It’s no longer a slump. A slump implies that a proven performer has hit a dip. The Falcons have lost four of five and look not much different from what they were in Mike Smith’s final two seasons, meaning lousy. And blowing a 14-point home lead against a 4-5 opponent playing behind a 40-year-old backup quarterback … well, that’s a lousy loss.
There was no reason to lose Sunday. They led 14-0 and 21-7. Through three quarters, they’d outgained Indianapolis 324 yards to 188. The fourth quarter began with Ricardo Allen intercepting a terrible pass by Matt Hasselbeck, the antiquity playing in place of Andrew Luck. With a little more than 10 minutes remaining, the Colts punted. Donte Moncrief downed it at the 1. Here the lousiness commenced.
Matt Ryan dropped to throw on first-and-10 from his 1. Matt Ryan, signer of a contract worth more than $100 million. Matt Ryan, the best thing about the Falcons over the past 7 1/2 years. Matt Ryan, known as Matty Ice. That Matt Ryan dropped to throw and threw away the game.
Linebacker D’Qwell Jackson intercepted, and it wasn’t as if he made a diving catch. (Ryan’s first interception of the day required a diving catch.) Jackson was simply standing in coverage, standing where Ryan didn’t expect.
“Hit him between the ‘5’ and the ‘2’,” Ryan said afterward, sarcasm oozing. (Jackson wears No. 52.) A few moments earlier, Ryan had said: “That’s just a play I can’t make … I’ve got to be better than that.”
Well, yes. A franchise quarterback of such seasoning cannot throw the ball to an opposing linebacker standing on the 6-yard line with 10 minutes left in a seven-point game. Believe it or not, this wasn’t the shortest INT-for-a-touchdown return Ryan has had. He had one for zero yards against Carolina two years ago. That was when the Falcons were lousy. Don’t look now, but they appear less competent with every week.
They’re 6-4, which as of today would qualify them for the playoffs. That hold, however, weakens with every week. Worse, the team that made “finish” its mission statement just bungled another finish. “We put so much into that,” coach Dan Quinn said. “We know that (finishing) has to happen; when it doesn’t, that gets hard.”
A lot of other stuff happened Sunday — the Falcons scored no points off three Indy turnovers; Matt Bryant clanked another field goal try off the upright, giving him three doinks for the season — but we’ll cut to the end. Adam Vinatieri put the Colts ahead with 52 seconds remaining. Quinn had burned his timeouts, giving his team a chance to answer. Eric Weems erred in trying to return the kickoff from the end zone. That cost five seconds and two yards.
Still, no NFL quarterback has authored more fourth-quarter comebacks than Ryan over the past 7 1/2 seasons. Here the Falcons would have settled for a tie and overtime. Ryan threw seven passes, completing three. Those completions netted 21 yards, which didn’t even get the Falcons to their 40, let alone across midfield. The game’s final snap came at 0:01. Ryan’s Hail Mary was intercepted 10 yards short of the end zone.
Exaggerating only slightly, Roddy White said the Falcons had succeeded on such a drive “1,000 times.” What happened this time? “We didn’t get anything going. You need a chunk of yardage to get going, and we didn’t get it. We kind of mismanaged the clock. We set ourselves back.”
That’s pretty much the river that runs through the Falcons’ past six games, four of them losses, the other two hairbreadth victories over bad teams. They’re mismanaging things. They’re setting themselves back. They’re not good enough to win over the long haul at half-capacity. They have no shot if Ryan throws the ball to the wrong team.
When the Falcons were 5-0, the talk of “finishing” resonated with these players. Their new coach was saying all the right words, even if those words were no different from those spoken by their old coach. After the failures against San Francisco and here Sunday, Quinn must find new talking points posthaste — or else his team will be, ahem, finished.
