Another playoff failure for Atlanta Falcons – NFL Season Review (Part V)
Continued from part IV...
After securing seven victories and losing four games, the chances of reaching the playoffs for Atlanta Falcons were bright. However, they had some more games to play in the regular season and their playoff appearance was dependent on the result of those
games.
At Houston
Falcons were unable to win more than three games in a row in the season. They were on a two-game winning streak when they visited the Houston Texans, who did not allow them to stretch the winning run.
Quarterback, Matt Ryan, failed badly against the Texans as he was able to complete 20 of 46 attempted passes for 267 yards, but he could only throw one touchdown-pass sent two interceptions, receiving a quarterback rating of 52.7.
Falcons struggled badly on offence. They scored their first scoring move of the game in the form of a field goal in the second quarter. Before that scoring move, Texans had already got a field goal in the first quarter and a touchdown in the second.
After the halftime, Falcons scored a touchdown in the third quarter to level the score. However, Texans scored a touchdown in the final quarter of the game without conceding any point and won the game. The final score settled at 17-10.
Falcons’ coach was disappointed after the loss and said:
"We played in spurts. We didn't do the things we wanted to accomplish. We had way too many dropped footballs, way too many things that we normally don't do."
At Carolina
Falcons had earlier defeated Carolina Panthers when the latter visited the former. This time around, it was Falcons’ turn to visit Carolina.
Falcons were coming after facing a defeat and they took some time to find their rhythm, but they started to get going, they were unstoppable.
In the first quarter, Falcons scored the first scoring move of the game in the form of a touchdown, but Panthers responded in the same quarter by scoring a touchdown to level the score.
The second quarter, however, was completely dominated by the Panthers. At first, they sacked Matt Ryan in his own end zone to earn two safety points. The move was followed by two touchdowns.
The halftime score settled at 23-7 in favour of Falcons.
Falcons did not feel low even after failing to score in the second quarter and came back hard in the second half in which they did not concede any point.
In the third quarter, Falcons scored a field goal and a touchdown to reduce the deficit to only six points.
In the final quarter, they scored two touchdowns and won the game. The final score was 31-23.
Ryan was brilliant in the game as he completed 22 passes of 38 attempts for 320 yards and sent four touchdown-passes. He did not throw any interception and got a quarterback rating of 120.5.
Against Jacksonville Jaguars
When the Jacksonville Jaguars visited Atlanta, the Falcons had a treat.
Ryan was brilliant. His receivers were splendid and the team’s defence was quite sturdy.
In the first quarter, Falcons scored a touchdown and a field goal. In the second quarter, they got two touchdowns and a field goal.
In the third quarter, Falcons added two more touchdowns and then it was Jaguars’ turn to score. They scored a touchdown in the same quarter and added another in the final.
When Jaguars scored, Falcons had already got 41 points. The lead became impossible to overcome and Falcons won the game rather easily. The final score settled at 41-14.
Ryan completed 19 of his 26 attempted passes for 224 yards and sent three touchdown-passes and once again successfully avoided throwing interceptions. He received a quarterback rating of 137.3.
To be continued...
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