Cardinals Lose on Last-Second Field Goal to Falcons 20-19

The Arizona Cardinals have now lost their sixth game in a row after being defeated by the Atlanta Falcons in 20-19 fashion.
In this story:

In a back-and-forth game that went down to final play of the game, the Arizona Cardinals have now lost their sixth consecutive game after dropping their Week 17 road meeting with the Atlanta Falcons 20-19. 

Quarterback David Blough looked fairly strong in the opening two quarters, continuously marching the Cardinals down the field on what would be three scoring drives in the first half. 

Yet it was the Falcons and rookie quarterback Desmond Ridder who found the end zone first after Arizona started with a 3-0 lead. Running back Tyler Allgeier reached the end zone first in the early stages of the second quarter. 

On the ensuing drive, Cardinals rookie tight end Trey McBride scored the first touchdown of his career to put Arizona back into the lead.

After the Falcons blocked a punt deep in Cardinals territory, Cordarrelle Patterson scored Atlanta's second touchdown of the day with under two minutes left in the first half. 

Matt Prater would knock home a second field goal with two seconds left to draw the Cardinals within one heading into halftime 14-13.

The second half began with Prater nailing his third field goal of the day to again put the Cardinals ahead 16-14. 

The two squads would exchange drives the rest of the third quarter before a fourth-and-short stop gave the Falcons some momentum in the early minutes of the fourth quarter. 

Patterson thought he had scored his second touchdown of the day on a back-shoulder catch in the end zone, but the officials ruled it incomplete after deeming he did not maintain possession. Younghoe Koo then trotted on the field for his first field goal of the day to put Atlanta up 17-16 with 9:36 left.

Prater, perhaps the hero of the day for the Cardinals, notched a 57-yard field goal to put Arizona back up 19-17 with 4:57 left.

The Falcons slowly but surely drove down the field while bleeding the clock, possessing the ball inside the AZ 10 with a minute left. After stopping the clock down to two seconds, Koo drilled a 21-yard attempt as time expired to defeat Arizona. 

The Cardinals now hit the road for the final game of the regular season when the San Francisco 49ers play host to them in Week 18.

Follow All Cardinals on Facebook

Subscribe to All Cardinals on YouTube

Arizona Cardinals Top Stories

Halftime Recap: Cardinals Trail Falcons

Falcons Complimentary of Cardinals Ahead of Matchup

Despite Record, Cardinals DC Vance Joseph Knows Falcons Are Dangerous Offense

Report: Michael Bidwill Hasn't Informed Kliff Kingsbury of Future


Published
Donnie Druin
DONNIE DRUIN

Donnie Druin is the Publisher for All Cardinals and Inside The Suns. Donnie moved to Arizona in 2012 and has been with Fan Nation since 2018. In college he won "Best Sports Column" in the state of Arizona for his section and has previously provided coverage for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona State Sun Devils. Follow Donnie on Twitter @DonnieDruin for more news, updates, analysis and more!