Three interceptions, ten penalties, a host of missed sacks, a horribly shanked field goal, a blown coverage on fourth-and-14, and a punter who couldn’t flip the field thanks to a torn groin.

And a primetime win.

Sunday night was not a night for the Atlanta Falcons to focus on the finer points of football.

And maybe that’s a good thing, because there were plenty of issues in Atlanta’s 24-20 win over the Philadelphia Eagles once you start to break down the finer points of football.

But it was a night to find a win by means necessary. It didn’t matter how it came, what needed to happen, or where the difference was made. 124 out of 140 teams to start 0-2 have missed the playoffs since 2002. The Falcons needed to beat the Eagles at any cost on Sunday to avoid falling into the dreaded 0-2 hole. Their backs were against the wall before they had even taken a snap in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

It showed.

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Those backs were almost slammed through the wall in the fourth quarter when the Eagles finally took the lead. Philadelphia punched them in the mouth with a 13-play, 73-yard drive that took 7:29 off the clock and turned the game upside down.

Whatever the Falcons had in them needed to be brought out immediately. They were on the short end of a home game they needed, and one they had largely controlled for that matter.

And when the circumstances absolutely demanded it, Atlanta’s veterans stepped up. The guys you look for to deliver some kind of response seven days after falling behind 28-0 in the season opener. Head coach Dan Quinn has used a lot of buzzwords and catchphrases in the aftermath of a disappointing 7-9 season a year ago. Everything from his fast and physical defense to just a week ago where he was “as pissed of as he’s been in a long time” after the 28-12 loss in Minnesota.

For once, the guys wearing polos stopped talking so the guys wearing jerseys could lead by example.

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On defense, the money guys stepped up. Grady Jarrett, fresh off a new contract, wreaked havoc. Deion Jones was all over the field. Star safety Keanu Neal played his first game in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in two years, and turned in a team-leading nine tackles. And the unquestioned top cornerback Desmond Trufant had two interceptions after picking up zero all of last season.

And when they were trailing 20-17 in the closing minutes and had the offense on the field? That’s when the 12-year franchise quarterback hit the 9-year franchise wide receiver on a play saved by a huge block from the 6-year franchise left tackle to make it a 54-yard touchdown.

That’s leadership. Real leadership, not cliché leadership. The Falcons are a team without a lot of depth. It showed last year when several key injuries derailed the season. The top-end talent will have to come up big in every game for this team to have a chance to go anywhere.

One close game played, one close game success.

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And what the win does is buy them time. The Saints were battered in Los Angeles and the Panthers are 0-2. Both have questions with quarterback injuries. It’s a lot easier to sort through your issues when you’re 1-1 and in the middle of a crowded early divisional race instead of looking ahead from the back of the pack.

They have time to work through the issues. How is it even possible that after Quinn called a timeout to set up his defense for a game-defining fourth-and-14, his safeties allowed Nelson Agholor behind them for a gain of 43?

That should never happen after a timeout. It should have cost the Falcons the game, but the Eagles didn’t take advantage of the gift. The lack of attention to detail from the coaching staff in the timeout on that play was one worrying trend that carried over from the Minnesota game.

Matt Ryan threw three interceptions, and the blame was squarely on him for two of them. The third one was a byproduct of him not trusting second tight end Luke Stocker, who was open for a checkdown underneath.

Stocker quit on a route in the end zone in week one, blew a blocking assignment that stalled Atlanta’s opening drive, and had a fumble earlier in the game. Can the Falcons really keep using him, or is there another direction to go?

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Can the running game get back on track? The Falcons had 57 rushing yards all night, and 28 of them came on one burst from Ito Smith. Take the one play out, and it’s a gaudy 29 yards on 16 carries.

These are all questions that still have to be answered. They were pressing issues against Minnesota, and the Falcons hope they will turn into more stable answers against Indianapolis.

But the questions are just that. Questions. They’re not catastrophes at this moment. Will they develop into catastrophes down the line? It’s possible, but for one night the Falcons figured out a way to weather the storm and beat what some would argue is the best team in the NFC.

And it was quite a storm. They were one snap away from having to dig out of a hole almost no teams dig out of at 0-2. But the top end talent on defense held down Carson Wentz and the Eagles for most of the night, and the offensive leaders dug deep to grind out a win and restore order for at least a week.

The win doesn’t mean everything is fixed. It just gives them a chance to be over the next 15 weeks.