- 9 hours ago
The Atlanta Falcons needed a win and got it Sunday, handing the San Francisco 49ers their first loss of the season in a 29-20 win. Michael Penix Jr. had 3 touchdowns without an interception, and the Falcons defense took the ball away four times from Brock Purdy and the Kyle Shanahan-led Niners offense. The win gives the Falcons a chance to to get their record back to .500 with a divisional matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week.
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00:00Well, that was one of the most Falcons things ever.
00:02Fortunately, it was one of the positive Falcons things that tends to happen to this team.
00:06If you're not catching what I'm putting down, this team, over the years, the many years,
00:11can beat some of the best teams in the NFL and, sadly, lose to some of the worst teams in
00:16the NFL.
00:17And today they beat one of the best teams in the NFL.
00:19The undefeated San Francisco 49ers, the Falcons, win it 29-20, get their record to 3-4 for the season,
00:25dropping the Niners record to 6-1.
00:26It was a Niners team that was beleaguered with several injuries, yes,
00:30but the Falcons are dealing with their own injuries, too.
00:32And they had players that obviously would have helped them in this game.
00:35So that's obviously part of the conversation.
00:37But let's not, like, kind of let that overshadow what the Falcons were able to do on this field today,
00:41which was, frankly, save their season, at least for the time being.
00:45The Falcons still have all their goals ahead of them.
00:48I still saw a headline saying the Bucs are still alive in the NFC South,
00:51which, if you think that's true, the Bucs are 2-5, Falcons are 3-4,
00:54and the Falcons play the Bucs next week.
00:56So maybe there is a way for the Falcons to end the Bucs season there or vice versa.
01:00But anyways, let's get into what happened in this game because there's a lot, lot to talk about.
01:04What's most interesting to me about this game is that it started in just about the same exact fashion as
01:11last week's game did.
01:12And what did Kevin Stefanski say coming out of that game when asked about it?
01:16Yes, it was like, are you proud of the team for fighting back and making it a game against the
01:20Chicago Bears?
01:20Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:22But what Kevin Stefanski kept saying multiple times was that the problem in that game was that they found themselves
01:27down 31-7 in the fourth quarter,
01:29and that that simply can't happen if you want to try to win football games in this league.
01:33And so what happened today?
01:34After they got down to a 14-3 hole, same as last week,
01:37they only went out and scored 23 unanswered points against this 49ers defense.
01:42A defense, by the way, which was mostly the starting unit for the 49ers.
01:48They were missing Nick Bosa, and that is obviously a big loss to have.
01:52But, you know, Fred Warner, Drake Greenlaw were playing in this game, the secondary.
01:58It was an impressive Falcons display.
02:00And they weren't, you know, lighting it up offensively,
02:04but I think what they showed in this game was something that they were always going to have to prove
02:09that they can do,
02:09which is have a balanced offense, especially an offense that Michael Penix can lead and help take over.
02:19Well, not take over necessarily, but in a game like Bajon Robinson had today,
02:23which was hit and miss, but not real, more misses probably.
02:27I think he was held under 70 yards in this game.
02:29The Falcons as a team only ran the ball 2.8 yards per carry, obviously not where you want to
02:34be.
02:35And so in that situation, you need your quarterback to be efficient, to keep the drives moving,
02:40to keep, you know, pick up first downs, keep those chains moving.
02:43That's exactly what Michael Penix did in this game.
02:45Very efficient game for him, 25 of 34, for only 213 yards, but, you know, three touchdowns, no interceptions.
02:52And again, just some key throws, whether it was one for a touchdown to Drake London in that end zone,
02:57which was an absolute dot down the field, or just a lot of the underneath stuff he was taking
03:02that was keeping the team on schedule.
03:04It was just a very, very good performance from Michael Penix today.
03:07And I was a little worried for him, and it feels like it is just a Penix thing
03:11that it just takes him a little bit of time to get settled into a game.
03:15I think it was the second play of this game for the Falcons offense.
03:20I thought he turned down, and I'll have to go back and look at it on replay to see if
03:24Pitts was as open.
