The Falcons fought hard in their Week 6 loss to the Cardinals but they couldn’t pull out a desperately-needed victory. An extra point that would have tied the game late in the fourth quarter went just wide. Now this team is 1-5, and essentially playing for 2020 draft position.
Unlike some of Atlanta’s losses from earlier in the year when both the offense and defense collectively underachieved, Matt Ryan and the offense came to play on Sunday.
Defensively, they just couldn’t slow down Cardinals rookie Kyler Murray. Not everyone deserves blame for that, though, so here are three players that did their jobs despite the team’s 34-33 loss in Arizona.
Matt Ryan
Ryan played one of the most efficient games of his career, completing 30-of-36 passes for 356 yards, four touchdowns and a passer rating of 144.9. That stat line isn’t just good enough to win most games, it’s about as good as any quarterback in this league is capable of playing. Ryan threw some bad interceptions earlier in the year, but he’s been very good over the past two weeks. He leads the NFL in touchdown passes with 15 through six games.
Austin Hooper
Hooper is quickly changing from a fantasy sleeper to one of the top tight ends in football. In Week 6, he caught all eight of his targets for 117 yards and a touchdown. He remains Atlanta’s leading receiver and is the only current Falcons player that seems to like Dirk Koetter’s system. Hooper currently leads all tight ends in catches and is second in receiving yards.
Grady Jarrett
Jarrett is doing his part on Atlanta’s defensive line, but somehow the other linemen can’t seem to capitalize on his consistent pressure up the middle. Jarrett had four tackles, and gave the interior of Arizona’s offensive line headaches all day. He was the biggest factor in keeping the Cardinals’ running game in check. The secondary just couldn’t hold up without Desmond Trufant and Keanu Neal. Jarrett is having one of the best seasons of his career, even if the team isn’t.
