Saving The Falcons: Yeah, The Atlanta Falcons Finally Won, But What About Trevor Lawrence?

The Atlanta Falcons beat the Vikings 40-23 Sunday in Minnesota, but let's don't get carried away.

They won.

The Falcons actually won.

So, beyond everything else (see below), the Falcons left Minnesota Sunday without losing to the Vikings, which was huge enough.

The fact that the final score was 40-23, well, that made things sweeter for a Falcons team that started the season 0-5 in the ugliest of ways.

Here's a quick review . . .

Somehow, courtesy of an invisible secondary, the Falcons made the great Russell Wilson look even greater while losing their season opener to the Seattle Seahawks

Then came those fourth-quarter collapses in consecutive weeks to the Dallas Cowboys and the Chicago Bears, and get this: Never in the NFL's 101-year history had a team ever blown fourth-quarter leads of 15 points or more in the same season.

Until the Falcons did so.

In those back-to-back games.

After that, the Falcons were clobbered on Monday night in Green Bay.

But along came the Vikings, and Matt Ryan put talk of his decline on hold as a 35-year-old NFL quarterback by passing for 371 yards and four touchdowns. 

Julio Jones also was his vintage self. He ignored his season-long aches and pains to catch eight passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns.

The big story for the Falcons was their defense, though. It's been brutal all year, but Falcons defenders used a goal-line stand to keep Minnesota from scoring, and they intercepted Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins three times.

That said, folks need to put this Falcons victory into perspective.

See today's Saving The Falcons video.

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Terence Moore
TERENCE MOORE

I started as a professional sports journalist in 1978 at the Cincinnati Enquirer after I graduated from Miami (Ohio) University, and I’ve been doing the same thing ever since. I also appear on national television, and I’m part of a weekly TV show in Atlanta. I’ve done everything from ESPN to MSNBC to The Oprah Winfrey Show. As for writing, I’ve gone from working for major newspapers in San Francisco and Atlanta to operating as a national columnist at AOL Sports, MLB.com, Sports On Earth.com and CNN.Com. I’ve covered a slew of sporting events. I’ve done 30 Super Bowls, numerous World Series and NBA Finals games, Final Fours, several Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500 and other auto races, major prize fights and golf tournaments, college football bowl games and more. I’ve also won national, state and local awards along the way.