A lot had to go right for the Falcons to be 4-0. A lot went wrong Sunday: Matt Ryan made three turnovers; Matt Bryant doinked two field goals off the uprights (first right, then left); an apparent go-ahead touchdown in the final minute of regulation was voided by replay; Washington’s 52-yard field goal to tie sailed true as time expired, and then – pause for breath – the Falcons lost the coin toss in overtime.
And they’re 5-0.
This being the NFL of Any Given Sunday, teams will have given Sundays like this. The mediocre ones lose. The good ones invent ways to win. The Falcons are becoming a very good team.
In five weeks, they’ve won one fewer game than they did all last season. In five weeks, they’ve rallied ’round a coach, unearthed a running back and regained the credibility they spent 2013 and 2014 shredding. At 4:30 p.m. Sunday, the corridors of the Georgia Dome resounded with the chant, “Five-and-oh! Five-and-oh!”
“That was a really clear demonstration of our toughness, our grit and our mindset to finish,” coach Dan Quinn called Sunday’s breathless 25-19 victory, and even if that sentence sent the Cliché Meter into the danger zone, the sentiment was spot-on.
The Falcons didn’t win Sunday because they were masters of precision. They won because they decided that, no matter what, they weren’t losing. Robert Alford was flagged for a 42-yard pass interference penalty that led to Washington nosing ahead with 7:59 left in the fourth quarter. Ryan’s second interception of the day enabled the Redskins to push their lead to four points with 2:38 left.
Ryan would then drive the Falcons to the touchdown that could have won the game but didn’t quite. Alford’s second interception of the day won the game. With the Redskins at midfield, linebacker Nate Stupar (whose name keeps popping up often) came unblocked off the right side. Kirk Cousins, who’d taken his team 46 yards in 19 seconds to the tying field goal, hurried his throw to Ryan Grant, who was in mid-stumble. Alford snagged the pass and fled 59 yards. In baseball, it’s called a walk-off. In Alford’s case, it was a strut-off.
Afterward, someone suggested the final play developed in slow-motion. “It wasn’t slow-motion,” Alford said. “I was trying to get to the end zone as fast as I could.”
Ergo, 5-0. The Falcons have trailed four times in the fourth quarter. The first three comebacks came on days when Julio Jones was otherworldly. Jones didn’t catch a pass in this first half and would finish with a mere five receptions, but another Falcon has risen. Devonta Freeman, who wasn’t a starter when the season commenced, has become a dominant force.
Freeman rushed for 153 yards and caught seven passes for 44 more. His seventh touchdown in the past three weeks saved the Falcons, and this was memorable because Freeman scored it twice. Split wide, Freeman beat linebacker Will Compton on a slant for what appeared six unassailable points. But the NFL’s dreaded Catch Rule rose up. For a reception to stand, you have to possess the ball to the ground, then dig a hole and bury yourself and the football. After an excruciating period of deliberation, the TD was nullified.
This left the Falcons with fourth-and-2 at 0:51, meaning: Convert or be 4-1. Ryan found Roddy White, whom Ryan has spent the past month not finding, for a tough catch over the middle. First and goal. Freeman took a draw and pinballed for the touchdown no videographer could overturn.
“He’s a competitor,” Ryan said of Freeman. “He’s a really talented guy, but when he bounces off guys like that … That’s what I love to see.”
Said Quinn, the architect of this improbable restoration: “A game like that, that’s as fun as football gets.”
There appear to be a slew of wins on the remaining schedule, and such an escape only underscores the notion that these Falcons are onto something. Quinn again: “When you push yourself to another threshold, you gain something.”
The more you believe, the more you win. The more you win, the more you believe. For these Falcons, the fun has only begun.
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