The Atlanta Falcons went into Philadelphia this weekend after a bye week sitting in pretty good shape at 4-2.  After 60 minutes of football however, things are looking a little bit worse for wear.  Atlanta was bitten by the turnover bug today as Matt Ryan threw for two interceptions, and Adam Jennings had a costly fumble on a punt return.

With the score 17-7 late in the 3rd quarter, Ryan took the Falcons all the way to the Eagle 1 yard line, but threw a floater into the corner of the endzone which was intercepted by Lito Sheppard.  That would have cut the game to a field goal.

After Philadelphia tacked on a field goal, Atlanta cut the score to 20-14 on an 8 yard touchdown pass from Ryan to Roddy White.  With a three and out on the ensuing drive for the Eagles, it looked like Matty "Ice" was going to get his chance for yet another 4th quarter comeback this season.  With 2 and a half minutes to go, the Eagles punted the football, but Adam Jennings was called for touching the football while Philly recovered the assumed fumble.  Replays showed the ball never touching Jennings' body, however Atlanta had used all their timeouts on the previous drive to conserve time, and could not challenge the call.  Brian Westbrook, who had a remarkable day with 167 yards rushing and two touchdowns, put the nail in the coffin by breaking off a 39 yard touchdown to make the final score 27-14, putting both the Eagles and the Falcons at 4-3 on the season.

If Atlanta can overcome their turnovers and start producing a little more when they are forced to throw the ball, they should be okay.  It's obvious that when the running game is going well, Ryan can rely on that as a fallback and do just fine in the passing game.  When it's not, Ryan struggles, which has been the case in all three Atlanta losses this year.  Today he passed for 277 yards with 2 touchdowns, but had the two picks including the crucial one in the third, and was only 23-44, which definitely needs to improve.

Matt Ryan should be fine however, as he hopes to bounce back and improve his very nice rookie season thus far against a turmoiled Oakland Raider squad next Sunday in Oakland.  If all goes well, Ryan will bounce back and have another nice game taking the Falcons to 5-3 and, most importantly, keeping them in contention for the NFC South Title.