A week after Desmond Ridder tossed three interceptions in a 24-16 home loss to the Washington Commanders, the Falcons’ offense was able to overcome three lost fumbles by Ridder to hold off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 16-13 thanks to a game-ending 51-yd FG from Younghoe Koo.
Ridder scored on a 2-yard scramble during the Falcons’ first drive of the game for an early 7-0 lead and managed to brush off a handful of miscues, as well as numerous costly penalties on defense, to set up Koo’s third field goal of the game as time expired. The victory put an end to an eight-game road losing streak for Atlanta and handed the Bucs (3-3) their third loss in four games as Atlanta (4-3) now has control in the NFC South.
Atlanta tallied nine penalties for 60 yards, with six of the flags resulting in first downs for Tampa Bay. The Falcons’ defense continued to show improvement with the pass rush though, registering three sacks of Bucs QB Baker Mayfield. The Falcons now have 13 sacks through seven weeks which puts them ahead of the pace they were on last season when they finished with 21 sacks, one of the lowest totals in the league.
Mayfield was 27-for-42 with 275 yards, one touchdown and one interception. After back-to-back weeks of 300+ passing yards, Desmond Ridder was fairly efficient on Sunday. He finished 19-for-25 with 250 yards but failed to find the end zone through the air for the first time since Week 3.
All three of Ridder’s fumbles were not without consequence, including one that negated a 12-yard TD run that would’ve given Atlanta a 10-point lead with less than four minutes to play. As Ridder was heading for the end zone, Bucs CB Antoine Winfield Jr. was able to take advantage of poor ball security by Ridder and punch the ball loose just before Ridder crossed the goal line.
Initially ruled a TD, officials reversed the call after review determined Ridder fumbled before breaking the plane of the goal line.
Surprisingly, the Falcons played most of the game without the services of Bijan Robinson, the team’s leading rusher. Robinson had just one carry for 3 yards despite coming into the game averaging 5 yards per carry.
Coach Arthur Smith said that Robinson just wasn’t feeling well and the team wasn’t going to overdo it. Even with Robinson on the sideline, the team still managed to rush for 156 total yards with Tyler Allgeier and Cordarrelle Patterson handling the workload. Allgeier saw the majority of the carries (21) as Patterson works his way back from injury, Patterson still managed 56 yards on 10 carries on Sunday with Ridder adding 38 yards on the ground as well.
The Falcons’ road trip continues this weekend as they head to Nissan Stadium in Nashville to take on the Tennessee Titans (2-4). Falcons are early favorites (-1.0) as the Titans will be coming off a bye after having lost two-in-a-row. Both Titans wins this season have come at home.
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