It was all there for the Falcons. A chance to complete a massive comeback against the defending champion LA Rams and a chance to begin reshaping the narrative in Atlanta, but it was too little, too late at SoFi Stadium as Atlanta falls 31-27 and drops to 0-2 on the young season.
After fighting back from the brink of a blowout thanks in large part to the franchise’s first blocked punt returned for a touchdown, the Falcons trailed the Rams 31-25 with a little over a minute to play. With the ball on the LA 24, pressure up the middle from none other than Aaron Donald didn’t allow Marcus Mariota to step into a throw which was picked off in the end zone as Jalen Ramsey won the jump ball over the back of Bryan Edwards.
The Rams would take a safety on their ensuing possession, giving the Falcons one more play with :06 left after the free kick, but Mariota never got the pass off, bringing an end to the hopes of completing their own 28-3 comeback.
Postgame, Arthur Smith told Dave Archer on 92.9 The Game that there’s no such thing as moral victories in the NFL, but there is something to be learned after two weeks of down-to-the-wire finishes.
“We’re going to break through here,” Smith said. “We’ve got the right guys in there. There are obviously things we’ve got to clean up. This team’s got a lot of character, grit, heart, whatever you want to say, and there are no moral victories in here, but these painful experiences, we’ll turn them into growth, and we’ll get better.”
Early on, it looked like a Rams rout with the Falcons looking more like the team that played the fourth quarter against the Saints rather than the one we saw in the first three quarters of week one, but they kept fighting.
Building their lead, the Rams moved the ball with ease against Dean Pees’ defense, but the majority of the second half saw the unit clamp down and give the offense a chance to climb back in the game. Mykal Walker’s interception gave way to Drake London’s first career touchdown to cut the lead to 28-10. A goal line stand forced a Matt Gay field goal for the Rams final points of the afternoon and rookie LB Troy Anderson and Lorenzo Carter combined for the scoop-&-score on the punt before Darren Hall stripped Cooper Kupp to give the Falcons the ball back with the chance to take the lead, but Ramsey’s pick slammed to the door on the comeback.
Offensively, it was a first half to forget and while Mariota stepped up to lead touchdown drives to get the lead down to 31-17 before the blocked punt, he couldn’t get the offense across the goal line when it mattered most. The running game that led the way against New Orleans was held to just 90 yards on 27 carries with Cordarrelle Patterson accounting for 41 yards. Mariota rushed for just 16 yards and went 17/26 for 196 yards through the air with two touchdowns and two picks—the first of which led to a Rams TD right before halftime.
A major bright spot on the day was London’s performance in his hometown as the first-round pick led the team with eight catches for 86 yards and the score. Olamide Zaccheaus snagged a touchdown as well. Kyle Pitts was held to just 2 catches for 19 yards on the day.
The Falcons will stay out on the west coast for their upcoming matchup with the Seahawks, who followed up their win over the Broncos with a 27-7 loss to the 49ers.