Foye Oluokun saved the day for the Falcons.
The linebacker intercepted a pass in the final minute to secure a 20-16 win over the Lions and kept faint playoff hopes alive on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“It’s huge when you see your defense make a play to bail you out, to get the win,” Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan said. “Good football teams do that. You pick up the other side of the ball. Special teams makes a play when you need it. In this league, you need all three phases to be successful. I thought our defense did a great job of stepping up there at the end and icing the game.”
Atlanta improved to 7-8 on the season. The Lions dropped to 2-12-1.
“That’s kind of been our ethos, find a way to win,” Falcons coach Arthur Smith said. “I believe that puts us at 7-2 in one-possession games. …We are trying to create a culture of winning. Playing as a team. Playing smart situational football.”
The Falcons have had trouble running out the clock all season. Those troubles continued against the Lions.
Holding a slim four-point lead with the ball with less than three minutes to play, the Falcons fumbled it away after they couldn’t run the ball. Lions linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin hit wide receiver Russell Gage to cause a fumble than was recovered by Detroit’s Dean Marlowe at the Falcons’ 37-yard line with 2:18 to play.
“They went cover-zero and we got the check that we wanted,” Smith said. “Obviously, the ball came out. But I have all of the faith in the world in Russ and our team.”
With the Lions driving for a possible game-winning touchdown, Oluokun stepped in front of a pass intended for Kalif Raymond at the 1-yard line. He quickly slid to the ground at the 7-yard line with 33 seconds left.
Detroit had used their timeouts and all the Falcons had to do was kneel once.
“They did a five-out concept and maybe a double-move behind me,” Oluokun said. “I was kind of the (spy) player there. My eyes brought me over there and he threw it. I guess he thought he had something behind me. I just made the play on the ball when it came.”
After the Gage fumble, the defense handled the sudden-change situation well.
“There were no long faces on defense,” Smith said. “They went back out there and grinded it out. Played great situational football. Made them earn it and Foye came up with the big play.”
With the rushing attack stymied, Ryan and tight end Kyle Pitts hooked up to power the Falcons’ offense. Pitts caught six passes for 102 yards.
Pitts, who was named to the Pro Bowl last week, had his third 100-yard receiving game of the season. Running back Cordarrelle Patterson had a 6-yard touchdown run and tight end Hayden Hurst caught a 12-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. It was Ryan’s 366th touchdown pass, which tied him with Eli Manning on the NFL’s all-time list.
Pitts now has 949 yards receiving on the season, which surpassed Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez (930 in 2012) for the most receiving yards by a tight end in a season in franchise history.
Only tight ends Mike Ditka (1961, Bears) with five and Charle Young (1973, Eagles) with four have had more 100-yard games than Pitts as a rookie.
The Lions were playing without starting quarterback Jared Goff, who’s on the leagues’ reserve/COVID-19 LIST, and running back D’Andre Swift, who was trying to make it back from a shoulder injury. Tim Boyle was at the control for the Lions.
The Falcons did their part and now they need some help from other teams around the league to stay in the crowded NFC playoff race.
It was the Falcons first win at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium this season.
“It was cool to have your own fans cheering for you at the end of the game,” Oluokun said.
Here are the five things we learned from the game:
1. Lee Smith can block. The Falcon offense got off to a slow start. Ryan was sacked three times on the first possession.
With Boyle taking over for Jared Goff, the Lions opened with a 13-play drive that covered 54 yards before stalling at the Falcons’ 8-yard line. Lions kicker Riley Patterson made a 26-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
After an exchange of punts, the Falcons started to put somethings together offensively.
They used pass plays of 15 yards to Gage and 10 yards to Marvin Hall to put together a drive. The Falcons also ran two quarterback sneaks in short-yardage situations.
But when the second one came up short, the Falcons had the ball fourth and inches on the 6-yard line. With the Lions trying to clog up the middle of the field the Falcons tossed a pitch out to Cordarrelle Patterson on the left.
He picked up blocks from tight end Lee Smith and Pitts to score the touchdown and put the Falcons up 7-3.
2. Specials teams faked out. With the Falcons up 7-3, Lions guard Jonah Jackson committed a false start on fourth-and-1 at Atlanta’s 40.
On fourth-and-6 from the 45, punter Jack Fox, a former high school quarterback, tossed a pass to KhaDarel Hodge that picked up 21 yards and a first down.
Cornerback Darren Hall was in coverage and hhe and punt returner Avery Williams made the tackle on Hodge.
Three plays later, Boyle tossed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown to give the Lions a 10-7 lead.
3. Koo is automatic. The Falcons quickly moved to the Lion’s 35-yard line, but the drive stalled after incompletion on second and third down. Kicker Younghoe Koo made a 53-yard field goal to tie the game 10-10.
Koo added a 48-yard field goal in the third quarter to put the Falcons up 13-3.
Patterson added a 37-yard field goad to tie it 13-13.
4. Missed tackles. Linebacker Deion Jones had at least three missed tackles in the first half and there were at leased three others by the Falcons.
Oluokun led the defense with 11 tackles.
Also, safety Jaylinn Hawkins and defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard came up with a big stop on Craig Reynolds on third down-and-2 from Atlanta’s 5-yard line. The stop forced the Lions to kick a field goal to make it 20-16 with 2:38 to go.
5. Rushing attack. The Falcons wanted to run the ball better against Detroit, but they managed only 47 yards on 18 carries.
The Lions rushed for130 yards on the Falcons, but shot themselves in the foot with seven false start penalties.
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