For all the talk late last week that the game against the Patriots was a chance for the Atlanta Falcons to make a statement, the sportswriters from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution didn't seem at all surprised by the outcome on Sunday.

***Columnist Mark Bradley opines that "A young team was exposed by the smartest and saltiest bunch in the NFL.''... The Falcons plan to pressure Tom Brady was blunted by a change in approach by New England. The Falcons had zero sacks. ... The Pats took All-World tight end Tony Gonzalez out of his game by double-teaming him. . . . BC's Matt Ryan had a ho-hum homecoming, but at least he got to meet Tom Brady.

Other opinions:

***Michael Silver of Yahoo!Sports loved Bill Belichick's decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Pats' 24-yard line in the third quarter. Silver notes that Belichick's fourth-down gambles during the 18-0 regular season in 2007 were seen as arrogant. Not so in 2009.

***Peter King of Sports Illustrated was in Kingston, R.I., on Saturday afternoon. And in New London and Old Saybrook, Conn., and other places the Amtrak train from Boston to New York stops. Says King: "You could save 60 or 90 minutes by taking the Delta shuttle, but then you wouldn't see the people walking on the seashore where Rhode Island meets Connecticut in a part of the country not many people know.'' . . . In his Monday Morning Quarterback column, King has New England's Brandon McGowan as a defensive player of the week for his work on Tony Gonzalez and causing a key fumble by Atlanta's Michael Turner. . . . King says that Terry Francona and Kevin Youkilis led a Red Sox contingent to watch a Kansas City Chiefs practice last week. "They were very shocked how physical we were and how hard our coaches coached,'' said coach Todd Haley. . . Red Sox fan King feels sorry for Jason Varitek.

***Richard Seymour took a bonehead penalty during Oakland's loss to Denver and then squabbled with a reporter who asked him about it.