The Washington Times sums it up nicely

The Falcons undone by arrogant 4th quarter play-calling

Couldn't have said it better myself.

You can debate Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers, Bill Walsh and the San Francisco 49ers and, yes, Joe Gibbs and the Washington Redskins all you want. The first face on the Mount Rushmore of NFL coaches is now Bill Belichick. The first face on the Mount Rushmore of NFL quarterbacks is now Tom Brady. And the New England Patriots? How about the greatest franchise in NFL history?

One thing everyone, I think, is missing is they were afraid of the Pats O and overreacted. They were afraid to run it because they were afraid they would keep going 3 & out and give Brady the chance to come back.

Needed FG when they dropped back and allowed Flowers sack.

zoostation said:

The Falcons undone by arrogant 4th quarter play-calling

Couldn't have said it better myself.

You can debate Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers, Bill Walsh and the San Francisco 49ers and, yes, Joe Gibbs and the Washington Redskins all you want. The first face on the Mount Rushmore of NFL coaches is now Bill Belichick. The first face on the Mount Rushmore of NFL quarterbacks is now Tom Brady. And the New England Patriots? How about the greatest franchise in NFL history?

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Damn!

I think they were just trying to finish the Patriots off. They would have gotten stuffed at the line if they ran it two more times which the Pats were expecting. Throwing for a first down would have allowed them to take even more time off the clock and given them a chance to finish them off with a TD.

The problem is they did not call the right play or they executed it horribly. The Patriots have chosen to throw in similar situations, but executed better and have finished off games rather than biting their nails hoping their defense holds and making a potential onside kick irrelevant.

ahmed said:

One thing everyone, I think, is missing is they were afraid of the Pats O and overreacted. They were afraid to run it because they were afraid they would keep going 3 & out and give Brady the chance to come back.

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Yeah, plus NE was actually stopping the run pretty well at that point. There were a lot of tackles for loss or minimal gain.

ahmed said:

One thing everyone, I think, is missing is they were afraid of the Pats O and overreacted. They were afraid to run it because they were afraid they would keep going 3 & out and give Brady the chance to come back.

Click to expand...

Along this line, it should be noted that I've heard talk show after talk show saying something along the lines of

"Shanahan stopped running the ball, even though the Falcons were killing the Patriots on the ground". Here's the reality, though:

-3
5
0
9
-3
-1
8
1

Those were the Falcons 2nd half runs, up until the Hightower strip sack. 8 carries for 16 yards is all Atlanta had been able to muster. After the strip sack, they got the ball back again:

2
-1

Those are the carries in that next drive, prior to the Flowers' sack, and they never ran the ball again. So.....

People calling out Shanahan for not running the ball are ignoring the reality of 10 carries for 17 yards in the second half.

We really don't need to concern our selves with the Falcons.

I'm sure they wouldn't if the results were reversed

I say...


Too bad for them.

Shanahan put all his chips on the nfl mvp and lost.

At the end of the day, mastering situational football keeps coaches from losing games for the players.

actually, the Patriots are all "cornball brothers": and deserve to be stripped of the championship because of Watergate....or so says the fecal breathed Jason Whitlock

I put the sack on Ryan. He had an outstanding year and there is no such thing as mistake free quarterbacking. But Ryan had to be very aware of 'do not get sacked'.

Deus Irae said:

Along this line, it should be noted that I've heard talk show after talk show saying something along the lines of

"Shanahan stopped running the ball, even though the Falcons were killing the Patriots on the ground". Here's the reality, though:

-3
5
0
9
-3
-1
8
1

Those were the Falcons 2nd half runs, up until the Hightower strip sack. 8 carries for 16 yards is all Atlanta had been able to muster. After the strip sack, they got the ball back again:

2
-1

Those are the carries in that next drive, prior to the Flowers' sack, and they never ran the ball again. So.....

People calling out Shanahan for not running the ball are ignoring the reality of 10 carries for 17 yards in the second half.

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Outside of a few big runs early, the run D improved as the game wore on. People are misremembering a couple of Atlanta pass plays to the backs as impactful running plays.

ahmed said:

One thing everyone, I think, is missing is they were afraid of the Pats O and overreacted. They were afraid to run it because they were afraid they would keep going 3 & out and give Brady the chance to come back.

Click to expand...

I have a different take on that.

I think Shanahan felt comfortable to stay with what has been working for them the entire year - which in a vacuum is not a bad idea. It only becomes an awful idea if you are already in FG range in a one possession game with only 5 minutes to go. At that point just run it 3 times which will either burn away a lot of time or the opponent's timeouts and then kick it to make it a 2 possession game which given the remaining time would mean that your opponent has to use an onside kick to get 2 possessions.

It was simply bad situational football. Even if Shanahan/Quinn were aware that their D was gassed and couldn't stop **** there was not much reason to be scared of the Pats offense as long as they made the FG because there was simply not enough time left for 2 possessions. A FG for ATL there means we needed to score a TD, 2PT, recover an onside kick and score a FG.

TheBostonStraggler said:

I put the sack on Ryan. He had an outstanding year and there is no such thing as mistake free quarterbacking. But Ryan had to be very aware of 'do not get sacked'.

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I agree. In a way the sack was the result of him being able to do whatever he wants for a whole year with his receivers making plays. And then on the biggest play of the year he kept the ball a bit too long assuming he would be able to make it like he had done the entire year and it didn't happen. This is exactly where the lack of adversity for Matt Ryan throughout the entire season came back to haunt him.

luuked said:

I agree. In a way the sack was the result of him being able to do whatever he wants for a whole year with his receivers making plays. And then on the biggest play of the year he kept the ball a bit too long assuming he would be able to make it like he had done the entire year and it didn't happen. This is exactly where the lack of adversity for Matt Ryan throughout the entire season came back to haunt him.

