The Falcons may miss the playoffs because they didn’t get closer for a game-winning field goal attempt. Riley Patterson’s 56-yard try fell short.
Perhaps the Falcons would have gotten a shorter attempt had Michael Penix had more time.
As it turned out, Penix could have had more time if Falcons coach Raheem Morris had better used his timeouts.
Morris admitted after the 30-24 overtime loss to the Commanders that, in hindsight, it might have been wise to use a timeout after drive’s lone completion. The Falcons had two timeouts when Penix completed a 25-yard pass to receiver Darnell Mooney to the Atlanta 44. The team, though, lost 17 seconds from the time Mooney was tackled until the Falcons snapped the ball again.
Morris said Monday that “it took a little too long” to get the snap off.
Then, after back-to-back incompletions, with the clock stopped, the Falcons finally used a timeout.
“Would I like that back? Obviously because it didn’t work,” Morris said, via Terrin Waack of the team website. “But in hindsight, if we can just hit that one route, and we get a chance to have the timeouts to use, to utilize the whole field on the next throws, then we get a chance to get in better position to make it an easier field goal to end it there in regulation. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way for me.”
When it doesn’t work out, there are questions about why it didn’t work out. The answers usually don’t satisfy anyone.
“You have to make those decisions in the heat of the moment,” Morris said.
