CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The NFL’s Thursday night games may not be all that popular among players, but this week’s NFC South matchup can’t get here soon enough for the Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers.
It’s a good chance for both teams to wash the taste of massive mental mistakes out of their mouths and put Sunday’s losses behind them.
The Falcons (1-6) allowed a potential win to slip away when running back Todd Gurley accidentally scored a touchdown with 1:04 remaining and the offense looking to set up a short field-goal attempt against the Detroit Lions. That left the visitors enough time to drive 75 yards, score a touchdown and kick the extra point to win 23-22.
For Carolina (3-4), the miscue came when Teddy Bridgewater took an 8-yard sack on third-and-11 at the New Orleans Saints’ 39 while trailing 27-24 with two minutes left. Facing fourth-and-19, coach Matt Rhule sent Joey Slye on the field for an NFL-record 65-yard field-goal attempt, with the kick leaving the ball a couple feet short. Rhule called the mistake a “fatal blow.”
“Playing on Thursday night makes you get out of the funk that you’re in after a tough loss,” Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan said. “So I think getting back into a game plan quickly, talking with coaches, starting to make plans for Thursday night kind of helps.”
Or, as Bridgewater said, it gives his team a chance to “flush” the last game and move on.
“You have to turn the page,” he added.
The Panthers beat the Falcons 23-16 less than three weeks ago in Atlanta, with Bridgewater throwing for 313 yards with two touchdowns and running back Mike Davis piling up 149 yards from scrimmage. The Falcons had a chance to tie the score late in the game, but cornerback Rasul Douglas intercepted Ryan in the end zone.
The loss dropped the Falcons to 0-5, and a few hours later the team fired coach Dan Quinn – defensive coordinator Raheem Morris has taken over on an interim basis – and general manager Thomas Dimitroff.
“We’re playing a team that probably feels like they let one get away the last time they played us,” Bridgewater said.
Atlanta rolled to a 40-23 road win against the Minnesota Vikings in its first game with Morris at the helm, but against Detroit, the Falcons couldn’t secure what would have been their first back-to-back victories since closing last season with a four-game winning streak that began against the Panthers. That 40-20 home win last Dec. 8 and a 29-3 win at Carolina three weeks earlier gave the Falcons a sweep of the season series for the second straight year.
This time Atlanta is just trying to improve its NFC South record to 1-1, with the fact that most of the division schedule is still ahead one of the bright spots for the struggling Falcons.
Ryan is 16-9 against the Panthers with 39 touchdown passes and 17 interceptions, but he was held without a touchdown pass in the most recent meeting. That was Ryan’s second straight game without a touchdown pass, but his production has enjoyed a sharp increase since Julio Jones returned from a hamstring injury.
Ryan has five touchdown passes with no interceptions in the past two games, pushing his season totals to 12 and three. He threw only one touchdown pass against the Lions, to Calvin Ridley, but completed 31 of 42 passes, his second straight game connecting on more than 70% of his attempts.
Ridley, with six touchdown catches this season, continues to find ways to reach the end zone, and his score against Detroit allowed him to break Andre Rison’s team record for most touchdown catches in a player’s first three seasons. Ridley now has 23 in his career with more than half of the season remaining. In addition, he is tied for fourth in team history for the most touchdown catches through the first seven games of a season. Jones, a seven-time Pro Bowl selection, had 20 touchdown through his first three seasons in Atlanta.
There has been speculation Ryan and Jones could be trade targets if the Falcons are ready for a massive roster rebuild, but team owner Arthur Blank and team president Rich McKay each said he wants to leave such major decisions to a new GM and coach, making a trade deadline deal involving a top player extremely unlikely.
Ryan and Jones, who have spent their entire NFL careers with the Falcons after being first-round draft picks, were asked this week if they would welcome trades. Each said no.
“I know who I am,” Jones, 31, said. “I know what I’ve got going. I know what I mean to this team.”
Ryan, 35, repeated his wish to complete his career with the Falcons.
“I don’t worry about that stuff,” Ryan said of the speculation. “I don’t think about it.”
Atlanta defensive end Takk McKinley, however, could be a candidate to be traded before Tuesday’s deadline. Before the season, the Falcons did not pick up the fifth-year contract option on McKinley, a first-round pick out of UCLA in 2017.
He has been ruled out for the game at Carolina, the fourth time in six weeks he will sit because of a nagging groin injury. He had one tackle against Detroit but has not practiced this week.
When asked Wednesday if he expected to have McKinley on the roster next week, Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said “I have no idea.”
With McKinley again inactive, there will be more playing time for Allen Bailey, Charles Harris and Steven Means.
Rhule is “hopeful” 2019 All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey, who returned to practice Tuesday, will be cleared to play after missing the past five games with a high ankle sprain.
“I want to win today, so I’m hopeful that it is today,” Rhule said of McCaffrey’s return. “All I can say is, won’t be a minute too early.”