Atlanta Falcons 27-31 Los Angeles Rams: Falcons comeback falls short

A Jalen Ramsey end zone interception sealed a nail-biting victory for the Los Angeles Rams as the Atlanta Falcons came dangerously close to pulling off an incredible win in SoFi Stadium. The Atlanta Falcons fought hard against the Los Angeles Rams, but their second half comeback fell short. Atlanta falls to 0-2 in the NFC South, and they will stay on the west coast, facing the Seattle Seahawks on the road next Sunday. Although Sunday ended it defeat, the Falcons showed their 2022 squad has a lot more character, than recent Falcons teams have had.

The Game

A promising opening Falcons drive stuttered near the Rams redzone, when Bobby Wagner rushed untouched through the B gap and sacked Marcus Mariota. Younghoe Koo missed his resulting 44 yard field goal on 4th down. A brilliantly choreographed Rams drive was capped off with a 1 yard touchdown grab by Allen Robinson, who beat AJ Terrell with a fade route. Terrell was beaten with ease and has been a concern through two weeks. Rams done a great job staying balanced and utilizing play action. The following Falcons drive ended with them turning the ball over on downs at midfield after two consecutive unsuccessful zone read rush attempts. Darrell Henderson made it a two score game with an 8 yard touchdown run, Cooper Kupp threw the crucial block to open the running lane. LA's pass rush forced an errant pass to Kyle Pitts from Marcus Mariota on 3rd and goal. A nice 22 yard connection with KhaDarel Hodge on a crossing route had set Atlanta up in Rams terrority. Koo made no mistake with his second field goal attempt to leave the score at 14-3 LA. The teams exchanged interceptions, first, Casey Hayward made a great play on the football to pick Stafford off in the Falcons endzone. Atlanta looked to get into field goal range, before the end of the half, but Cordarelle Patterson couldnt haul a bullet pass from Mariota and Decobie Durant returned the interception to the Falcons 9 yard line. The Rams appeared to be running away with the game after touchdowns either side of half time gave them a 28-3 lead. Mykal Walker would instigate a Falcons comeback, his interception of Matthew Stafford gave Atlanta field position at the Rams 21 yard line. The Falcons capitalised on the interception, as Drake London caught his first career touchdown on a slant route in a goal to go situation. London has been exceptional through two weeks. Down 31-10, Arthur Smith's offense orchestrated their best drive of the game. Mariota spread the ball around, completing passes to Pitts, London, Hodge and finally Zaccheaus to complete a 72 yard touchdown drive. The momentum was with the Falcons and rookie second round pick Troy Andersen blocked the Rams punt, linebacker Lorenzo Carter scooped the ball up and ran it in for a special teams touchdown to cut the deficit to eight. Arthur Smith ordered his team to go for 2 and they rewarded his belief, Mariota found London in the back of the endzone to leave the score at 31-25. LA were nervous, they were inexplicably one Falcons touchdown from losing after holding a 25 point lead. On a crucial 3rd and 4, Stafford went to his safety blanket Cooper Kupp for the first down, but Darren Hall punched the ball out and Atlanta recovered! It was the Falcons chance to avenge the ghosts of all their blown leads since Superbowl 51. For the second week in a row, the moment was too big for Marcus Mariota. Jalen Ramsey picked the Falcons quarterback as he forced a ball on 3rd down to Bryan Edwards. The decision got a lot of criticism, but Aaron Donald done exceptionally well to pressure Mariota into a high throw. We got a late intentional safety as the Rams decided to milk the clock to make the scoreline a tad more respectable at 31-27.

Falcons MVP

Drake London: Drake London has been phenomenal for the Atlanta Falcons. I was critical of us selecting him with the 8th overall pick, but he is making me eat humble pie with each passing week.

Falcons Positives

Fight: Arthur Smith will be incredibly proud of his team's fight in the second half. They continued to play for him and never gave up despite the large deficit. Encouraging signs for the weeks ahead against lesser opposition. 

Falcons Negatives

Slow start: You can't give teams  a 25 point lead and expect to comeback and win a game of football. Atlanta has to play for 4 full quarters.

Marcus Mariota: The Atlanta Falcons quarterback has to do a better job in the passing game, he seems unsettled in the pocket and is looking to move, when he has time. He has happy feet. 

Box Score

Atlanta Falcons

Passing: Marcus Mariota: 17/26 for 196 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, 81.6 passer rating.
Rushing: Cordarelle Patterson: 10 carries for 41 yards. 
Receiving: Drake London: 8 receptions for 86 yards and one touchdown.

Los Angeles Rams

Passing: Matthew Stafford 27/36 for 272 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, 100.7 passer rating.
Rushing: Darrell Henderson: 10 carries for 47 yards and one touchdown. 
Receiving: Cooper Kupp: 11 receptions for 108 yards and two touchdowns.

Highlights

The highlights of the game are available on youtube here.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Orleans Saints 27-26 Atlanta Falcons: Falcons choke away 16 point fourth quarter lead

Image
The Atlanta Falcons suffered an embarrassing week one loss to their arch rivals the New Orleans Saints. Atlanta inexcusably blew a 16 point fourth quarter lead to break their fans hearts once again. It is the 8th time since Superbowl 51, the Falcons have blown a double digit lead. The team can change quarterbacks, players and coaches, but the club's inability to put games away seems ingrained in their DNA. Atlanta has lost 10 of their last 16 games, in which they have led after 3 quarters of play. The Falcons are 5-3 in games they have held a 15 point lead after three quarters over the last 3 seasons, compared to the rest of the NFL, who are 245-2-1 in said games. The Game Atlanta opened the game with a 10 play drive that ended with a Younghoe Koo 54 yard field goal. Taysom Hill scored the opening touchdown of the game with an 11 yard rush, Hill had set up the Saints in the redzone with a 57 yard power run two plays earlier. 7-3 Saints. Olamide Zaccheaus gifted possession to New Or...
Read more

Cleveland Browns @ Atlanta Falcons Week 4 2022 Preview

Image
The Atlanta Falcons face their first AFC opponent of the season in the 2-1 Cleveland Browns. Kevin Stefanski's side have had a extra three days to prepare for this, after defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 3's Thursday night football. The Browns are playing without Deshaun Watson until week 11, due to suspension, so Jacoby Brissett is their quarterback following the offseason trade of Baker Mayfield to Carolina. Cleveland really should be 3-0, but a late collapse in week two against the Jets, where they allowed New York to recover an onside kick, saw them inexplicably lose after leading by 13 points with just 90 seconds left. This could be a high scoring game, as it is a meeting of two top 10 scoring offenses. Head to Head Browns D vs  Falcons O It'll be a match up of strength vs strength as the leagues 5th best rush attack in Atlanta goes up against Cleveland's 7th best rush defense which is allowing just 83.7 yards rushing per game. Only Nick Chubb and Saquon B...
Read more