FLOWERY BRANCH — Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett knows the clock is ticking on the Falcons’ once promising season.
“It’s now or never,” Jarrett said. “We’ve got to flip the mindset fast. Definitely disappointed not to get the (win over the Chargers). But at the end of the day you have opportunity and that’s all you can ask for. (We) have an opportunity.”
But the Falcons have dropped three in a row and find themselves tied for first place with the Bucs with five games to play. Both teams are 6-6.
The Falcons hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Bucs, but need to stop their three-game losing streak.
“The message was that we still control our own destiny,” Falcons safety Justin Simmons said of coach Raheem Morris message after the loss. “That’s always a great driver seat to be in. For us, the sense urgency has to be at an all-time high knowing that we talked about (the Chargers’ game) being a must-win game and now going into Minnesota that is a must-must win. I have no doubt that we’ll respond well to this.”
Here are the five things we learned from the loss to the Chargers:
1. Tied for first place: The Bucs beat the Panthers in overtime to pull into a tie. The Panthers dropped to 3-9 and the Saints are 4-8 after their loss to the Rams.
So, the math is simple now. If the Falcons and Bucs win out, both would finish 11-6 and the Falcons would go to the playoffs as the champs from the NFC South. The Bucs would be in the wildcard pool.
However, the Bucs’ remaining schedule is softer than the Falcons. The Bucs closing opponents have a .366 winning percentage (22-38) and they have three games at home and two on the road. The Falcons’ opponents have a .409 winning percentage (25-36) and they have two games at home and three on the road.
The Bucs are 0-3 against AFC teams and the Falcons are 0-4. The Bucs still have to face the Chargers and the Raiders. The Falcons just have the Raiders left from the AFC.
If the race goes down to the final game, the Falcons are hosting the Panthers, while the Bucs close out at home against the Saints.
2. Interception leader: If Kirk Cousins keeps struggling, the Falcons are not going anywhere. Over the past three games, he hasn’t thrown a touchdown and has tossed six interceptions.
Cousins now leads the league in interceptions with 13. Seattle quarterback Geno Smith has 12. Tampa’s Baker Mayfield, Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Green Bay’s Jordan Love have 11. Minnesota’s Sam Darnold and Las Vegas’ Gardner Minshew II have 10.
“Don’t turn the ball over,” Morris said. “It’s really simple. If you turn the ball over … you’re going to be in trouble. Execution in the red zone. All those things.”
Cousins has gone 13 quarters without a touchdown pass. His last TD pass was the 11-yarder to Ray Ray McCloud III in the third quarter (10:23) vs. the Cowboys on Nov. 3.
3. London’s big drop: Falcons wide receiver Drake London is having a dynamic season, but all he could think about was his dropped pass on the potential game-winning drive.
It was just a sidebar to Cousins’ four interceptions.
“I’ve got to focus and catch the ball,” London said. “I’m very, very hard on myself and I take that one to heart for sure.”
On the next play, Cousins tossed his fourth pick and the game was over. He said he was putting up a ball for London, but it sailed in the direction of Darnell Mooney before safety Derwin James cradled the errant pass.
“I don’t know who was behind me, but I was trying my best to get back there,” London said. “Or stop somebody from getting it. I couldn’t really say who it was genuinely for. I’ve got to watch the film on that.”
London has nine catches for 86 yards. He has 70 catches for 796 yards and six touchdowns this season. He’s the first Falcons with at least 65 catches in each of his first three seasons. (Andre Rison had 52 with Colts, 82 and 81 with the Falcons 1989-1991). Roddy White had 29, 30 and 83 (2005-07). Julio Jones had 54, 79 and 41 (2011-13.)
4. Defense rebounded: After the Denver loss we wanted to know if the defense could rebound or if they were headed for a total collapse as they slid in the key defensive rankings.
Well they went out and put the hammer down on the Chargers. They held them to under 200 yards and kept the offense out of the end zone.
Overall, the Falcons held the Chargers to 187 total yards, including just 42 yards and two first downs in the second half.
“We just have to continue to try to improve as a full unit,” cornerback Dee Alford said. “As a defense, try to create and generate more turnovers. We were able to get five sacks. I dropped an interception. That could have been more (help) for the offense.”
It was the second time this season, the defense didn’t allow a touchdown. They also held Pittsburgh without a touchdown in Week 1.
The defense also had a season-high five sacks to go with eight quarterback hits.
“We are at that point of the season where we have to continue to climb and put it all together and play as a full unit,” Alford said.
Alford missed the last game with a hamstring injury he suffered in the Saints game.
“I felt great,” Alford said. “I want to say missing almost two weeks because in the Saints game I really didn’t play that much. Just being able to get your body back as much as you can.”
5. Road warriors: Before the recent three-game slide, the Falcons were road warriors this season with three-straight victories at Philadelphia, Carolina and Tampa Bay.
As part of the current losing streak, they have dropped road games at New Orleans and Denver before the bye week.
They will need to recapture their early-season road magic as they are set to play three of the next four games on the road: at Minnesota, at Las Vegas, home vs. Giants and at Washington before closing out the season at home against Carolina.
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