FLOWERY BRANCH -- Falcons coach Arthur Smith could have pulled a Dennis Green after Sunday’s last-second loss to the Buccaneers. Wouldn’t that have been something?
The defending NFC South champion Buccaneers were just who the Falcons thought they were and they let them off the hook, to borrow a phrase from Green.
“If you want to crown ‘em, then crown their (behinds),” the late Green said after his Cardinals dropped one to a Bears years ago.
The Falcons could have run the Bucs out of the stadium, but they made too many blunders. They fought back to take the lead late, but the defense caved in the final minutes of the 29-25 loss at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“It was a tough game, obviously we had a lot of opportunities to win the game,” Falcons left guard Matthew Bergeron told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “In all three phases, whether if it was offense, defense or special teams. We had shots to win the game.”
The Falcons believe they can still salvage the season.
“We fell short, but with the type of players in this locker room we’ll keep working,” Bergeron said. “We’ll put our heads down, work and try to squeeze in, get in the playoffs.”
There was plenty of blame to spread around to the offense, defense and special teams.
Here’s the quick break down:
*Offense: Had a seven-possession scoring drought.
*Defense: Gave up a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive with the game on the line.
*Special teams: Missed two field goals.
Through 13 games, the Falcons have not put together a complete game and that was costly against the Bucs, who coughed up a two-score lead and then rallied back for victory.
Here’s a look at the five things we learned from the loss.
1. The NFC South race: Instead of taking a two-game lead over the Bucs with four to play, the Falcons are tied with the Bucs and Saints, all at 6-7, in a free-for-all to the finish line.
But after a heart-breaking loss, can the Falcons regroup and win the division?
“(Our) spirit is not broken,” Smith said. “We do have opportunities. It’ll be a wild adventure towards the end of the NFL season.”
The Falcons have 3 of 4 games on the road. They are 2-4 on the road this season.
“We’ve got to get ready to go,” Smith said. “Get on the road and go to Charlotte. We have to win that game.”
The Falcons chances of make the playoffs dropped to 33% with the loss to the Bucs.
2. No defensive stand: The offense woke up in time take a late lead, but the defense, which did a spectacular job on Mike Evans, could not hold the Buccaneers out of the end zone with 3:23 left to play in the game.
“Obviously, hit some plays on the outside or had some out breakers, and, you know, got the big first down,” Smith said. “They got the chunk yardage and obviously the one for the go-ahead touchdown with the tight end.”
Let’s look at that possession. The defense had a couple of chances to get off the field.
There appeared to be a fumble on fourth down-and-1 run by Rachaad White. Smith called a timeout with the hope the officials would review the play. Andre Smith appeared to recover the fumble.
No review was forthcoming with 1:33 left.
“That was a judgment call because I thought the ball came out.” Smith said of the fumble. “I thought he had it. You know, they went to hurry up to try to snap it, so I did, I used the one mechanism I had, which was to call a timeout. The ball did come out, but they said there was no clear recovery, so that’s the way it went.”
On second down-and-10, after an incomplete pass, Clark Phillips, who was playing a strong game, was called for defensive holding. Instead of third down-and-10 from Tampa Bay’s 48, it’s first down-and-10 from the Falcons’ 47.
After two more wild Mayfield throws, he connected with Chris Godwin on third down for a 32-yard gain. He pulled away from nickel back Dee Alford as the ball arrived.
With the ball on the 15-yard with 49 seconds left, White had a gain of 4 yards. On the next play, Mayfield lofted up a pass to Cade Otton for the touchdown with Richie Grant in coverage.
3. The offensive line dilemma: The Falcons had to play musical chairs along the offensive line with in-game injuries to left tackle Jake Matthews (rolled ankle) and right guard Chris Lindstrom (ankle).
Lindstrom returned to the action, but Matthews did not.
“Yeah, it got rolled pretty bad,” Matthews told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after the game. “We’ll see (on Monday).”
Kyle Hinton went in for Lindstrom and Tyler Vrabel, son of Titans coach Mike Vrabel, made his NFL debut while subbing for Matthews.
Matthews played 15 of 72 offensive snaps (21%) and Vrabel played 57 snaps (79%).
Storm Norton took over at right tackle for Kaleb McGary (right knee) and Ryan Neuzil started at center for Drew Dalman (ankle).
“It just shows how we work in our room,” Bergeron said. “Everybody has a ready-to-play mentality. You never know when you name is going to get called. At one point, it was just me and the four other guys and we figured out a way to make it work. It just shows how well-coached we are and how we are communicating well.”
4. Evans kept in check: The Falcons used an assortment of zone coverages to keep the ball away from Evans.
After catching seven passes for 162 yards and a touchdown in the previous game against the Panthers, Evans received a lot of extra attention in the game.
On third downs, the Falcons mostly used six defensive backs with Mike Hughes and Richie Grant in the slots and safeties Jessie Bates III and DeMarcco Hellams back deep.
Phillips, who started for Jeff Okudah, and A.J. Terrell were outside.
“That guy has been a great player for the last 10 years,” Phillips said. “Just look at his stat line. We definitely knew we needed to neutralize him in order to get the win today. Even though we did that, we didn’t get the win. So, we have to go back (to practice) and start chopping some more wood.”
5. Drake London’s big day: The Falcons wasted Drake London’s big day.
He finished with a career-high 10 receptions for 172 yards.
He moved pass Calvin Ridley (127 in 2018-19) for the second-most receptions in a player’s first two seasons in franchise history with 128, trailing only Julio Jones (133).
London also became the first Falcon since Russell Gage (11 in Week 13 of 2021) to catch at least 10 passes in a game.
“We’re not out of it,” London said. “We have to put up points and do all that. We’re not out of it. We’re going to keep on chugging and try to make our push into the playoffs.”
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