Now, the Falcons take the road and head to Oakland to take on the Raiders in their home opener.
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ALAMEDA, Calif. – Coach Jack Del Rio was not in the mood to talk about any “positive” developments that came out of the 35-28 loss to the Atlanta Falcons the day after the Oakland Raiders gave up another 500-plus yards on defense.
Both teams are 1-1. The play enabled the Falcons to hold on to the victory. He looks much improved in the first two games this season and the addition of Alex Mack is evident.
Against the Saints last week, the Raiders rushed for 167 yards and three touchdowns.
Here’s what we do know: Matt Ryan inarguably looks better than he did in this offense a year ago. (They could have only trailed by three points, were it not a muffed field-goal attempt by Sebastian Janikowski – granted, from 58-yards.) 8. Levine Toilolo also had two catches for 21 yards.
Matt Ryan threw three TD passes, but got a little lucky on the go-ahead one in the fourth quarter.
Things were still shaky to start the second half in the red zone when Ryan’s pass to Jacob Tamme was intercepted in the back of the end zone by David Amerson. He scored the two-point conversion on a quarterback draw to put the Falcons up 21-14.
The Raiders had one last shot to prevent Atlanta from running down the clock if they could just stop the Falcons on third-and-3.
Atl-Coleman 13 run (Bryant kick), 4:35.
Sunday will be the first time the Falcons and Raiders have played each other in the regular season since 2012. In the second half, the Raiders went for it twice on fourth down – once successfully, the second not.
On the third possession, Ryan operated out of the no-huddle with the plays being signaled in from the sideline. The Falcons needed just five plays to cover 85 yards on the drive as Ryan went 5 of 5 for 81 yards.
The Falcons ran the no-huddle four more plays on their next possession. The Raiders averaged 6.2 yards per carry, with several runs over 10 yards.
In the second quarter, Robert Alford intercepted Carr’s pass in the end zone, but he pushed off Michael Crabtree resulting in a pass interference. Latavius Murray had a solid game, with 101 total yards and a TD. 4. Unfortunately they were unable to move the ball, and punted it right back to the Falcons. Backup safety Dashon Goldson was called for the penalty. Raiders quarterback Derek Carr threw a 51-yard touchdown to wide receiver Amari Cooper. Walford got behind Falcons backup linebacker Philip Wheeler, who was in the game because rookie De’Vondre Campbell was inactive with an ankle injury. Atlanta is used to playing on turf as well, so let’s see if their offense is affected by the part grass, part dirt at the Oakland Coliseum.
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Ryan completed 26 of 34 passes and was intercepted once while Devonta Freeman had 91 of his team’s 139 yards rushing. Bryant added a 20-yard field.
