by jksander » Fri Feb 10, 2023 2:12 am
Regular Season Week 5
Atlanta Falcons (0-4-0) @ Chicago Bears (0-4-0)
Ah, the Toilet Bowl (sponsored by Charmin) came early this year! Eight losses between us and Vegas has us favored by a field goal. But even if we can use today’s game as motivation to turn our ship around, no NFL team has ever started 0-4 and made the playoffs. Though it would certainly be Chicago of us to try and become the first!
Atlanta won the toss and chose to defer to the second half. So our offense came out ready to exorcise its demons on the opening drive. We opened strong with a good mix of passes and running (especially from Fields who has been surprisingly averse to running so far this year) but just inside the redzone we had to settle for a field goal on our first drive, going up 3-0 with 10:48 to play in the first quarter. And after holding them to a punt fairly quickly, we drove all the way down the field from the five yard line to score a 48-yard touchdown from Fields to Byron Pringle, putting us up 10-0 on the Falcons with 2:54 to go in the quarter! Fields in particular looks like he’s put in the work this week -- he’s playing confidently, and he’s seeing down the field well. We pinned them down quickly with a sack on their own two yard line in a third-down situation, and their subsequent punt set us up with great field position, just outside their territory, but we weren’t able to get the first downs, and Santos’ attempt at a 48-yarder was no good. We’d end the first quarter ahead 10-0 on the Falcons.
The second half started out as a series of punts, as we jockeyed for field position. The Falcons then got on a real run, made it deep into our territory, all the way to first and goal from our four yard line. And on third down they managed to run it in, Cordarrelle Patterson getting the one yarder to put them on the board, down 10-7 with 9:16 to play in the half. And then Fields bumbled the hell out of an attempted pass to Mooney which was intercepted by free safety Richie Grant, who ran it in 31 yards for the Falcons’ second touchdown in thirty seconds. Suddenly we were in familiar territory, down 14-10 on our own field and seriously needing to shift the momentum. Unfortunately we went three and out on the next drive and they blocked our punt, putting our defense in a real tough spot with an eternity left to play. We got the stop, but then couldn’t put anything together of our own, leading to another punt situation.
We pinned them at the ten yard line with four minutes to play, needing a serious stop if we had any chance of regaining the lead before halftime. Forcing a punt again, we had the ball near the 40 just outside their territory with 2:25 left and all our timeouts. Fields sprinted 23 yards on an option play and got us to their 39, giving us some life! On third town we thought we’d gotten past the chains but Montgomery dropped the pass and suddenly it was 4th and 9 from the 38 with 1:38 to go. Go for it, or risk a 51 yarder failing? I chose to go for it, but the called play only got us four yards and we turned it over on downs with 1:30 to play in the half. We would go into the break trailing 10-14 and knowing the Falcons would be running their offense to start the third quarter. I’m really hoping the choice not to go for the field goal doesn’t haunt us, but I am fighting to build confidence in this team in whatever way I can.
On their opening drive of the second half Marcus Mariota threw an interception just inside our territory, and A.J. Terrell Jr. got yet another pick! He ran it for 10 yards to get us a first down right at the 50! Unfortunately we weren’t able to get anywhere and settled for a field goal that ended up missing … nothing seems to work for our offense, and the fans are clearly starting to tire of it. But there were still 10 minutes left in the third quarter, and we’re only down four so it’s still important to keep the team confident and ready to fight for any points we can get. Our defense held tough again and held them to three and out, so at the least we were staying in this one DEFENSIVELY. Our next drive was critical … facing a third and long due to a bad sack on Fields, we lucked into a pass interference call that got us into solid position. Fields then, on another 3rd and 9 play, threw a side-arm pass to Velus Jones, Jr. who ran it in for a 33-yard touchdown to give us back the lead, 17-14, with 4:09 to go in the third! Unfortunately we let them drive their way all the way into another goal-line stand, and with 14:10 to go in the 4th quarter we found ourselves knotted up 17-17 when their 19-yarder went through the uprights.
CRUNCH … TIME … BEARS!
We put a drive together of nearly a dozen running plays but got hung up at midfield and made nothing of it. Time trickled away as we parried for field position, praying we’d get a chance to put some more points on the board. But instead the Falcons were the ones to get on the board again, this time with another field goal from 49 yards out, putting them ahead 20-17 with just 4:28 left on the clock for us to make some magic happen. And we made nothing happen. Absolutely f---ing nothing. Under pressure time and time again, when we NEEDED a passing play to succeed Fields dropped the ball, and this loss just sticks the dagger in. Almost as badly as the Falcons did by intercepting a desperation 3rd and long attempt and running it in for a 26-yard touchdown.
Is he the quarterback of the future? He’s certainly not the quarterback of now. Atlanta 27, Chicago 17.
Fields finished the night 21 of 44 for 235 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, along with 59 yards rushing on 14 carries. But he now has six touchdowns against 11 interceptions on the season, and I’m not sure what we can do to get him past these yips and find his rhythm. It didn’t help that the rest of our running game was non-existent, with Montgomery held to 30 yards on 16 attempts, and one of those attempts was for 14 yards. Darnell Mooney led with 58 yards on six receptions, while Byron Pringle had 54 yards on two receptions including his 48-yard touchdown.
Other Week 5 results:
Washington Commanders 3, San Francisco 49ers 13
Tennessee Titans 6, Cincinnati Bengals 34
NY Jets 7, Denver Broncos 27
Philadelphia Eagles 17, Arizona Cardinals 21
Miami Dolphins 21, LA Chargers 47
Buffalo Bills 21, Kansas City Chiefs 27
Carolina Panthers 9, Detroit Lions 14
Dalllas Cowboys 38, LA Rams 14
Jacksonville Jaguars 16, Baltimore Ravens 27
NY Giants 28, Seattle Seahawks 45
Indianapolis Colts 13, Pittsburgh Steelers 41
New Orleans Saints 9, Minnesota Vikings 30