Patriots Escape Sloppy Second Half, Top Falcons 24-23
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The good news is that the Patriots are 7-2 at the halfway point of the season before heading back out on the road to face the 6-2 Tampa Bay Bucs next week at Raymond James Stadium.
The Patriots were well on their way to putting the Atlanta Falcons in the rear-view mirror at the end of the first half, when they started shooting themselves in the foot and the game took on the flavor of the Pittsburgh game, where they began playing fast and loose with the football.
This time they were fortunate to escape with a 24-23 victory after Parker Romo pushed a game-tying extra point wide right. But these are first world problems when you can win over a talented but wildly inconsistent team when you don’t come close to playing your best.
This is what happens when you allow an inferior team hang around and after a excellent first half, it was Drake Maye’s arguably worst half of football this season.
He missed open receivers, overthrew an open receiver to throw an interception and fumbled twice losing one in a sloppy performance. However, until the final minute of the first half, he gave the Patriots the cushion they would desperately require to hold on down the stretch.
Overall, Maye ended up 19-29 for 259 yards with two touchdowns and a pick for a passer rating of 102.5. He was sacked six times and many of these were absolutely preventable. He is still in the infancy of his career (something we all forget at times, especially here), and has to learn when to throw the ball away.
This was especially true with the opening drive of the second half. The Patriots drove right down the field and on second and goal from the five-yard line, no one was open, and the pocket was collapsing all around him. Rather than throw it away and still have a real opportunity to go for six on third down, he held onto the ball and took a nine-yard sack.
They settled for three and wouldn’t score again.
“It’s a funny league, and we’re going to learn from winning so that we don’t have to learn from losing about taking care of the ball and complementary football and how quickly things can change,” Mike Vrabel said.
“I gotta play better for this team, down the road” Maye lamented. Protecting the football has to be more a priority.
“It’s tough in a game where you win, and you can feel in that locker room that these guys know we can play better. I think it’s a good feeling to have, but also at the same time it’s tough to win in this league, so you’ve got to enjoy it,” Maye added.
“There’s so many things to learn from this game, and I’m just proud of this team for — it doesn’t matter if it’s 24-23 or 3-2. Proud we got the win.”
For just the third time all season, the Patriots’ defense shut out the opposition on their opening drive. The Patriots forced a three-and-out aided by K’Lavon Chaisson on a second-down sack.
Then the Patriots marched easily down the field on a 10-play, 75-yard drive. Maye hit wide receiver DeMario Douglas, lined up in the backfield and matched up with Falcons edge defender Jalon Walker, for a 16-yard touchdown.
On Atlanta’s third drive which began near midfield, they marched 53 yards on just five plays and created a size mismatch with 6’4 Drake London catching a jump ball over 5’8 Marcus Jones to tie the score at seven.
The Patriots had another impressive drive that went 65 yards in 12 plays with Terrell Jennings scoring his first NFL touchdown on a three-yard run to put the Patriots up 14-7.
After another three-and-out, the Patriots’ offense scored quickly on a five-play, 72-yard drive. Maye found Douglas for a 58-yard gain, and then threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs to go up 21-7.
Atlanta turned the ball over on downs and the Patriots appeared to be heading for a field goal attempt at the end of the half to really put Atlanta away, especially with the Patriots receiving the second half kickoff.
That’s when the game turned. Maye was strip-sacked and James Pearce picked it up and ran it to the six-yard line, where the Falcons created another London-Jones size mismatch to make it 21-14. The ten-point swing was huge. Maye has to protect the ball much better there.
“We took a little nap and they scored and made it a one-possession game,” Vrabel said. “Give them a lot of credit, but give our guys credit there for finishing and coming up big when we had to in the fourth quarter.”
After Andy Borregales hit a 32-yard field goal to make it 24-14 after the opening possession in the third quarter. Atlanta scored on a Parker Romo field goal making it 24-17 after Maye sailed an interception to Jesse Bates.
The defense then allowed a 12-play, 85-yard touchdown drive, where Christian Gonzalez dropped an easy interception and the Patriots narrowly missed another interception opportunity in the end zone. London scored his third TD of the day, but Romo pushed the ball wide right and the score remained 24-23.
After a Patriots punt, Atlanta moved close to midfield where they stalled with 2:03 to go. Raheem Morris made the decision to punt on a 4th and 20, where Atlanta only had two timeouts left. He’ll be second-guessed about it, but it was a tough choice.
After two runs by Jennings used up Atlanta’s timeouts, on third and five, Maye hit Hunter Henry for a 12-yard pass play that sealed the game.
Other observations included:
-Demario Douglas said after the game that is uncle was shot and killed on Sunday morning and he played with a heavy heart. He and Jennings, who were high school teammates dedicated their touchdowns to him.
“This whole morning, my mood was different, I couldn’t hold my tears… He was here with me today, 1st day in Heaven he was working.”
Douglas finished with four catches for 100 yards and a score. Jennings finished with 11 carries for 35 yards and a touchdown.
-Hunter Henry caught four passess for 51 yards, none bigger than the 12-yarder that put the game away.
-TreVeyon Henderson carried 14 times for 55 yards and added four catches for 32 yards out of the backfield.
-Stefon Diggs added three catches for 38 yards and a score.
-The Patriots’ run defense did a good job of bottling up Bijan Robinson in the running game, holding him to 46 yards on 12 carries. It was the ninth straight game where the Patriots didn’t allow a 50-yard rusher. Atlanta was held to just 71 yards on the ground.
-Robinson did have eight catches for 50 yards while London had a fantastic day catching nine passes for 118 yards and three touchdowns.
-Kayshon Boutte left early with a hamstring injury, (one to watch). Linebacker Christian Elliss also left with a hamstring injury and didn’t return.
-Christian Gonzalez left with a head injury and was assessed for a concussion but it appears he’s going to be fine.
-The game highlighted a need for the team to add a pass rusher by the trade deadline, as they were able to generate just one sack and four QB hits on Michael Penix.
-The Patriots defense was excellent on third down, Atlanta was just 1-10 on third down.
-Bryce Barringer had a nice day, placing two punts inside the 20 and booming a 61-yarder to force the Falcons back. He averaged 50 yards on his three punts.
So, look for our positional report card after we take another look (or two) at the replay of the game and the All-22, then we’ll focus on the Bucs who are coming off of a bye week.
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Mike Vrabel can utter the words that he’s “excited to see Kyle Williams get some snaps” (given Boutte’s injury situation), and NBC Boston and some others say that’s essentially a lack of urgency and the pats need to make a big trade for someone like a Rasheed Shaheen etc. Go for it now! Gosh. So if you have a guy with talent in Kyle Williams, and he’s acclimated into your system, and has been a victim of a numbers game to-date, it’s a bad route? Jesus. WR storys are candy crack for reader eyeballs, so that’s what you get. Having… Read more »
I think a guy like Arden Key is more likely the way they go. They need someone to take some pressure off Landry and Chaisson.