Falcons for Real: Roddy White, Defense Pace Convincing Atlanta Win

SAN FRANCISCO -- Anyone who doubted the authenticity of the Atlanta Falcons following their 2-1 start has to take notice after Sunday's 45-10 blowout of the San Francisco 49ers, a game that could have easily exposed the visitors as the pretenders their skeptics thought they might be.

Would they perform a cross-country face plant, coming off the dreaded bye-week hangover? Would they come out like the humbled, outmatched team that resembled the post-Bobby Petrino wreckage in that Week 3 26-10 loss to the Patriots in Foxborough?

Not a chance.

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It's time to acknowledge that the Falcons -- now 14-6 since coach Mike Smith took over for Petrino in 2008 -- are among the NFC's elite teams, and it's a good idea to dial down those lofty expectations for the 49ers (3-2), who remain an interesting work in progress under the disciplined, emotional hand of coach Mike Singletary.

This was no contest Sunday, not with the 49ers giving up 477 total yards to quarterback Matt Ryan and an Atlanta offense that came in ranked 23rd in the NFL. On a day when wide receiver Roddy White set a Falcons' franchise record for most receiving yards in a single game (eight catches, 210 yards, two touchdowns), Atlanta's offense felt it could score at will.

"Well, we all had fun today," a giddy Smith said.

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It was so easy for Atlanta, even maligned running back Michael Turner scored three rushing touchdowns and churned out 97 yards against the 49ers' fourth-ranked run defense.

"You just feel like any play that [offensive coordinator Mike] Mularkey called would be successful," said Falcons center Todd McClure, who recovered a third-quarter Dre' Bly showboating fumble and helped his offense turn three 49ers' turnovers into 17 points.

And so the 49ers' soaring five-game home winning streak that dated back to '08 fell from the seagull-laden, foggy San Fran skies with a splat, and was greeted by a refrain of boos from the disgusted Candlestick Park contingent. The affection for gritty quarterback Shaun Hill -- who took a 7-0 home record into this game and endeared himself to fans for not being Alex Smith -- seemed to end early in the first quarter, when Brian Williams picked off a pass intended for Vernon Davis on San Francisco's opening drive.

One Turner 7-yard touchdown later and Atlanta's scoring spree was shifted into first gear. Sensing the game was getting out of hand, Singletary tried to rally his guys by calling timeout and bringing everyone together for a group huddle at the sideline.

So much for that speech: Ryan then found White on a 31-yard scoring pass, leaving the 49ers' sixth-ranked defense completely stunned. Hill was manhandled, completing only four of his first 15 passes, and 15 of 38 for the day for 198 yards. He was sacked three times.

Defensively, the 49ers really stunk. And that was a surprise.

"I didn't even [have] an idea ... never saw it coming. Whatever could have gone wrong, it did times two," said 49ers linebacker Takeo Spikes, who stared into space and tried to make sense of it all. "One bad thing happened, and then it started compounding on top of each other and before you knew it, you blink and you look up and and we were behind by two touchdowns."

This was a statement game by the Falcons, even if they were reluctant to call it that.

"The team had been thinking about this for almost two weeks now, coming off the New England loss," said Atlanta's talented young general manager Thomas Dimitroff, the Bill Belichick disciple who wanted urgency from his players in that Pats' game and saw nothing resembling it. "And I think it was one of those things where it was such a ramped-up sense of focus.

"This team knows they're better than what they showed in New England, and I think coming into this game, we were operating on all cylinders. This is a heck of a defense in here. The fact they were able to generate opportunities for our offense is a feather in this team's cap."

Ryan is maturing into a true franchise quarterback, converting Atlanta's three takeaways into two touchdowns and a Jason Elam field goal, spreading the ball among eight receivers and completing 22 of 32 passes for 329 yards, two touchdowns and a harmless pick. He also ran for a 1-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

"We were just trying to put one together," said White, who overcame his slow early season start in a huge way.

White's 90-yard catch-and-run scoring reception was the first of three second-quarter Atlanta touchdowns, and suddenly Ryan was leading a team that may be a legit threat to division-leading Saints (4-0) -- that's why Sunday's win was so important for the Falcons.

"Obviously New Orleans has been playing very, very well this year so far," Ryan said. "We're not trying to keep pace with them, but at the same time we're focusing on what we do."