ATLANTA — Atlanta pulled out a 20-16 victory over Detroit to improve to 7-8 on the season. The Lions dropped to 2-12-1.
The Falcons have had trouble running out the clock all season. Those troubles continued against the Lions.
Holding a slim four-point lead with the ball with less than three minutes to play, the Falcons fumbled it away after they couldn’t run the ball. Lions linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin hit wide receiver Russell Gage to cause a fumble than was recovered by Detroit’s Dean Marlowe at the Falcons’ 37 yard line with 2:18 to play.
With the Lions driving for a possible game-winning touchdown, Falcons linebacker Foye Oluokun saved the day with interception at the 1-yard line. He quickly slid to the ground at the 7-yard line with 33 seconds left.
With the rushing attack stymied, quarterback Matt Ryan and tight end Kyle Pitts hooked up to power the Falcons’ offense. Pitts caught six passes for 102 yards. Pitts, who was named to the Pro Bowl last week, had his third 100-yard receiving game of the season. Running back Cordarrelle Patterson had a 6-yard touchdown run and tight end Hayden Hurst caught a 12-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. It was Ryan’s 366th touchdown pass, which tied him with Eli Manning on the NFL’s all-time list.
The Lions were playing without starting quarterback Jared Goff, who’s on the leagues’ reserve/COVID-19 LIST, and running back D’Andre Swift, who was trying to make it back from a shoulder injury.
Backup quarterback Tim Boyle was attempting to pass to Kalif Raymond on Oluokun’s game-saving interception.
The Falcons did their part and now they need some help from other teams around the league to stay in the crowded NFC playoff race.
Here are the five things we learned from the game:
1. Lee Smith can block. The Falcon offense got off to a slow start. Ryan was sacked three times on the first possession.
With Boyle taking over for Jared Goff, the Lions opened with a 13-play drive that covered 54 yards before stalling at the Falcons’ 8-yard line. Lions kicker Riley Patterson made a 26-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
After an exchange of punts, the Falcons started to put somethings together offensively.
They used pass plays of 15 yards to Gage and 10 yards to Marvin Hall to put together a drive. The Falcons also ran two quarterback sneaks in short-yardage situations.
But when the second one came up short, the Falcons had the ball fourth and inches on the 6-yard line. With the Lions trying to clog up the middle of the field the Falcons tossed a pitch out to Cordarrelle Patterson on the left.
He picked up blocks from tight end Lee Smith and Pitts to score the touchdown and put the Falcons up 7-3.
2. Specials teams faked out. With the Falcons up 7-3, Lions guard Jonah Jackson committed a false start on fourth-and-1 at Atlanta’s 40.
On fourth-and-6 from the 45, punter Jack Fox, a former high school quarterback, tossed a pass to KhaDarel Hodge that picked up 21 yards and a first down.
Cornerback Darren Hall was in coverage and hhe and punt returner Avery Williams made the tackle on Hodge.
Three plays later, Boyle tossed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown to give the Lions a 10-7 lead.
3. Koo is automatic. The Falcons quickly moved to the Lion’s 35-yard line, but the drive stalled after incompletion on second and third down. Kicker Younghoe Koo made a 53-yard field goal to tie the game 10-10.
Koo added a 48-yard field goal in the third quarter to put the Falcons up 13-3.
Patterson added a 37-yard field goad to tie it 13-13.
4. Missed tackles. Linebacker Deion Jones had at least three missed tackles in the first half and there were at leased three others by the Falcons.
Oluokun led the defense with 11 tackles.
Also, safety Jaylinn Hawkins and defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard came up with a big stop on Craig Reynolds on third down-and-2 from Atlanta’s 5-yard line. The stop forced the Lions to kick a field goal to make it 20-16 with 2:38 to go.
5. Rushing attack. The Falcons wanted to run the ball better against Detroit, but they managed only 47 yards on 18 carries.
The Lions rushed for130 yards on the Falcons, but shot themselves in the foot with seven false start penalties.
