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The Atlanta Falcons' playoff hopes now rest on the shoulders of the New Orleans Saints following Sunday night's bitter 30-24 overtime loss to the Washington Commanders. Questionable clock management ultimately sullied an impressive fourth-quarter showing for Michael Penix Jr. and the offense, plunging the team out of first place in the NFC South.
Facing immense stakes in just his second career NFL start, the rookie quarterback led a game-tying drive late in regulation. The defense then did its job by forcing a Commanders three-and-out, giving the ball back to the Falcons for what turned out to be the final time of the evening.
Penix fired a pass to Darnell Mooney near the sidelines with approximately 33 seconds left on the clock. With two timeouts in his holster, head coach Raheem Morris let 16 seconds tick away. A couple of Washington penalties gifted kicker Riley Patterson a 56-yard field goal attempt as time expired, but the pigskin fell short of the post. Jayden Daniels played the hero role once again, as the Commanders marched right down the field in OT.
As one would expect, Morris' decision to not call timeout was a topic of interest in the postgame press conference. “Probably could have,” he said, per The 33rd Team's Ari Meirov. “I thought we could get to the line of scrimmage with our operation a little faster.”
Falcons play with fire and might now be fatally burned for 2024-25 season
Morris is asking quite a bit from his rookie signal-caller in a high-stress environment. Instead of affording Penix additional time to regroup, the coach inadvertently turned up the pressure cooker in Northwest Stadium. The Falcons' chances of securing a favorable field goal drastically dived following this inaction, and so did their postseason prospects.
Atlanta (8-8) can only sneak into the playoffs with a win versus the visiting Carolina Panthers and a Buccaneers home loss to the 5-11 Saints in the last week of the regular season. An unnecessary gamble sets up the franchise for yet another fruitless campaign. There are a myriad of shortcomings beyond Raheem Morris' timeout decision that have afflicted the Falcons in 2024, to be sure, but this mistake might linger for a while.
Unless the Buccaneers make a costly blunder of their own next Sunday, that is.
