NFL: Late drama! Falcons defeat Giants

The Atlanta Falcons (2-4) keep their playoff hopes alive: At the end of the Week-7, the Falcons managed to win the Monday Night duel with the New York Giants (1-5) by a narrow 23:20 margin – a win in which Atlantas Defense was surprisingly able to make its mark on the game.

What seemed like an almost guaranteed shootout in the run-up – the Falcons defense had hardly been able to stop anyone over the last weeks, while Atlantas Offense had regularly burned down scoring fireworks at home – quickly turned out to be the opposite.

Both teams punctured in their first three possessions, before Atlanta, who played their best game of the season with Grady Jarrett back on the court, broke the spell with the first big play of the game: Matt Ryan (31/39, 379 YDS, TD) first found Austin Hooper for 36 yards and then Marvin Hall for the 47 yard touchdown. However, apart from a pass-interference penalty against the Giants, it stayed that way until the break in Big Plays.

Especially Atlantas Run-Defense surprised on Monday evening. Saquon Barkley (14 ATT, 43 YDS, TD; 9 REC, 51 YDS), who missed the 100-yard mark for the first time in his NFL career, had an unexpectedly difficult day against the Falcons front, no run went longer than 15 yards and Barkey finished the first half with eight yards in seven runs. The Falcons had caught him behind the Line of Scrimmage on four of his seven runs at the time.

At the same time he was once again a checkdown machine for Eli Mannning (27/38, 399 YDS, TD), who had several very good scenes, but in doing so challenged a sometimes desolate Falcons Pass Defense in this season especially in the first half but far too rarely.

Several times Manning went to the wrong read once more or took his eyes down too fast when the protection was not there, the box score at the end was pushed up by simple crossers and yards after the catch. On the other hand, Manning left an open touchdown pass to Odell Beckham in the third quarter in a 4th&Goal play from the 1-yard line, which also left coach Pat Shurmur unbelieving on the side line.

And yet it remained a tight game, because Atlanta were unable to escape despite another good game from Ryan – who dissected the Giants Defense especially in Play Action (13/14, 189 YDS). The drive after Manning’s goal line mistake ended after almost six minutes, eleven plays and almost 80 yards with a fumble by Julio Jones (9 REC, 104 YDS) and it took until the middle of the final quarter before the Falcons apparently put the lid on it.

A 30-yard run by Tevin Coleman, who had several good scenes in the absence of the injured Devonta Freeman, brought the Falcons into the lead 20-6 – before the Giants open finally woke up.

Two Big Plays to Odell Beckham (8 REC, 143 YDS, TD) smoothed the way to the short TD-Run for Barkley, but the 2-point-conversion didn’t work out – and with the following drive Atlanta ended all New Yorker hopes of catching up: An 8-Play-Drive over almost three minutes, where the Giants had to take all three timeouts and also the 2-Minute-Warning passed by ended in a risky Field-Goal-Manoeuvre – Tavecchio, however, provided from 56 yards for the 23:12 lead.

New York were only able to reduce their score to three points, although there might have been more to play for. But strange play calls – the Giants threw several passes across the middle without timeouts and tried two quarterback sneaks from the Goal Line – mercilessly turned the clock. The onside kick to Beckham’s touchdown landed at Atlanta.

The Giants are now in their second consecutive year after seven games with only one win, and for the third time in the last six years. It seems only a matter of time before Pat Shurmur loses patience with Manning and sooner or later tests rookie Kyle Lauletta to get a clear impression before the upcoming draft.