The Atlanta Falcons took on the Washington Commanders Sunday night, and the game did not disappoint. The game ended up an overtime thriller after Michael Penix Jr hits Kyle Pitts for a touchdown late in the fourth to tie the game. The Falcons were able to get the ball back with under a minute left, but had to attempt a 56-yard field-goal after time runs out on the Falcons with timeouts left in Head Coach Raheem Morris’ pocket. Falcons’ kicker Riley Patterson kicked the ball straight, but for only about 50 yards, and the game would head to overtime.
The Falcons would never see the ball in overtime, as the Commanders would take the ball down the field and score on a Jayden Daniels to Zach Ertz touchdown. While you can never put the result of any game on any one play or call, it did seem like giving quarterback Michael Penix Jr a little more time as the game winded down would have made a lot of sense. But the Falcons have not been eliminated from the playoffs yet. With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, the Bucs are now one game ahead of the Falcons in the NFC South with one game left. The good thing for the Falcons is that because of the two regular season victories that they have over the Bucs, they can still win the NFC South even if both teams finish with the same record. The Falcons will take on the Panthers next Sunday in a game that they should win fairly easily, even though the Panthers have been playing well recently. The bad thing about this scenario is that the Falcons need the Bucs to lose. The Bucs opponent next Sunday? None other than the Falcons hated rival: The New Orleans Saints. This will not be an easy game for the Saints to win, either. It has been a tough season for the Saints, who after putting up 91 points in the first two games of the season, lost 7 in a row after the injury bug crippled the team. While there is a chance that the Saints could get both quarterback Derek Carr and running back Alvin Kamara back from injury in week 18, it will still take a lot to beat the Bucs and their high-powered offense. This is truly a nightmare scenario for the Falcons, or mostly Falcons fans: having to root, or at least hope, that the Saints can pull out a victory in week 18. Because if this does not happen, the Falcons and Saints will be watching the NFL playoffs together, on the couch. Randy McMichael and Chris Thomas expand on the clock-mismanagement and overall loss by the Falcons to the Commanders in week 17.
