Charlotte, NC- Building off of last week’s performance against the New Orleans Saints, the Atlanta Falcons deliver their best game of the season in a 29-3 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
Dan Quinn on the win and his team’s performance, “Road mentality. Division game, we all know how tough they are, but I thought tonight was a true team performance in every sense. Offense, defense, special teams, complementary plays. Those are the things that we’ve been working hard on to establish.”
The Falcons were aggressive from the opening coin toss, winning and electing to receive to try and get out to an early lead on the road to silence the home crowd. The plan worked as Atlanta came out firing, leading a drive that stalled towards the red zone but were able to grab points on a field goal from kicker Younghoe Koo.
The opening drive set the tone for the rest of the game as the Falcons dominated every facet of play en route to their second straight victory.
Matt Ryan led the offense completing 21 of 31 passes for 311 yards and a touchdown. The veteran quarterback was efficient and controlled the offense, allowing his receivers to get in space while the defense continued its strong play.
Calvin Ridley was the player of the game, catching all eight of his targets for 143-yards and a touchdown. The second-year receiver out of Alabama showed great speed and hands-on several plays, bursting past his defenders to get open and reeling in a difficult diving catch in a tight window.
Ridley’s touchdown came in the third quarter as the Falcons scored on an interesting play where Matt Ryan threw to the corner of the end zone instead of directly to a player. Ridley beat the defenders to the ball for the score extending the Atlanta lead. The Falcons were creative in their play design all game and look to be clicking after a disappointing first half of the season.
Ultimately, the score ended up so lopsided because of the play of the defense, who allowed just a late field goal, while forcing four interceptions. The Falcons haven’t allowed a touchdown now in 10 consecutive quarters, an impressive feat considering their early-season struggles.
On top of the forced turnovers, Atlanta found a way to keep Carolina quarterback constantly under pressure. The defense sacked Allen five times in the game, really changing the game by forcing the Panthers into third and long situations all game.
The play of the game was a punt return touchdown for the Falcons by Kenjon Barner. Officially the longest punt return of the NFL season, Barner went 78-yards to the house, showing great initial speed to get through the first line and find blockers to find the end zone. The return was the first punt return score for the Falcons since Devin Hester did so back in September of 2014, and was a great play to give Atlanta an early 10-0 to let the team settle in for the remainder of the game.
The win moves the Falcons to 3-7 in the 2019 season. After a hugely disappointing start to the season, Atlanta has now won back-to-back games against division rivals in the Saints and the Panthers. It remains unlikely that the Falcons can win enough games to sneak into the playoffs, but their play the last two weeks has been impressive, and they hope to continue the momentum to give themselves a chance.
The Falcons will return home to Mercedes-Benz Stadium next week to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
Written by Brian Pohl
