With the 27-24 win over the Bears, the Falcons (5-6) picked up a half-game on the Buccaneers (5-5), who had a bye week, n the NFC South standings.
“It was a big win for us,” Falcons Arthur Smith said. “Keeps us in it. We’ll have a huge challenge going up to Washington.”
The Saints won (4-7) to stay a game behind the Falcons. The Panthers (3-8) loss and dropped two games of the pace in the division.
Cordarrelle Patterson’s record-setting 103-yard kickoff return helped spark the Falcons from a 10-point deficit to the victory which stopped a two-game losing streak.
“It was a huge play,” Smith said. “(That was a) big time play by the return unit and by CP.”
Here are five takeaways from the win over the Bears:
1. One of the record books: Patterson was quick to give the kickoff return unit credit for opening up the big hole to get his record-setting return started.
He finished with 147 kick return yards on three returns. It was Patterson’s ninth career kickoff return for a touchdown, an NFL record. He was tied with Josh Cribbs and Leon Washington (eight).
Seven of Patterson’s touchdown returns were of 100 yards or more.
The return was also the longest in franchise history, breaking the record of 102 held by former Pro Bowler Eric Weems, who did it twice.
“That boy took off,” Falcons safety Jaylinn Hawkins said. “He took off like a rocket.”
2. Running by committee: It was Patterson’s third game back from left knee surgery and he was back up to his normal work load.
In his first game back against Chargers, he rushed 13 times for 44 yards. In a game played just five days later, against the Panthers, he had only five carries.
He rushed 10 times for 52 yards against the Bears and caught a pass for nine yards.
“Coming off 10 days,” Smith said. “We had two games in five days. You don’t play for a month or so, you got two games in five days. We didn’t have that many offensive snaps anyway in Charlotte, get your rest.”
The Falcons wanted to have Patterson rested for the Bears, Commanders and Steelers before they finally get to their bye week.
“It’s a big stretch for us,” Smith said.
Tyler Allgeier finished with 55 yards rushing on 10 carries and Caleb Huntley had a carry for four yards. Overall, the Falcons rushed 35 times for 201 yards.
The Falcons have rushed for more than 1,750 yards through the first 11 games for the fifth time in franchise history and the first time since 2006.
3. Pass rush: The Falcons had a solid pass rush against the Bears as they came up with a season-high four sacks for the second time this season.
They also had four sacks against the Saints in the season-opener.
Defensive end Grady Jarrett, outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter, outside linebacker Arnold Ebiketie and defensive tackle Abdullah Anderson all had sacks.
The Falcons now have 17 sacks on the season.
The Falcons have blitzed 63 times this season with linebackers Rashaan Evans (15) and Mykal Walker (10) being the main blitzers.
Jarrett is the top pass rusher with 13.5 pressures (one hurry, seven quarterback knockdowns and 5.5 sacks). Ebiketie is second with 9.5 pressures (one hurry, six knockdowns and 2.5 sacks). Carter is third with 6.5 (three knockdowns and 3.5 sacks). Defensive end/tackle Taquon Graham, who left the game with an apparent serious knee injury, is fourth with five pressures (five quarterback knockdowns.)
While the 17 sacks is near the bottom of the league (28th), counting the hurries and knockdowns for the pressure rating gives a better picture of the team’s pass rush. The Raiders are last in the league with 13 sacks.
Dallas’ defense, which is coordinated by former Falcons head coach Dan Quinn, leads the league with 42 sacks heading to Week 11′s Monday Night Football game.
Losing Graham would be huge. He was playing the run well and providing some pass rush.
Troy Andersen (30 defensive snaps), Jalen Dalton (34 snaps) and Tim Horne (27 snaps) all pitched in against the Bears.
“It’s hard because TQ is a great player,” Andersen said. “One of the best defensive linemen that I’ve (played with). We just told each other, look we lost a key player and we have to step up. No ifs, ands or buts.”
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
4. Dalman bounced back: On a key third down-and-1 from the Bears’ 43, center Drew Dalman was driven back on a bull rush into Patterson, who was trying to make his way around the right side.
Patterson was hit four yards back, but fought his way back to the 44 to sent up the pivotal fourth down-and-2 call.
On the next play, Dalman blew open a massive hole and got two blocks to help Patterson pick up 6 yards and get the Falcons closer to Younghoe Koo’s field goal range.
“We hit them on the sneak earlier, so they were in there,” Smith said of the third-down play. “They were all in there in that sneak front. We were trying to go around them. They got more penetration.”
The Falcons didn’t waste time in deciding to go for it.
“To go in there and get the fourth down and it’s a got to have it (situation),” Smith said. “Thankfully we got that.”
5. Kicking game solid: Kicker Younghoe Koo and punter Bradley Pinion bounced back from poor games against Carolina.
Koo missed an extra point wide right and had one blocked against the Panthers. Pinion had punts of 33, 31 and 28 yards against the Panthers.
Koo made field goals of 40 and 53 yards and all three of his extra points against the Bears.
Pinion punted three times and had a 39.7 net averaged. He placed one inside the 20 and had one touchback.
“Big game for Koo,” Smith said.
Koo’s 53-yarder came with 1:47 to play and provided the game-winning points. Koo finished with nine points.
Koo, since joining the Falcons in 2019, has made 11 of 13 field goal attempts (84.6%) in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime.
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The Bow Tie Chronicles
Atlanta Falcons 2022 schedule
Sept. 11: Saints 27, Falcons 26
Sept. 18: Rams 31, Falcons 27
Sept. 25 Falcons 27, Seahawks 23
Oct. 2 Falcons 23, Browns 20
Oct. 9 Buccaneers 21, Falcons 15
Oct. 16 Falcons 28, 49ers 14
Oct. 23 Bengals 35, Falcons 17
Oct. 30 Falcons 37, Panthers 34 OT
Nov. 6 Chargers 20, Falcons 17
Nov. 10 Panthers 25, Falcons 15
Nov. 20 Falcons 27, Bears 24
Nov. 27 at Washington, 1 p.m.
Dec. 4 vs. Pittsburgh, 1 p.m.
BYE WEEK
Dec. 18 at New Orleans, TBD
Dec. 24 at Baltimore, 1 p.m.
Jan. 1 vs. Arizona, 1 p.m.
Jan. 8 vs. Tampa Bay, TBD
