Panthers Hand Winless Falcons Fifth Straight Loss
The Atlanta Falcons hosted the Carolina Panthers Sunday, still looking for their first win in 2020 in the fifth week of the season. The Panthers came in at 2-2 under first-year head coach Matt Rhule.
Atlanta came into the matchup as a two-point favorite over Carolina despite the uncertainty surrounding the status of star wide receiver Julio Jones, who was ultimately ruled out Sunday morning with a hamstring injury.
Atlanta came out hot, with a strong stop on defense after it looked like Teddy Bridgewater had the Panthers offense rolling. The Falcons forced the punt and proceeded to go on a 92-yard drive that spanned across 10 plays and 4:36 of game clock.
The drive was capped off by a 35-yard touchdown run by Todd Gurley II.
Carolina responded with 20 unanswered points, including a 57-yard touchdown catch by DJ Moore.
The Falcons were unable to stop Bridgewater as he threw for 261 yards and two touchdowns in the opening half. He completed 74% of his passes in the half and the Panthers racked up more than 300 yards of total offense in the first two quarters.
On offense, the Falcons were as flat they have looked at any point this season. Ryan was just 11 for 17 with 82 yards in the opening half. Outside of Gurley's long touchdown run, there was nothing much to speak of.
The absence of Jones was as present as ever today, with the offense's lack of ability to stretch the field limiting underneath options.
Atlanta got the ball to start the second half, but stalled after moving the ball on the ground. Younghoe Koo hit a 46-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 20-10 in favor of the Panthers with 12:15 to play in the third quarter.
The Falcons had a couple chances to even the score in the fourth, but an interception in the end zone thrown by Ryan with under nine minutes to go seemed to take the air out of the comeback.
Carolina marched down the field on the next possession, taking nearly eight minutes off the clock on a game-clinching field-goal drive. Atlanta gave up the ball with 8:49 to play on the interception by Ryan, and did not regain possession until the 1:10 mark, when they trailed 23-13 with no timeouts left.
Atlanta kicked a late field goal to give themselves a chance at an onside kick recover and then a 'Hail Mary' try, but they were unable to recover the kick, and ultimately lost the game 23-16.
Gurley was the lone bright spot for Atlanta, picking up 121 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. He also added four catches for 29 yards.
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