9/24/17

Crazy Finish in Detroit leads to a Falcons 3-0 record

On a Sunday when many fans have refused to watched football due to the political protests of the NFL, there was a game set to be played in Detroit against the Lions and Falcons. The Falcons sitting nice at a 2-0 record looked to continue their hot offensive start and beat what many consider as a revamped Detroit Lions team.

After the Lions won the toss and deferred to receive the ball the 2nd half, the Falcons did what they do best and set the tone for the game. To start their drive, the Falcons attacked the Lions secondary that gave up 75 passing yards to Matt Ryan who found Mohamed Sanu for a 4 yard TD to put the Falcons up 7-0. But the scoring didn’t stop there, OC Steve Sarkisian kept the Lions defense on their heels and gave Matt Ryan the correct play calls to score a field goal and a 1 yard rushing TD by Devonta Freeman.

The Falcons defense, known for being disruptive and quick off the line, showed that they were going to pressure Matthew Stafford all day and not allow and big plays. In doing so, the Lions were only able to produce 2 field goals in their first 3 drives to make the score 17-6. After moving up and down the field the whole 1st half, Matt Ryan made a mistake that cost them 7 points when he threw an interception in his own territory that was picked off by Glover Quin that allowed the Lions to get within 4 points before halftime at 20-13.

This game was truly a tale of two halves and the 2nd half was all Lions as the Falcons were unable to move the chains. After the Lions held the Falcons to a field goal in their 1st drive of the second half, the Lions were able to orchestrate a 12 play 75 yard drive that ended with a 11 yard TD catch by Golden Tate to cut into the lead to 20-23. This is where things became a little dicey. The Falcons offense looked so good in the 1st half, but became stagnant and that resulted in a tipped shovel pass that was intercepted by Darius Slay that gave the Lions a tie game at 23-23 with 1:24 left in the 3rd quarter.

The 4th quarter was where the boys became men so to speak, after the Falcons were up against the wall, they responded with a 4 play 75 yard drive that was capped off with a 40 yard completion to Taylor Gabriel to put them back up 30-23. In the second half the Falcons defense refused to give up a TD and held the Lions to a long 57 yard field goal to make the score 30-26.

But as many Falcons fans know, no game is officially a Falcons game until something dramatic happens and they didn’t disappoint! After driving down the field into the red zone, yet another pass was tipped and resulted in Darius Slay’s 2nd interception of the game. With all the momentum shifting into the Lions favor and Ricardo Allen getting injured, the Lions moved down the field on an 11 play 88 yard drive.

What many Lions fans saw unfolding was the 29th 4th quarter comeback victory for Matthew Stafford but the Falcons defense did everything they could to prevent that. As the clock kept winding down, Falcons cornerback, Desmond Trufant was flagged for pass interference in the end zone resulting in the ball being placed at the 1 yard line. Matthew Stafford under pressure, was unable to connect on 2 consecutive passing plays that set up a 3rd down. After seeing the defense, the Lions called a slant pattern for Golden Tate who caught the ball and appeared to be in for a TD to seal the game for Detroit, but upon further review from the chief officials, Tate’s knee was down and the defenders hand on him before the ball broke the goal line. In this play being overturned, the score went back to 30-26 and due to the fact the clock was stopped and Detroit didn’t have any timeouts, the 10 second run off rule was in effect, giving Atlanta the victory.

Below is the link to the video, start at 3:58 what do you guys think?

nfl.com/…/Falcons-vs-Lions-highlights-Week-3

With this victory, Atlanta moves to 3-0 for the season and face the Buffalo Bills at home next week at 1pm.

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