03:25It looked to me like Pitts came wide open over the middle of the field.
03:29Then his route was then curling off to the left side, where he then became covered later in the route.
03:34But it looked to me like there was a definite chance for Michael Penix to hit Pitts
03:39on what would have been a huge explosive play, potentially even a touchdown.
03:42I'm talking that open.
03:43Like there was no real safeties in front of him.
03:46The safeties were split, and he was running down the middle of the field.
03:49But Michael Penix turns that down and then just checks it down to Bijan,
03:53and he checked it down late.
03:55Bijan's on a swing route, and it's a three-yard loss.
03:56And I was thinking at that point, oh, no, he's overthinking it.
03:59He's trying to be too careful with the ball.
04:01He doesn't want to put the ball in harm's way.
04:03And maybe that was true in that particular instance,
04:06but Penix was able to pick up more of a rhythm.
04:09I think Tommy Reese was able to help him with some easy throws.
04:13Felt like after that moment, the Falcons really started attacking the flats.
04:17And I think a lot of Falcons fans will remember that Raheem Morris and his defenses
04:22can tend to leave some of the underneath stuff just too uncovered,
04:28a little bit too soft of defense, trying to protect against the big explosives,
04:31which he knows he likes to prevent.
04:33And I felt like the Falcons were just happy to pick up some of those yards
04:36where they could get them in the underneath areas.
04:39And Michael Penix ends up completing passes to nine different pass catchers in this game.
04:44Drake London has seven catches on ten targets for 66 yards and a touchdown.
04:49Kyle Pitts catches all five of his targets for 22 yards and a touchdown.
04:54That's now four touchdowns for Kyle Pitts in the last three weeks,
04:57so a lot of the narratives around him, I think, are starting to change.
05:00And I think he is showing himself to be a bona fide weapon for this offense.
05:04And I'm even starting to get the sense that fans are expecting a lot of Kyle Pitts.
05:12And because they've actually seen him now make some of these plays that show what he can do
05:18and the way that he can be a dynamic difference maker for this offense,
05:22and it's great to see him.
05:23And if he can kind of get that confidence going, then I think the sky's the limit, obviously, for him.
05:27But I think overall what we saw from this offense was just better flow, better creativity.
05:32We saw them even throw a little hook and ladder here on a third and 17.
05:36And unfortunately for them, very kind of unlucky.
05:38It just comes up a yard short, but a really nifty play call.
05:43And it's something that they saw against Ben Johnson last week.
05:46And I don't want to spill the beans.
05:47I was not allowed to kind of talk during training camp about what we, you know, plays that we see.
05:52But I will say we did see a hook and ladder, now I can say, because they've ran it on
05:56the field.
05:56And it worked then, it worked now.
05:58So it is.
05:59And that's where I've been a little bit frustrated with some of the criticisms of this offense
06:04and of Reese saying that, like, you know, they're not creative or they're not doing this and that.
06:07I think that they're still trying to learn about their personnel that they have on this team.
06:13And it's one thing to watch film, and you can certainly learn some from that.
06:16But I think there's something about kind of going into battle, so to speak, with these guys on the field,
06:20kind of seeing them in the heat of the moment, understanding how they react in certain situations,
06:24and then being able to build better game plans, better, more effective plays for them to run off of that.
06:30And it just felt like that's what we were seeing today from the Falcons overall.
06:33And I think that, like, you know, one of the plays that really stands out to me in this game
06:36of just, like, just an effective way this team was hitting at this 49ers defense was a third down.
06:45They needed to convert.
06:45I can't remember what the exact distance was.
06:48It was probably, like, mid.
06:49It was, like, third and mid.
06:51And two receivers on the right side, they both run a little, a slant and a drag.
06:55And Bajon just goes out into that right flat.
06:57It's called a lion concept when you just get, like, a slant and then a player coming out of the
07:01backfield to fill that flat.
07:03Worked perfectly.
07:04Bajon Robinson was wide open.
07:05He runs for way more than he even needed on the play.
07:08Pigs up a big first down for the team that ultimately moves them into scoring position.
