The Falcoholic
The Falcons are incapable of playing a generic football game. They looked terrible at the start, and then rallied to go up 21-7 before a series of chips in their armor led to Carolina eventually taking a narrow lead very late in this one. The Falcons then somehow got in field goal range and narrowly made it overtime with Zane Gonzalez hitting the field goal try.
It was nerve-wracking, mistake-loaded for both teams, and featured some truly incredible mishaps on defense for Atlanta, which allowed Bryce Young to easily hit his career high in passing yards. In the end, the Falcons did what they’ve done so many times this year and blew it, allowing a big lead to evaporate, going out with a whimper in overtime, and ultimately letting Tommy Tremble of all people run away with it on them to set up the game-winning Carolina field goal. The Falcons were swept by the Panthers for the first time since 2013, the kind of deeply embarrassing result that leads you to lose five games in a row and effectively ends your season. To be clear, even if the math gives Atlanta some remote hope, their season is indeed over.
What will the team do next? They appear too talented for this, even with injuries taking a major toll on the roster, so perhaps they clean house and try to install a new regime that they hope will reserve a very long string of losing seasons. Perhaps they’ll chalk it up to comical errors and injuries after all and try to run this thing back. Regardless, we’re at the point with the Atlanta Falcons where no outcome is too dire and devastating to imagine, and that alone should tell you that change is once again needed for this franchise.
Here’s the drive-by-drive recap of the game you just watched.
The Falcons got the ball first, and Jamal Agnew made it to about the 31. Bijan Robinson broke a couple of tackles and got five yards. Unfortunately, an Elijah Wilkinson holding call brought it back. Robinson got about four yards on the next play. Darnell Mooney caught the pass and fumbled, but the Falcons fell on it. Michael Penix Jr. then got away from pressure and tried a sideline ball to Mooney, but it was not on-target and couldn’t be brought in. Punt, and Feleipe Franks got the returner short of the 30.
Rico Dowdle found a seam and managed to pick up about six yards. Bryce Young hit a tight but only got two yards before Kaden Elliss got the tackle. On third down, Young got Jalen Coker for 15 yards and a first down. Dowdle got swallowed up after a yard by Ruke Orhorhoro. Young got hit trying to throw by Khalid Kareem just enough to make it wobble and flutter incomplete. Jessie Bates tackle Ja’Tavion Sanders two yards short of a first down. On fourth down, the Panthers went for it, tried some trickery, and got...
