The Atlanta Falcons blew Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys in embarrassing fashion, falling, 40-39, after the Falcons allowed the Cowboys to recover an onside kick. Atlanta suffered some injuries, but this game should have been locked away in the win column long before that.
Dan Quinn will need to provide some great answers for owner Arthur Blank as to why the team lost this one. Here’s a look at the winners and losers from Sunday’s crushing defeat in Dallas.
Winner: WR Calvin Ridley
Going for 100-plus yards and two touchdowns again in this one sets a tone for Calvin Ridley‘s season. It’s looking like a breakout year for the former first-round pick out of Alabama. The Falcons will need more of this type of production from Ridley with how bad the defense has been looking. Atlanta has the offensive firepower to do it, though.
Loser: WR Julio Jones
Julio Jones finished the game with just two catches for 24 yards. He dropped what was going to be a surefire touchdown on a deep pass from Russell Gage. He was also only really open for four targets. He’s been battling an injury, but this was not a good game for him and showed some humanity from the best receiver in the league.
Winner: QB Matt Ryan
Matt Ryan went 24-for-36 for 273 yards and four touchdowns while playing turnover-free football. He did all he could for the Falcons to try and keep them in this game. Atlanta had a very solid game on offense, but it all went to waste.
Loser: Falcons pass rush
Despite the Cowboys missing Tyron Smith and their top two right tackles, the Falcons were unable to generate a consistent pass rush once Takkarist McKinley went out with an injury. There were some blitzes that were able to beat the weakened offensive line. McKinley shouldn’t be the key cog to the pass rush when you have guys like Jarrett and Fowler on big contracts.
Winner: CBs A.J. Terrell, Isaiah Oliver and Darqueze Dennard
Coverage in this one wasn’t amazing, but the big break downs weren’t on the Falcons’ top three corners. They combined for multiple pass deflections including three dropped interceptions. Terrell even had a blitz that should have been ruled a sack because Dak’s knee was down. Atlanta’s defense as a whole was bad, but the corners showed promise in this one versus a good unit.
Loser: Falcons injuries
Atlanta was up 20-0 after the first quarter, and they looked like they were going to have a good day on defense. Then the injury bug hit at all three levels of the defense and the right tackle on offense. Kaleb McGary might be out for the year, and starting LB Foye Oluokun, DE Takkarist McKinley and FS Ricardo Allen look to be out for a few weeks. This could get bad.
Winner: TE Hayden Hurst
Seeing eight targets, Hayden Hurst showed his ability to be a deep threat and a reliable underneath target all in one. Hurst had five catches for 72 yards and a touchdown, including catches of 44 yards and a 22 yards. The Falcons got what they expected out of Hurst and should see more of the same moving forward.
Loser: Falcons tempo defense
Atlanta couldn’t keep up pace when the Cowboys chose to go up tempo. The Falcons just have one of the worst defenses in the league and when you can mess with their lack of communication by going up tempo, you only hurt them more. This gives opposing teams a blueprint on how to beat the Falcons’ defense, and it will lead to worse games throughout the rest of the year.
Winner: Falcons ST unit
Younghoe Koo was perfect on his kickoffs. The Falcons punt unit was driving the punts deep and playing great coverage on them. The kickoff unit didn’t allow them to get it past the 25 yard line. The big misstep though, was the onside kick situation right at the end of the game. They let the ball roll 10 yards and then Dallas recovered. Atlanta needs to know to attack that sooner.
Loser: Falcons “contain Elliott” defense
Ezekiel Elliott had 28 touches for 122 yards and a touchdown. That’s over 4.0 yards per touch and honestly an unacceptable situation for the Falcons if they have to win. The Falcons were terrible on defense, and this was just a game that they couldn’t allow the best Dallas player to have a game like this.
Ultimate Loser: HC Dan Quinn
Fire him. Fire him, now. The Falcons couldn’t afford to go down 0-2 on the season and still make the playoffs. This was a highly-winnable game. Regardless of injuries on defense. Regardless of anything else, it’s time to get rid of a guy who doesn’t know how to hold onto a lead in a game. You can’t be up 20-0 and later on 29-10 and still lose. You just can’t. It’s unacceptable.
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