07:11So just a really, really effective offensive performance.
07:14Even though it wasn't, like, gaudy numbers or anything like that, it was just what they needed, frankly, in this
07:19game.
07:20Maybe the one time they didn't get what they needed in this game was on the drive to start.
07:24I think it was around four minutes left where it felt like they were up six at that point.
07:28They had just conceded.
07:29The defense had just conceded the touchdown to San Francisco.
07:32And you felt like if you could just get a field goal drive there, you're in the money, you know.
07:36And San Francisco predictably came out loading up, you know, forcing them, tempting them, daring them to go over the
07:43top.
07:43And they didn't.
07:44And then they get shit down three and out.
07:45That was really the only time I can think of this offense really kind of faltering in a bad way.
07:49Obviously not their only three and out in this game or the only time they had to punt.
07:53But just a good offensive performance from this team.
07:56But it was the defense that really kind of allowed the offense to have the day that they did by
08:00taking the ball away four times from the San Francisco offense.
08:07And we've got to start with Kendall Daniels.
08:09I mean, what a story this is.
08:10The guy makes the game clinching, well, maybe not technically clinching at the time, but it was the game deciding
08:17play, his interception late that ultimately leads to Nick Folk's field goal to put the team up two scores.
08:24And that was 20, or not 24 hours, but seven days of one week after he was in the hospital,
08:31in the back of an ambulance being transported to Grady for the obviously what looked like to be a very
08:37serious neck injury.
08:38He sustained at the time.
08:40And he spoke in the locker room about just kind of having to get over that and you not really
08:47knowing exactly how your body is going to hold up until you get out here.
08:51But he said that, and he said that even like during practice, you know, you're not going, you're not hitting
08:56guys.
08:56You're not in pads like you are in the games.
08:58And so he said it wasn't until some of the pregame stuff, you know, some of the thudding he was
09:02doing with the guys before the game.
09:04And then obviously making the first tackle in the game where he kind of really got settled, his nerves kind
09:09of settled, and he felt like, you know, comfortable with his body and that it was going to hold up
09:13during this game.
09:14He ends up having 11 tackles, obviously the interception and one big tackle for loss in this game.
09:20Just a really, really huge performance from Kendall, especially considering he's filling in for Divine Diablo, who was out injured
09:26in this game.
09:27So Kendall's also wearing the green dot, doing all the communicating, just a huge role for him to step into
09:33in this game.
09:33And then he just comes through in the biggest way possible.
09:36And so you just have to tip your hat to him.
09:39And man, to consider that he's a rookie that's doing this is pretty, very, very impressive for the Falcons.
09:45And let's, by the way, just kind of linger on this for a second.
09:48Divine Diablo misses this game.
09:50Divine Diablo missed four games last year.
09:51The Falcons lost every single game in which he missed.
09:53It really lost.
09:54He was really out for five games, so he left very early in the San Francisco game.
09:59After he leaves that game, San Francisco attacks J.D. Bertrand, the backup middle linebacker at that point, with these
10:05runs up the middle.
10:06And, of course, Christian McCaffrey was banged up in this one.
10:09He hurt his thigh.
10:10But they were not able to have that same kind of success on the ground this time as they did
10:15in that game last year.
10:16And so it's just another credit to this front office for being able to see that vulnerability that they had
10:25on defense and being able to fill it with some of these rookies.
10:27Harold Perkins also gets a start.
10:29But it's obviously a credit to the guys like Daniels, Perkins, Josh Woods, who played a good amount in this
10:34game.
10:34All the guys who had to step in and collectively play a part in that linebacker unit.
10:40And they won without Divine Diablo playing, which is a huge testament to all of them.
10:45And Mason Smith, also an absolute menace in this game, especially in the first half, where he had two tackles
10:50for loss, a sack, and a forced fumble.
10:52And it wasn't a strip sack.
10:53It was all three independent actions.
10:56Well, I guess the sack and the tackle for loss are one action.
11:00But he was winning, winning quick.
11:03And he's huge.
11:04He's just an absolute beast out there.
