Falcons show better form in near upset of Patriots, but so what?

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Falcons who sacked New England quarterback Drake Maye six times on Sunday — it would have been nice if they had shown up in Charlotte to play the Panthers back in September.

The Falcons who scrapped against a team on a five-game winning streak and had the ball late in the fourth quarter with a chance to take the lead — maybe that team could have taken the field against the Miami Dolphins at home last week?

(The Falcons who missed a point-after try that would have tied the New England Patriots with 4:40 left in the game — sorry, no invitations forthcoming for that version.)

The Falcons who can compete and even beat the best teams in the NFL sprung forth from their cosmic wormhole on Sunday and nearly knocked off the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, attempting a comeback from two different double-digit deficits before falling 24-23.

“The team came out and fought,” coach Raheem Morris said. “That’s what you coach for, that’s what you look for. You loved the way they were able to go out there and fight. … We’ve just got to find a way to win.”

It made for an entertaining afternoon. It demonstrated the potential that this team has. And in a parallel universe in which the Falcons didn’t show only trace amounts of competitiveness in their inexcusable defeats to Carolina and Miami, it might confirm that the Falcons can make the playoffs and maybe even advance.

But we do not live in said universe, one in which devouring Halloween candy is commendable dental hygiene and knowledge of 80s sitcom theme song lyrics is evidence of both refinement and intelligence.

In that alternate reality, in which they had defeated the Panthers and Dolphins by giving the energy and effort they showed against the Patriots on Sunday and the Buffalo Bills three weeks ago, they would have shown up to Gillette Stadium at 5-3, very much in the playoff picture. A loss would not have been so costly.

But, instead, they started the day 3-4 and ended it 3-5, their third consecutive loss. Also, Starbursts still rot your teeth, and few people care that it takes different strokes to move the world. (Yes, it does.)

Consequentially, pushing one of the NFL’s surprise teams to the brink in its home stadium only feels like what it was — a defeat that lowered the Falcons further into the abyss.

“We had good next-play mentality, but, again, there’s nothing really to be proud of,” wide receiver Drake London said. “We lost.”

The possibility of the Falcons ending their seven-year playoff drought shriveled up even more Sunday. After the loss, the NFL website projected the team’s postseason chances at 13%, down from 18% going into Sunday.

However much better the team might have played, “still didn’t feel good like last week didn’t feel good,” veteran left tackle Jake Matthews said.

Unlike last week, when the Dolphins wadded up the Falcons like a used napkin, there were things to like out of the Falcons’ performance. London played out of his mind, securing a career-high three touchdown catches, winning 50/50 balls from quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and looking like the best player on the field.

LaCale London, first-round draft pick Jalon Walker and Brandon Dorlus took down Maye twice each. Walker’s second-quarter takedown also caused a fumble that fellow first-round draft pick James Pearce Jr. scooped up and returned to the doorstep of the Patriots end zone in a life-giving play at the end of the first half.

After hemorrhaging yards and points in the first half, the Falcons defense bowed up in the second and gave the offense a chance, limiting the Patriots to a field goal on the first drive of the third quarter and holding them scoreless the rest of the way.

The offense did the unlikely and scored touchdowns on all three of its red-zone possessions, all Drake London-scoring catches. (The Falcons started the game 29th in the NFL in red-zone touchdown percentage at 45%).

“He does special things each and every week,” Penix said.

The Falcons trailed 21-7 in the second quarter and 24-14 at the start of the fourth but drove for a field goal to cut the lead to 24-17 early in the fourth quarter. After the defense generated a stop, Penix then led the offense 85 yards to the end zone with playmaking that called to mind his coming-of-age touchdown drive at Washington last season. Penix converted a fourth-and-4 with a laser into London’s chest for a 10-yard gain. On fourth-and-goal from the 8, with under five minutes remaining and the game on the line, Penix zipped a pass on a clothesline to the front of the end zone that an airborne London stabbed with his left hand and secured with his right, landing both feet in the end zone.

“The man above — God-given talent,” London said, explaining the methodology for executing such a catch. “I just let my body take over.”

A successful point-after try from Parker Romo would have tied the game at 24. As tends to happen with the Falcons, it slid wide. The Falcons defense produced yet another stop, this time giving Penix a chance to drive for a win. It was not successful.

It was hardly a clean game by the Falcons, starting with the Patriots going 8-for-12 on third downs while the Falcons were 1-for-10.