Anatomy of a Loser
The Atlanta Falcons were playing the Detroit Lions in a game played in London, England yesterday. They had dominated the game for the first half. The score was 21 to nothing, Atlanta, midway through the third quarter, but it seemed like even more. Very few people in the crowd at Wembley Stadium or in the national television audience in the U.S. thought this game would be anything other than a Falcon victory. But it didn’t turn out that way. Somehow, the Falcons lost this game. This is a story of how a team that at one time had complete control of a game with 23 minutes to go somehow lost that control, lost their way, and finally, lost that game.
We join the game in the 3rd Quarter. Detroit has the ball and are driving. With 7:59 to go in the third quarter, the Falcons defense stiffens, the Lions drive sputters and they have to settle for a field goal, making the score 21 to 3. This is not a turning point of the game. At this point, it does not have even phase the Atlanta Falcons. They lead 21 – 3. They will trade five minute drives that end up in field goals for the rest of the game. The game is still firmly controlled by the Falcons. The game is going their WAY. Their defense is playing well enough that the only way they can lose this game is to do something really stupid. To GIVE the game away.
Their next possession, the Falcons start to show some signs of weakness. They get sloppy and fumble the ball. But they recover their own fumble. A team with a 21 – 3 lead should be doing everything within their power to NOT turn the ball over, to NOT give up anything easy. An opposing team will not have enough time to beat them if they don’t GIVE them something easy, give them the idea that they are even in the game. About 5 1/2 minutes to play in the third. The Falcons are forced to punt.
The Lions get the ball and immediately get two penalties against them, leaving them with the near impossible task of having to get 35 yards for a first down. With about five minutes to play, and a second and 25 to go, the Falcons make the bonehead play that the truly incompetent losing teams seem to do every week. A wide receiver is running a deep pattern. The Atlanta corner stops guarding the wideout, to cover the short zone, where no offensive player is even near, releasing him to be covered by a safety, who seems to think that someone else behind him is supposed to cover this wideout going deep. Only, in the middle of peering into the backfield, the safety realizes HE is the guy who is supposed to cover the guy going deep. Only, by that time, the wideout is ten yards behind any defensive player. He catches an easy 59 yard pass for a touchdown.
A defensive team has gone from having their opponent at first and 35 to allowing them to score a touchdown in less than two minutes. A team that was down 21 to nothing and hopelessly out of the game is now down only 21 to 10 and back in the game, and they still have a full quarter to go. The Atlanta Falcons have done the ONE THING that could screw up a game and they don’t even realize yet that their opponents, who were fully prepared to lose this game now think that they are going to win this game. The Falcons have GIVEN the Lions the turning point of the game on a silver platter.
Atlanta gets the ball back with a 21 – 10 lead and proceed to fumble the ball again. But they recover the fumble again. Surely, Detroit is seeing their opponent’s body language as that of a team that is willing to give them this game, if they the Lions will just do their part and take this game from them. Just before the end of the third quarter, Falcon QB Matt Ryan, with a pass that didn’t need to be thrown, throws a ball directly into the arms of a defensive player and the Lions almost return it for a touchdown. The third quarter ends, with the Lions down 21 to 10, but feeling like they have all of the momentum. They have it because it has been handed to them.
Early into the fourth quarter, the Falcons defense stiffens again and holds the Lions to a field goal. Miraculously, the mistake only costs them three points and the lead is now 21 to 13, with about 14 minutes to play. Clearly, the Lions are only “one possession” out of the lead. Mo is on their side. A close game is now VERY likely in the cards.
Atlanta gets the ball back and fumbles AGAIN, and luckily they recover it again. The Lions are licking their chops as they watch their opponents stumbling and bumbling their way through the second half. The Falcons punt again and the Lions take about five minutes to drive the ball down the field to a touchdown with about four minutes to play. 21 to 19 with a chance to tie it with a two point conversion. But, it fails and Atlanta keeps its slim 21 to 19 lead.
The Lions kick off to the Falcons, and there are about four minutes to play. Everyone in the stadium knows that if the Lions get the ball with any amount of time remaining (say, over a minute), with any decent field position (say, near the 40), they will drive down the field and kick a field goal to win the game at the buzzer. Their ONLY chance is to get a couple of first downs and to run out the clock. Atlanta runs a few plays, gets the Lions to use up two of their three time outs, and THEN they get a key first down with about two minutes to play. After all they have gone through, the Falcons still have a fleeting chance to win this game.
With two minutes to play, and the ball near midfield, the Falcons have the enviable position of being able to run three plays, (forcing the Lions to use their final time out) and, at about 45 seconds of time per play (not counting the time out, and the time it would take to punt the ball) the chance to leave the Lions inside of their own 20 yard line with no time outs and about 15 to 20 seconds to play. It is NEARLY impossible to lose this game if they play it right.
But, after making the Lions use their last time out, the Falcons run an odd, slow developing play that causes an offensive player to hold, which, besides being a 10 yard penalty, also forces the clock to stop. That costs the Falcons 45 seconds of moving time. Then, on third down, the Falcons try a pass play, that falls incomplete and AGAIN stops the clock. Instead of using up (add another 45 seconds because of the incompletion) a minute and a half of time that the Lions would NOT get, they use up a grand total of 15 seconds, and the Lions have the ball and a chance to win the game with 1:40 to play (instead of about 15 seconds). The Falcons have done the impossible… again. They have given them hope… again.
Detroit marches down the field, using up all but four seconds of their 1:40. They get into perfect position to kick the winning field goal that they should never have been able to be in position to attempt — had Atlanta managed the game, and the clock better. They of course make the kick and win the game 22 to 21. The ending, that seemed inevitable each and every play that happened after the bumbling defensive backs allowed the long touchdown pass, finally came about.
The Atlanta Falcons had a game won and they lost it. The Atlanta Falcons did the things that only happen to losers. Detroit only took advantage of the opportunities that were handed to them. There’s an old saying — Winners always find out a way to win… and Losers always find out a way to lose. In this game, the Atlanta Falcons somehow just found their way.
