The Patriots got nailed with a penalty and a couple of big dropped passes on the next drive, leading to (surprise) another punt. The Patriots got excellent field position thanks to a long Julian Edelman return that could have been longer had he not stepped out of bounds, which the Falcons got the refs to concede on review. The Falcons got the ball first, and were unable to get a first down against a motivated Patriots defense, punting it away. The Patriots had a stop-and-go drive, but the important news was that the Falcons held them to three points. Of course, when Robert Alford has the chance to make an interception, he rarely misses out on that opportunity, and he came up with a long pick six to put the Falcons up 21-0 with the second quarter winding down. Then Brian Poole committed another one, and it looked certain that the Patriots would score. The Patriots didn’t do a hell of a lot on the next drive, but the Falcons committed two holding penalties (one from Alford, one from Poole) to keep things moving for New England. On their next drive, the Falcons rang up another touchdown after a productive drive, with Austin Hooper bringing in a 19 yard catch. Then Devonta Freeman made a series of brilliant cuts to get the Falcons inside the ten yard line, and one more cut and a flying leap got him into the end zone. The Falcons got to cookin’ with back-to-back big catches by Julio Jones, including one over the middle with coverage nearby. The Falcons stripped the ball away from LaGarette Blount and came away with the fumble to get the ball back. The Falcons couldn’t stop the Patriots initially, with New England connecting on a 27 yard pass to Julian Edelman, but things changed in a hurry. The Patriots got moving on their next drive, but the quarter ended at a 0-0 tie. The next set of downs saw a short Devonta Freeman run, a slightly longer Tevin Coleman run, and a Ryan slide. On their next drive, the Falcons got rolling early, with a nine yard run by Tevin Coleman and first down grab by Patrick DiMarco to start things off. They then got the Pats to third and short, but weren’t able to get a stop before getting a Courtney Upshaw sack, incompletion, and Grady Jarrett sack to force another Patriots punt. A short Devonta Freeman gain, a short Patrick DiMarco catch, and a big sack of Matt Ryan ended a promising start, and Matt Bosher nailed a punt inside the ten yard line that set the Patriots back significantly to start things off on their second drive.Ī handoff to Julian Edelman failed, but the Patriots got a pair of first downs on back-to-back passes. Devonta Freeman got some nice blocking up front and juked his way by multiple Patriots defenders en route to the 45. That gave the Falcons the ball near the goal line-after a Paul Worrilow holding penalty on the return-and almost immediately got to midfield. The Falcons’ defense did an amazing job immediately, forcing a three and out on a missed pass, nine yard Julian Edelman catch, and a stuffed run. The Falcons deferred to start the game, putting the ball in the hands of the New England Patriots offense. Let’s break this thing down quarter-by-quarter. Unfortunately, it ended in the most catastrophic, terrible fashion imaginable, with the team climbing out to a huge lead that it subsequently squandered en route to a heartbreaking loss in overtime. The Atlanta Falcons had a magical season by any standard, especially given our expectations.
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