Atlanta Falcons backmost Matt Ryan (2) jogs disconnected the tract aft the Falcons were defeated by the San Francisco 49ers successful an NFL shot crippled successful Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
The crippled couldn’t person gotten disconnected to a overmuch amended commencement for the Atlanta Falcons, who recovered a fumble connected the opening kickoff astatine the 12-yard line.
But the inability to crook that acquisition into points acceptable the code for different lopsided decision to a contender arsenic the Falcons fell 31-13 to the San Francisco 49ers connected Sunday.
“When you’re playing a bully shot squad successful an important game, you person to find ways to people and you person to instrumentality vantage of those opportunities,” backmost Matt Ryan said. “That’s thing we person to beryllium amended astatine moving forward. When you get turnovers, you get short-field opportunities, you person to spell onslaught and find a mode to get the occupation done.
The Falcons (6-8) failed astatine that repeatedly arsenic they were incapable to people a touchdown connected 13 plays they ran from the 10-yard enactment oregon closer, including 5 from the 1.
Only 1 squad successful the past 30 years ran much plays from the 1-yard enactment without scoring and the Falcons failed to people a TD connected each 3 goal-to-go drives, marking the archetypal clip they did that successful a crippled since 2004.
“We made plays down the field, but we didn’t marque the captious plays down successful the reddish zone,” manager Arthur Smith said. “That was the quality successful the game. Credit to San Francisco. They had a say, and they stopped america successful the reddish zone.”
It started connected the opening thrust pursuing the fumbled kickoff instrumentality from JaMycal Hasty. Two plays later, Atlanta was astatine the 1 aft a 7-yard walk from Ryan to Kyle Pitts.
Cordarrelle Patterson appeared to tally it successful connected the adjacent play, but replay overturned it. Ryan past threw an incomplete walk connected 2nd down, Patterson was stopped for nary summation connected 3rd down and Ryan was incapable to deed Pitts connected 4th down.
“We’ve got to beryllium better,” Ryan said. “In short-yardage situations, wherever you conscionable request a yard, we’ve got to find a mode to truly person those astatine a precocious level. Good shot teams bash that. We weren’t bully capable astatine that today.”
The Falcons got down adjacent again 3 much times successful the 2nd half, but settled for a 22-yard tract extremity from Younghoe Koe successful the 3rd 4th aft Ryan threw incompletions connected 2nd and 3rd down.
They past were stopped again successful the 4th fourth connected fourth-and-1 from the 8 connected 1 thrust and the 1 connected another.
That added up to a 5th nonaccomplishment successful arsenic galore games against teams with winning records with Atlanta being outscored by 23.8 points per game. Those losses person near the Falcons successful 11th spot successful the NFC with 3 games to go.
“We’ll conscionable support swinging,” Smith said. “A batch of brainsick things person happened successful the NFL. So we’ll effort to get the adjacent one. We’re going home, we’ll conscionable support chipping distant and spot what happens. Because there’s a batch of things, what it looks similar today, that’s not however it’s going to look similar aft Week 18. You get to the past week of the season, you conscionable privation to person a mathematical chance.
“Crazier things person happened.”
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