The club so admired Seattle’s ability to sustain quality – Wilson is the only offensive starter who remains from the 2012 team of his rookie year – that two years ago, the Falcons hired one of Pete Carroll’s top assistants, Dan Quinn, to be head coach. “For him to go out there and play for us, play for the brothers, that’s a blessing”.
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However, it was all downhill from there.
It will be Seahawks at Falcons in the NFC divisional playoffs at the Georgia Dome, and it will be Jones-Sherman in what could be the most important individual matchup of the game.
Since that play, however, the Falcons spent the season improving – and proving themselves the better team.
Saturday’s game was a turnaround for Jones from the October 24 meeting with the Seahawks in Seattle.
Here were the major problems for Seattle… Have thoughts on how the Seahawks and Falcons are performing?
Ryan hooked up with Julio Jones on a seven-yard touchdown and Tevin Coleman for a 14-yard score before finishing off the Seahawks with a three-yard toss to Mohamed Sanu in the corner of the end zone with just under four minutes remaining, sparking a raucous chant of “MVP! MVP!” They also played a tight one just this season, with Seattle notching a two-point victory at CenturyLink Field. Reporters, for the most part, are just there to do their job and glean information for the fans who depend on them for some type of breakdown or report. The two teams met up back in Week 3 during Tom Brady’s suspension and after Jimmy Garoppolo’s injury.
At left tackle, George Fant is an outlier. Gary Gilliam had issues with edge rushing.
Seahawks general manager John Schneider has to completely overhaul this offensive line. Instead, a holding penalty was called on Kevin Pierre-Louis, even though it did not appear to have any impact on creating room for Hester’s return.
Wilson had help when he was playing that well, however. I’m taking Atlanta despite giving the five points.
The Atlanta Falcons have talked for a few weeks now about the defense making significant strides, but it probably means a little more when such praise comes from an opponent. And they have no one to blame on those but themselves. That’s the National Football League, you non-playing mother–!
Nobody in the Seattle Seahawks locker room was willing to say that a crucial and freakish sequence early in the second quarter cost them a victory at Atlanta. It came on a sack of Wilson by occasional defensive lineman Den Garland that not only pulled the Falcons within 10-9 but also immediately gave them the ball, and they converted that into a 35-yard Bryant field goal and a 12-10 lead.
Atlanta is led by quarterback Matt Ryan who comes off perhaps the best season of his nine-year career.
It’s never fair to say an entire game – or a whole season – came down to one play.
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The Falcons’ odds of winning the Super Bowl fell to 80-1 after a disappointing opening home loss to Tampa Bay. This group put in admirable performances throughout the season, yet didn’t reach the potential that was needed to move on to the NFC Championship game.
