Making mistakes, overcoming them and then at the end benefiting from a cannon blast of a field goal, the Falcons got one Sunday that didn’t feel entirely earned.
The Falcons failed to score an offensive touchdown, were outgained 366-315, outrushed 131-88, continued to lack efficiency on third down on offense and be too lenient on defense, ran 51 plays to New Orleans’ 70 and appeared to have botched their final-minute drive to win the game.
And yet they were the team celebrating when time expired, 26-24 winners over the Saints at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Falcons benefited from two non-offensive touchdowns, one of them about as charitable a gift as an NFL team could ever hope to receive, a resilient defense and a career-long game-winning field goal by the ever-reliable Younghoe Koo.
“A complete team win across the board,” the invariably positive Raheem Morris said. “Koo finishing that thing off for us. So many things that you can correct, and it’s always nice to correct those things in a win.”
After losing two games they could well have won in their first three (and also winning one in which they were also the beneficiaries of some breaks), the Falcons evened their record at 2-2 and scored a win in their first NFC South matchup of the season.
It’s a mark of a good team when it can find a way to win even when it’s not at its best. But the better indicator of a good team – which the Falcons believe they can be – is one that actually plays cleanly and effectively, controls the game and isn’t reliant on an opposing punt returner bobbling a punt inside his 5-yard line into the end zone to give the other team a touchdown or a pass deflection that could scarcely have been thrown better to a defender to return to the end zone for the other touchdown.
A stat to note: According to Stathead, over the past 10-plus seasons before Sunday, there had been 25 games in which a team failed to score an offensive touchdown, was outgained by 50-plus yards, had an overall passer rating below 70, committed at least nine penalties and gave up at least 125 rushing yards – all of which the Falcons did Sunday.
Those teams were 1-24.
“Stats are for losers,” said Morris, a viewpoint that his analytics staff will hopefully overlook. “I don’t get involved in that stuff. You go out there, you try to win each game and we were able to win it (Sunday).”
The defense does deserve some credit. After getting dominated at the start, when the Saints drove 70 and 53 yards for touchdowns on their first two possessions, the Falcons began to take control. New Orleans scored 10 points the rest of the way.
Linebacker Troy Andersen scored on a 47-yard interception return after edge rusher Matthew Judon deflected a Derek Carr pass in the pocket that arced almost directly to Andersen. The score gave the Falcons a 17-14 lead midway through the second quarter. (They collected their first touchdown early in the first quarter when New Orleans punt returner Rashid Shaheed called for a fair catch of a Bradley Pinion punt inside his 5-yard line and then muffed it, allowing the Falcons’ KhaDarel Hodge to recover it in the end zone for a 7-0 lead.)
“Ain’t nobody catching Troy Andersen,” defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. “That boy can run.”
The defense might have been at its best on a Saints drive that began with 10:09 left in the fourth quarter with the Falcons ahead 23-17. New Orleans steadily advanced the ball until it had first-and-goal from the 5, at which point the Falcons, as they have often done this season, made a stand.
Andersen stopped Saints running back and Norcross High grad Alvin Kamara for no gain on first down. Linebacker Kaden Elliss blitzed on second down to force Carr into an incompletion. On third down, another Kamara run was stopped for a loss. On fourth-and-goal from the 7, nickle back Dee Alford broke up a pass into the end zone to Shaheed to give the ball back to the offense with the lead with 3:57 to play. Alford said he anticipated Shaheed’s route from practice. He also recorded his first full sack of his career.
Said Alford of his mindset before the snap, “It’s kind of hard to explain, but it’s like a ‘Hey, man, gotta have it’ situation. One on one, you’ve got to win your matchup.”
After the turnover on downs, it would have been a statement for Cousins and the offense to lead a drive that drained the remaining 3:57. But the Falcons went three-and-out, Rasheed returned the punt to the Falcons 42 and the Saints drove for a go-ahead touchdown to take a 24-23 lead with one minute to play.
The Falcons had no timeouts remaining. The circumstances recalled Cousins’ brilliant game-winning drive against the Eagles in Philadelphia.
The similarities ended there. Cousins was 1-for-4 for five yards. There was a false start. The key play was a 30-yard defensive pass interference penalty on an underthrown pass by Cousins. But for Koo’s 58-yard field goal – his career long by four yards – the Falcons would be 1-3 going into their Thursday night home game against the Buccaneers.
“Honestly, it felt like the final drive was really not good enough by me, by our offense, but Koo made an unbelievable kick, we got the pass interference call and that was enough,” Cousins said.
Ultimately, it’s a win. And they won without two starting offensive linemen (credit to backups Storm Norton and Ryan Neuzil for their work). Running back Tyler Allgeier ran the ball hard (60 yards). And the defense was more effective in the final three quarters.
And if you want to find a hopeful spin on it, the Falcons would appear to have room to get much better. And the schedule won’t be as difficult as it has been to this point. But through four games, they’re not running the ball especially well, the pass rush is not much of a threat and Cousins has yet to blow anyone’s doors off, his two-minute magic in Philadelphia aside.
Maybe it was karmic payback for a team that has had enough wins slip out of its hands or a birthday gift to 82-year-old owner Arthur Blank, whose far bigger accomplishment Sunday was the opening of the Arthur M. Blank Hospital. The philanthropist’s foundation made a $200 million gift toward the construction of the gleaming Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta facility on North Druid Hills Road off I-85.
Whatever the reason, the Falcons probably shouldn’t count on too many more wins like that.
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