In all three Falcons’ losses this season, they have blown fourth-quarter leads and that is troubling to head coach Dan Quinn.
The Falcons gave up the winning touchdown – a 14-yard catch by the Bengals’ A.J. Green – with seven seconds remaining in the 37-36 loss Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“I thought we had our chances ... we allowed (two) fourth-down conversions during that drive as well,” Quinn said. “Those are the moments that I’m talking about, when it’s time to close the door and shut it. We are going to develop that instinct. We do not have it as we need to right now.”
The Falcons dropped to 1-3 on the season and are in last place in the NFC South. The Panthers (2-1) had a bye. The Saints (3-1) beat the Giants. The Buccaneers (2-2) lost to the Bears.
Blowing leads in the fourth quarter has become a habit early this season.
The Falcons held a 12-10 lead over the Eagles with 9:48 to play in the season-opener. They lost 18-12.
After defeating the Panthers 31-24, the Falcons lost 43-37 to the Saints in overtime. They led the 37-30 with 6:56 to play in regulation before they gave up the game-tying touchdown and could not stop the Saints in overtime.
After the offense failed to put the Bengals’ away and settled for a late field goal, the Falcons held a 36-31 lead with 4:15 to play. The defense couldn’t hold during a 16-play drive that covered 75 yards.
In all, the defense gave up 407 yards and had two busted coverages in the first half that led to wide open touchdown catches by tight end Tyler Eifert and second-year wide receiver John Ross.
“You've got to learn from these (mistakes),” Quinn said. “Each year, each team is different. For this team, we've got to learn from these mistakes or errors that could come up in those times, and it's in all three phases.”
The Falcons, who have been decimated by injuries on defense, are guarding against frustration.
“It’s not time to go crazy or whatever,” cornerback Robert Alford said. “I know the guys in this room and the coaching staff that we have, they are not going to accept that. Like I said, it’s early. We still have a lot of ball ahead of us.”
The Falcons, who missed 15 tackles against the Saints, tackled much better against the Bengals. However, they gave up 407 total yards.
The Bengals also converted on 7 of 12 third downs (58 percent) and were 2 of 2 on fourth-down conversions, both on the game-winning drive.
“It’s tough,” defensive end Vic Beasley said. “I feel like we’re always on the edge there the last couple of games, but we’ve just got to keep pounding.”
The Falcons are playing without middle linebacker Deion Jones (broken right foot), strong safety Keanu Neal (knee) and free safety Ricardo Allen (left Achilles) and the losses are starting to take a toll on the team’s psyche.
“It’s like just taking your heart and ripping it out,” Beasley said. “It’s tough but it’s just part of the game. It’s why we play the game. We play the game to win, but sometimes that’s how it ends up.”
The Falcons haven’t started finger-pointing, although the offense is scoring at a high clip.
“We have to remain optimistic,” Beasley said. “It’s tough. We’ve given up a lot of points on the defensive side of the ball lately, but we’ve just got to remain optimistic. We have to critique ourselves and get back to the practice field. We’ve got the Steelers next. We’re going to go up there are try to get a win.”
The Falcons believe they can turn their season around.
“It’s tough,” Beasley said. “It’s really tough. We’ve got a lot of confidence on this team, and we’ve got a lot of players to be successful and to win a lot of games. We’re not doing that right now, but we’re going to keep remaining positive and putting our best foot forward.”
It’s a thin line from being 4-0 and 1-3.
“There have been other years where we’ve been close in a lot of games that could have changed the outcome of the season,” right tackle Ryan Schraeder said. “At this point, it was the first quarter of the season. We have to reset and go to the second quarter with a better mindset. I think we’ll be better.”
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