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    • The Atlanta Falcons’ nail-biting finishes are a way of life
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    The Atlanta Falcons’ nail-biting finishes are a way of life

    Vaseline Posted on

    ATLANTA – All this last-minute drama for the Atlanta Falcons may be doing more than just grating Arthur Blank’s nerves.

    This time it came down to Younghoe Koo’s career-long 58-yard field goal with two seconds on the clock – set up by a 30-yard pass interference penalty.

    “From black hair to gray hair,” Blank, the 82-year-old owner of the Falcons, said after Sunday’s 26-24 win over the New Orleans Saints. “Soon it won’t be a hair anymore.”

    Yep, these nail-biting finishes for the Dirty Birds have created quite a pattern to wonder about.

    Last week, the Falcons threatened to upset the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs but instead left Mercedes-Benz Stadium feeling robbed because of an apparent pass interference call when Kyle Pitts fouled late in the fourth quarter was torn up in the end zone. .

    In Week 2 in Philadelphia, they won 22-21 on a 7-yard Drake London touchdown catch (and extra-long conversion) that capped a last-minute drive that might not have mattered if Eagles running back Saquon Barkley didn’t have the ball drop. pass on the previous possession.

    There have been some strange things that have worked both ways.

    To survive Sunday, the Falcons (2-2) didn’t score an offensive touchdown — except for the one early in the fourth quarter when Bijan Robinson took a dump-off pass from Kirk Cousins ​​and bolted 19 yards to the end zone, only to have it to have it wiped out by one of Atlanta’s nine penalties. The touchdowns came when KhaDarel Hodge recovered Rashid Shaheed’s muffed punt in the end zone and when Troy Andersen raced 47 yards on the return of a pop-up interception set up by Matthew Judon’s deflection of a Derek Carr pass.

    It’s no wonder Cousins ​​grumbled that there’s “a lot to fix.”

    They collected just 14 first downs and converted a mediocre 36.4% of their third downs (4 of 11).

    Still, the Falcons won when they couldn’t afford to lose. A loss would have meant three consecutive home defeats to start a campaign that started with the highest expectations in at least half a dozen years. Instead, they entered a three-game stretch against NFC South rivals — they’ll host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night — with another example of resilience.

    Raheem Morris, the Falcons’ first-year coach, expects a make-or-break ending.

    “It’s about having enough mental stamina to go out there and push and chase,” he said. “They fight every week, and I’m proud of them.”

    Morris had reason enough to imagine the final ending. During the typical situational drill during practice on Friday, he said the Falcons had 56 seconds and zero timeouts. On Sunday, the Falcons began the final drive at their 30-yard line with exactly one minute on the clock and no timeouts.

    Deeper than any premonition, during Friday’s two-minute drill in which the ball was advanced to set up a punt from Koo, the Falcons gained a large chunk of yards from a pass interference penalty. In practice, the Falcons’ biggest play in setting up the field goal was the 30-yard pass interference penalty on Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo, who crashed into intended receiver Darnell Mooney.

    “That’s crazy, as ironic as that is,” Mooney said. “We did that and it worked the same way. It is the manifestation.”

    Mooney, a fifth-year pro, acknowledged he should draw the penalty. Cousins ​​threw down the pass and insisted he wished he had thrown it further and let the receiver run to get it.

    Of course, he’ll take the punishment, especially since he was on the other end of such a scenario when Chiefs safety Bryan Cook crashed into Pitts a week earlier.

    “I just don’t want to leave it up to the refs,” Cousins ​​said.

    Mooney adjusted to the ball while it was in flight after realizing the pass had been thrown under the ball. He explained the skill required to position himself in that situation and show his hands to catch the football while being obstructed by the cornerback.

    In other words, it was a professional coupling move.

    “It’s something I’ve been working on for a long time,” Mooney said. “And it worked today.”

    During Friday practice, the Falcons never got the actual kick from Koo. But preparing for the kick was enough. As was the case during the match. Koo, one of the NFL’s most reliable kickers, had already scored field goals from 53, 44 and 42 yards on Sunday.

    Still, it seemed a little strange that after the penalty moved the football to the Saints’ 40-yard line, the Falcons attempted three consecutive deep shots instead of throwing a shorter pass to pick up a few extra yards. Morris claimed that the defensive coverage dictated where Cousins ​​threw those plays. Maybe. But if Koo’s kick had been a bit short, it would have been open season on the second guess.

    Koo didn’t mind.

    “When we got to 40, I knew I had a chance,” he calmly recalled. “I was just locked up, done.”

    Although his career total was 54 yards entering Sunday, Koo said he has connected for up to 65 yards in practice. For the game winner, the kick sailed through the uprights with at least 5 meters to spare.

    “It ended up being a Koo make or miss,” Morris said. “It didn’t matter where it came from. Koo went there.’

    Might make some people pull their hair.

    Vaseline
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