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That;s a good point Luuked. Ryan hadn't thrown a ton of times in this game (and he had previously with great success too) but when he had it was mostly successful. Why wouldn't they feel good, even arrogant, about calling that play?
I watched it again and now I see in all fairness to Ryan he either had to drop and pop the play or he was in trouble. The pocket quickly tightened just as HT was bearing down quick. From what I saw our coverage helped make that happen. Ryan didn't have a good escape route, didn't appear to have a good place to throw the ball, couldn't throw it away (still in the pocket). Again after second thought and second review I think that was just A++ defense on the Patriots that made that critical sack. Ryan would have had to throw it at the feet of a receiver immediately but, as you aptly noted, his experience said hold the ball and wait -- a good place to pass will be open very quickly.

One side note: Game was not over if Atl kicks the FG on the next play after the sack. MAkes it an even more improbable comeback? Yes but it was definitely not over. The Patriots scored the tying TD with 40 seconds left but they had slowed it down in the red zone and burned 50 seconds slowing it down. Patriots also had two timeouts. Based on that math the Patriots still had time to get the TD after the Atl kickoff and get the ball back with about 40 seconds (IF they forced a 3 and out on the next Falcons' possession). But we would have needed a spectacular Patriot passing showing (gaining a quick 35 yards and a clock stop) with Gost kicking a 50+ yard FG in order to tie it. Improbable? Again yes but it was not impossible. Glad it didn't get to that thanks to HT/the D as well as Long beating his guy and the Atl blocker basically putting long in a WWF headlock take down (he doesn't do that and Long probably takes Ryan down).

Deus Irae said:

Along this line, it should be noted that I've heard talk show after talk show saying something along the lines of

"Shanahan stopped running the ball, even though the Falcons were killing the Patriots on the ground". Here's the reality, though:

-3
5
0
9
-3
-1
8
1

Those were the Falcons 2nd half runs, up until the Hightower strip sack. 8 carries for 16 yards is all Atlanta had been able to muster. After the strip sack, they got the ball back again:

2
-1

Those are the carries in that next drive, prior to the Flowers' sack, and they never ran the ball again. So.....

People calling out Shanahan for not running the ball are ignoring the reality of 10 carries for 17 yards in the second half.

Click to expand...

Yes but thepoint is, he should have run the ball to kill clock, avoid a sack and make it a two score game. Not to gain yards, so getting stuffed at the line was not an issue.

Deus Irae said:

Along this line, it should be noted that I've heard talk show after talk show saying something along the lines of

"Shanahan stopped running the ball, even though the Falcons were killing the Patriots on the ground". Here's the reality, though:

-3
5
0
9
-3
-1
8
1

Those were the Falcons 2nd half runs, up until the Hightower strip sack. 8 carries for 16 yards is all Atlanta had been able to muster. After the strip sack, they got the ball back again:

2
-1

Those are the carries in that next drive, prior to the Flowers' sack, and they never ran the ball again. So.....

People calling out Shanahan for not running the ball are ignoring the reality of 10 carries for 17 yards in the second half.

Click to expand...

They were in position to kick a FG with 4 1/2 minutes left at the 22 yard line with a 1st down. They could have kneeled on it 3 times and killed clock and then kicked a 40 yard FG. Most likely they would have run it 3x for no gain or a modest gain.. and just kick a FG. There would have been less than 3 minutes left depending on how time outs were used and the Pats would have been down by 11 points. That was the only part of the game where Atlanta choked.

Seacoast Fan said:

Yes but thepoint is, he should have run the ball to kill clock, avoid a sack and make it a two score game. Not to gain yards, so getting stuffed at the line was not an issue.

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No, that's not the point. My point was the one I made. With regards to the argument about the clock....

deroc5050 said:

They were in position to kick a FG with 4 1/2 minutes left at the 22 yard line with a 1st down. They could have kneeled on it 3 times and killed clock and then kicked a 40 yard FG. Most likely they would have run it 3x for no gain or a modest gain.. and just kick a FG. There would have been less than 3 minutes left depending on how time outs were used and the Pats would have been down by 11 points. That was the only part of the game where Atlanta choked.

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It has a bit of validity, but is wildly overblown. No field goal is automatic, and the idea that the team should have sat on the ball is counter to the general approach of both the Falcons and the Patriots.

luuked said:

I have a different take on that.

I think Shanahan felt comfortable to stay with what has been working for them the entire year - which in a vacuum is not a bad idea. It only becomes an awful idea if you are already in FG range in a one possession game with only 5 minutes to go. At that point just run it 3 times which will either burn away a lot of time or the opponent's timeouts and then kick it to make it a 2 possession game which given the remaining time would mean that your opponent has to use an onside kick to get 2 possessions.

It was simply bad situational football. Even if Shanahan/Quinn were aware that their D was gassed and couldn't stop **** there was not much reason to be scared of the Pats offense as long as they made the FG because there was simply not enough time left for 2 possessions. A FG for ATL there means we needed to score a TD, 2PT, recover an onside kick and score a FG.

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I was just dumbfounded that they let that golden possible game ending field goal slip away.

JJ has a miraculous catch at the 22. (Very makeable 39 yard field goal)

Sack. ( Sucks but still at shot at a 52 yard field goal.)

Penalty.

Incompletion.

Out of field goal range.

Game over.