lions Sunday afternoon at Ford Field 23-16.

The Falcons only allowed one Detroit touchdown, a 57-yard pass from Stafford to Johnson for a touchdown in the third quarter.

“We knew we were in for a 60-minute battle today,” said Falcons coach Mike Smith. “We needed every man in our locker room to step up and make some plays and I really like the fight and the determination and the effort that our teams played with today. We made some mistakes but we made some plays when we had to.

“I'm very pleased with the way we played on third down defensively and how we made it hectic and chaotic for the quarterback for the most part around the throwing spot and that was the thing that we wanted to do. There were some unbelievable plays in that game for both football teams.”

The Falcons are 4-3 with their first two-game winning streak of the season. The Lions fall to 5-2 with their second straight loss.

“It was a big win, we marked this one on the calendar,” said Falcons wide receiver Roddy White. “After getting back to 500 last week, we felt like this would be a crucial point in our seasons. We are coming up almost on the halfway point. We felt like we had to get over .500. We did this week and we got to go after the bye week and get us another road win.”

With the Lions trailing 17-6 at halftime, Jason Hansen booted a 29-yard field goal midway in the third quarter. Matt Bryant kicked a 47-yard field for a 20-9 Falcon lead.

Ryan left the game briefly in the third quarter after sustaining a knee injury after a sack but only missed a few plays.

A 57-yard pass from Stafford to Johnson later in the quarter produced Detroit's first touchdown. Bryant's third field goal of the game, a 40-yarder, early in the fourth quarter improved Atlanta's lead to seven points.

“One of the things that I think was very important for us is that were were able to put pressure on the quarterback,” said Smith. “I thought that our guy had a very good understanding of what we were trying to get done and they executed it.

"There were some things formationally that we wanted to take advantage of when we saw certain formations and we wanted to take away their two prime threats (Calvin Johnson and Brandon Pettigrew) and I thought they did that on third down especially.”

Late in the game, as he was trying to lead the Lions to the tying touchdown, Stafford limped off the field after being hit on a fourth-down pass attempt. Injuries limited Stafford's playing time extensively the past two seasons.

“A guy just fell on me a little bit awkward,” Stafford said. “I'm moving around on it OK right now. We'll see.”

The two teams traded field goals in the first quarter with Hanson booting a 43-yarder for the Lions and Bryant kicking a 23-yarder for Atlanta. Ryan had a 1-yard run later in the quarter after Jason Snelling recovered a Lions fumble at the Detroit 28.

Hanson's 38-yard field goal for Detroit in the second quarter cut the Falcon lead to 10-6. But late in the half, Ryan led the Falcons on an 81-yard scoring drive and passed 18 yards to White for the touchdown and an 11-point halftime lead.

“It was a disappointing loss,” said Lions coach Jim Schwartz. “I think when you look at the game, when we finish tomorrow, we'll talk about missed opportunities in the kicking game, on defense and particularly on offense. But it's a good football team, the Falcons. We have to give credit to them.”

Atlanta had a 328-263 edge in total yards. Michael Turner had 122 yards rushing. Stafford led Detroit with 183 passing yards.

“We went out there today with the right attitude,” said Falcons linebacker Sean Weatherspoon. “Defensively, we came out there, I felt we did a good job of slowing them down in the first half as well. We came out in the second half and have to put up a big one. But that's what we are; we just want to fight throughout the whole game. Four quarters, that's what it's going to take.”

“I just think we are learning to play with each other,” said Falcons defensive end John Abraham. “Sometimes, not being around each other a lot and not having a lot of practice time together, we are just learning each other.”

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