This is what bad teams do. They play well enough early, make a couple of plays, turn a fumble into a touchdown, get a blooper-reel of an interception after the ball bounced off a guy’s foot as 77,000 frozen moose-hunters watch in stunned silence … and they lose anyway.
They lead 21-10 at halftime, understand it won’t take much to put away an opponent that is starting a twice-waived, fourth-string quarterback … and they lose anyway.
They’re playing an expected Super Bowl-contender whose season has long-since imploded — sound familiar? — an opponent on an 0-4-1 slide, coming off a 40-10 loss to Detroit and being booed at home … and they somehow, some way find a path to self-destruction.
“It’s really frustrating to come out in such a fashion in the second half and not even put a decent drive together,” Falcons guard Justin Blalock said Sunday. “We just shoot ourselves in the foot, whether it’s a technique here or a penalty there. No matter what do …”
… they lose. Usually.
This time, the Falcons turned a 21-10 lead into a 22-21 loss to Matt Flynn (not Aaron Rodgers) and the Green Bay Packers (not really).
There is your affirmation on the of significance of last week’s overtime win over Buffalo. Bupkis. Instead of winning consecutive games for the first time this season, the Falcons (3-10) hit double-digit losses for the first time since 2007 (4-12).
On a related note, they’re within one game of first place in the draft.
“This is a game you have to win,” wide receiver Roddy White said. “When I came back into the locker room (at halftime), I told everybody that we needed another score to win this game.”
That’s all it would’ve taken.
Green Bay’s defense is awful. Its last six opponents had scored 31, 27, 27, 27, 26 and 40 points (that coming in a humiliating 40-10 loss at Detroit on Thanksgiving). But the Falcons made them look like a Packers’ defense from another era.
It started with the lack of a running game. Beginning late in the second-quarter, first-down runs gained minus-1, 3, 1, 1, 4 and 1 yard. Steven Jackson gained 55 yards on nine carries in the first half (6.1 per carry) but was only six for 16 in the second (2.7).
“You have to do something to give people confidence in you to run the ball,” guard Peter Konz said.
Winds and frozen fingers are poor conditions for a passing game. It snowed. It was 9 degrees (minus-1 with the windchill). It was predictably ugly (four turnovers, two each). These are two teams having bad seasons. They had suffered the indignity of having a scheduled prime time game moved back to the day time.
Most of the seats in Lambeau Field were filled anyway. But there are only two things to do in Green Bay this time of year: watch the Packers and drink. How much of the latter makes the former bearable is up for debate.
The Packers lost Rodgers to injury. Flynn, released this season by Oakland and Buffalo, is their fourth option. When the Raiders and Bills let you go, that really should be considered no option.
This is the quarterback that led the Packers’ comeback. He completed 24-of-32 for 258 yards, despite being sacked five times. If you had to bet before the game which Matt would have a better efficiency rating, it would’ve been Ryan (81.4), not Flynn (95.6).
That 21-7 lead? Misleading. The second touchdown came on a 13-yard drive following a sack and fumble caused by safety William Moore on Flynn. The third touchdown was a 71-yard interception return by Sean Weatherspoon (who caught the ball after it bounced off the foot of teammate Paul Worrilow).
This is what the Falcons’ offense did on seven possessions after that mini-TD drive: punt, punt, punt, fumble, missed field goal, fourth down incompletion, interception. They dropped passes and missed blocks.
“Missed opportunities,” coach Mike Smith, who also set himself up for more second-guessing.
With less than seven minutes remaining, the Falcons trailed 22-21 and faced a fourth-and-12 from the Packers’ 34. They were driving into a stiff wind in freezing temperatures. But Smith opted for kicker Matt Bryant to attempt a field goal. Bryant thought he nailed it but it fell three yards short, dying as it approached the goal posts.
Theoretically, a punt might’ve pinned the Packers back deep in their zone and the Falcons could’ve played field position, but Smith believed the 34 was “right on the line” of Bryant’s range.
But in a similar situation with two minutes left — fourth-and-5 from the 33 — Smith went the other way, bypassing a 51-yard attempt. The previous kick changed his thinking. Bryant wanted a shot. (“I think I could’ve made a few adjustments.”) Instead, Ryan’s pass to Tony Gonzalez was juggled and dropped as he was being draped by Jarrett Bush.
Another moment in a losing season. It will be over soon enough.
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