11:06So a credit to him.
11:07And then Jesse Bates, of course.
11:08The turnover machine has an amazing interception over on that sideline.
11:12I mean, it was an interception, a catch that a wide receiver would be proud to make.
11:18He toe taps it and is able to make that pick.
11:21I don't know what Brock Purdy was looking at there.
11:23It almost is like one of those throws that's like a half throwaway.
11:26But there were some guys kind of in the area.
11:28But that ball was ultimately not going real close to anyone but Jesse Bates, who was just roaming over there
11:34on that sideline.
11:35A huge play from him.
11:36And then, of course, he has the forced fumble that ends the game that Kendall Daniels falls on top of.
11:42But nine more tackles for Jesse Bates in this game and another pass breakup on top of that interception and
11:47forced fumble.
11:48Just that's what this defense is.
11:52And that's what this defense has to be for this team to be successful.
11:55They have to be an opportunistic defense.
11:57They have to be a defense that is able to get the critical sacks, is able to get those critical
12:02takeaways that puts the offense in position to use their most valuable players.
12:07And I'm talking about the contracts, what the money is being paid to those guys on the offensive side of
12:12the football where there's not anywhere near the same kind of financial investment on the defensive side of the ball.
12:17So that is the kind of complimentary football that I'm sure this coaching staff will want to see out of
12:22this team with the takeaways and then just the efficient offense that we saw on the other end.
12:28Special teams was a bit of a mixed bag.
12:30The good news there was that we saw Zachariah Branch have a great return early in this game.
12:35I believe it was the Falcons' first kick return in the game.
12:40Zachariah Branch takes it back into San Francisco territory.
12:42And you could really see the burst there.
12:44This comes, obviously, one week after having the two fumbles, one of which happened on a kick return.
12:48So great to see him bounce back.
12:50And you could tell how much it meant to him to have that big play.
12:54Khalil Herbert, who was the backup running back in this game, also has a big return, which was good to
12:58see.
12:59So the team improving in the return game.
13:01Jake Bailey hits one amazing punt that really helped the Falcons late in this game, a 51-yard punt that
13:07was forced to be fair caught by the 49ers.
13:09But then, you know, after the Falcons had that very quick three and out that we discussed earlier, then he
13:13shanks one.
13:14It's like, oh, that's just the way the special teams goes sometimes, I guess.
13:18And, again, I don't really know what to say about, you know, a shanked punt or a missed PAT.
13:24We saw one of those as well from Nick Folk.
13:26Makes you – it gives you more – I was going to say it raises more questions about whether he
13:32is the kicker for this team kind of going forward.
13:35I mean, he is the kicker for this team going forward. They're paying him.
13:37He's one of the highest-paid kickers in the NFL, actually.
13:40But he – so you see him miss a PAT, but he also makes the game clincher, basically, to make
13:47it a two-possession game, which was a big kick.
13:49And about the length of a PAT for him.
13:51So just a mixed bag on special teams.
13:54It's still kind of hit or miss.
13:55I don't see, like, systemic issues on that side.
13:59For me, it's just – it is individuals just kind of making some of these mistakes, whether it was Zachary
14:04Branch last week or Nick Folk or Jake Bailey and the punt that he had today.
14:09But overall, I think that it's a unit that's – obviously has its flaws but is improving.
14:16And it was good enough today to see the Falcons, again, win, beat the 49ers 29-20, gets them back
14:22to 3-4 on the season.
14:23They have the chance to get the 4-4 next week when they play at Tampa Bay.
14:26And then they get James Pierce Jr. after that, where they have the Madrid game following.
14:31So things could start falling into place for this Falcons team.
14:34And they really needed to have this win if they wanted their season to kind of play out in the
14:39way that everybody obviously wants.
14:41And so great job by the team and the coaching staff and the players, of course, in this game today.
14:46Thank you guys so much again for watching this episode of Joe Patrick on Football.
14:49If you do appreciate the coverage here on 99 The Game, please like the video and subscribe to 99 The
14:53Game,
14:53where we'll have a bunch more reaction coming from this big Falcons win.