Here's a look at what other media outlets are saying about the Ravens' 26-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons:
• Michael David Smith of NBC Sports' ProFootballTalk.com
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Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had a big game in a Thursday night football victory that made the Baltimore Ravens' defense look bad. After the game, Ryan credited the no-huddle offense.
"We've been in that no-huddle offense for three years," Ryan said. "We felt confident and we felt that would help keep what Baltimore did vanilla. I think that's the most we've ever used it. We were pretty effective doing it."
• CBSSports.com's Pete Prisco
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It was one of those moments all the great ones have. Down one, 65 seconds left, 80 yards between him and the goal line, not to mention 11 men on one of the NFL's nastiest defenses trying to take his head off.
Matt Ryan looked at the situation, and then took all of 45 seconds of game clock to send this message to the football world: I have arrived.
• ESPN.com's James Walker adds his thoughts
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Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed walked out of the locker room with a parting shot late Thursday night. With his luggage in hand, Reed, unprovoked, had a message for the media before exiting the Georgia Dome.
"We let them off the hook," Reed said loudly to make sure everyone could hear.
• In another post, Walker
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What I liked: Baltimore showed grit by fighting back in the fourth quarter and having a chance to win. After falling down 13 points late, the Ravens didn't lay down and took a 21-20 lead with 1:10 left after two touchdown passes by quarterback Joe Flacco. Linebacker/defensive end Terrell Suggs was at his best. Suggs recorded two sacks, and it was his first multi-sack game of the season.
• Josh Katzowitz
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Yet, then, Flacco showed that, while neither he nor Ryan should be considered a top-five quarterback, they're most definitely two of the better quarterbacks in the league. And they're two quarterbacks who can push their respective teams deep into the playoffs and perhaps take them on a ride to the Super Bowl.
• FanHouse.com's Knox Bardeen also
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When the Baltimore offense hands a lead over to its defense with just 1:05 to play, it's usually an automatic victory. That's what this team is built for.
Tell Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, safety Ed Reed and the rest to hold a lead for just a little over one minute and every single time they bring home a win. It didn't work out that way on Thursday night.
• Ray Glier of FanHouse.com points out the Falcons' adjustment
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The Falcons would have to be multi-purpose on offense another day. Their identity as solid citizens of the run game was tossed out the window Thursday night, and they became the Patriots, the Saints and whatever other liberal offense you can recall. Ryan Air is the name of a discount airline in Europe, but it was also what the Falcons called themselves, for one night at least.
They threw the ball 50 times. Michael Turner, their 1,000-yard running back, was used as a blocking back.
• Pat Yasinskas of ESPN.com
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Not sure if it was the message from Jackson or Smith or a combination of the two. But it doesn't matter; the Atlanta Falcons finally rose up. Then they did it again.
After dominating for more than three quarters Thursday night, the Falcons squandered a big lead and had to rely on a last-minute touchdown drive to defeat the Baltimore Ravens 26-21 at the Georgia Dome.
• Former Ravens defensive back Deion Sanders
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In 1994, Sanders signed as a free agent with San Francisco. He would go on to play for Dallas, Washington and Baltimore during the outset of the free-agency era. He played 14 seasons in the NFL and won Super Bowl rings with San Francisco and Dallas.
But Sanders insists that he never wanted to leave and that the previous regime never offered a contract. However, it should be noted that the team allowed him to become an unrestricted free agent with the expectation they would be given an opportunity to match any offer from another team.
• The Dallas Morning News gives a brief transcription of an interview with former Ravens coach Brian Billick on ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning radio show. During the interview, Billick
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On if he has any interest in returning to coaching:
"Well, once a coach always a coach and that's always a part of your blood. I'm at the point in my life where I'm enjoying what I'm doing. Yes, there's aspects of that that I miss if it were the right partnership. And that sounds like a cop-out because you hear coaches all the time say, 'Well, in the right situation, with the right people,' and then Charles Manson would offer them a job and they would take it. Because it really is a partnership. You can't be out there by yourself. Whether its' the general manager, the president, the owner, however you want to structure it, it has to be strong partnership with a unified vision a going forward. If you have that, then yeah, that's something that would be very interesting to me. But those jobs and then those people that might very well be interested in me I think that's a fairly narrow bandwidth."
[Compiled by Dean Jones Jr.]