The Atlanta Falcons came up short on Thursday night, losing, 26-18, to the New Orleans Saints in front of their home crowd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Thanksgiving.
It was the same old story fans are sick of reading about each and every week. The Falcons’ slow start offensively hurt the defense, then the team put up garbage-time points, and seriously flirted with a comeback.
Here are four takeaways from Atlanta’s ninth loss of the 2019 season.
Ryan’s turnovers, offensive line killed the Falcons
Ryan scrambling behind a leaky offensive line is not the kind of production that analysts had in mind when they routinely projected Atlanta to have one of the NFL’s elite offenses the season. For the second straight week, the Falcons offensive line lost the battle up front, which was the biggest difference between Thursday’s loss and the team’s Week 10 upset. While Ryan made the best of it early, he clearly got rattled late, fumbling and throwing two interceptions to kill the team’s chances with the game still up for grabs. This was the kind of offensive performance that gets offensive coordinators fired.
Home crowd woes?
The Falcons have not played well in front of their home crowd since Mercedes-Benz Stadium opened up. The team has won just 10 of 22 games its played there after Thursday’s loss. For whatever reason, Atlanta comes out especially flat at home. Whether that’s a result of play-calling, effort or something else, it’s unacceptable with the amount that Falcons owner Arthur Blank has invested into this franchise.
Team recovered 2 (really 3) onside kicks at the end
This was by far the most exciting/predictably disappointing loss the Falcons had all season due to two onside-kick recoveries giving them a chance at the end. There was also a third recovery that was called back on a penalty. Atlanta squandered the valiant comeback effort, but kicker Younghoe Koo clearly has knack for converting one of the NFL’s lowest percentage plays. That bodes well for Koo’s future with the team, along with the 25-year-old’s resilience in recovering from a rough start on Thursday night.
