The Patriots were set to play tonight’s game with a couple players returning from injury. Running back Damian Harris and tight end Jonnu Smith both returned to action, and boltered offense depth on a short week. The Patriots had both their top running back healthy against a poor Falcons run defense.
While both offenses were slow to start, the Patriots were able to scrap rough points together to give them the edge in the first half. Nick Folk was two for two on field goals in the first half alongside a Mac Jones touchdown to wide receiver Nelson Agholar. Jones’ efficiency through the air constantly got the Patriots in a good position to put some kind of points on the board.
Defensively, the Falcons struggled to do anything at all against the Patriots in the first half. The Patriots had three sacks in the first half and held quarterback Matt Ryan to only 60 passing yards. Kyle Van Noy had two of the three sacks. With effective run defense, the Falcons often found themselves in 3rd and long situations, struggling to convert over and over. Decent offense and great defense combined to make the score 13-0 in favor of the Patriots at the break.
The second half started in theme with slow offense on both sides. Jones threw an interception to Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell in the middle of the third, his seventh of the season. The Falcons had some life on their next drive and reached the red zone. A big stop on a fourth down rushing attempt for just one yard ended the Falcons hopes of scoring to make it a one possession game.
After a 3 and out for the Patriots, the Falcons had another opportunity to net points. Ryan led his team down the field with some nice throws, but ended up throwing a pick to safety Devin McCourty on an overthrow intended for Kyle Pitts.With 12 minutes remaining in the game the Patriots retook possession after the interception.
With the score still at 13-0, the Patriots had a chance to seemingly ice the game with a score and a long drive at that spot in the game. Thanks to a couple great runs by Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson the Patriots were able to reach field goal range. A sack on 3rd and seven forced the team to take a field goal, leaving the game within two scores for the Falcons at 16-0.
The Patriots defense held up and continued it’s dominant performance. The Falcons took the ball with just under seven minutes on the clock and one stop would seal the
game. J.C. Jackson intercepted Ryan off a tipped incompletion, his sixth of the year in a clinching spot for the Patriots. Jones and the offense took over at midfield, and were able to add another field goal to make the game 19-0.
The Falcons threw two more picks before the game ended, one returned by Kyle Van Noy. The game ended with a 25-0 Patriots win. Tonight the Patriots defense did it’s job and then some. They shut down every response that the Falcons tried to make and pressured Matt Ryan, totaling four sacks on the day. Linebacker Kyle Van Noy shined with eight solo tackles and two sacks, while fellow linebacker Matthew Judon broke his personal single season record with one sack, now with 11 on the year. The turnover frenzy to end the game was icing on the cake to a shutout performance.
As heavy road favorites, the Patriots were expected to win this game. The offense was underwhelming and showed similar struggles that we saw plague the team earlier in the year: pass protection and ball security. Jones threw a pick that could have gotten the Falcons back in the game, and while he was accurate in this game the offense struggled to get in a consistent rhythm. He ended the game 22/26. Agholar notched a touchdown catch which is a good sign as he hasn’t been impactful so far for the team, this being just his second touchdown of the season.
Nonetheless, a 25-0 Thursday night win is not something to be concerned by. The Patriots are now 7-4 with a playoff berth as a real possibility. Now, the team eyes another AFC east title with two games against the division leader Bills remaining on the schedule. The next four games the Patriots will face the Titans, the Bills (twice), and the Colts. This is a stretch where the team can see how they match up with some of the conference’s playoff hopefuls, and show whether they belong at the top of the AFC.
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