On Monday night, the did more than merelyagainst the . By beating the haple s and injury-plagued Bucs 24-21, they ensured they'll enter the final two weeks of the season in .The Falcons are in complete and total control over their destiny and on Monday night, they took advantage of their opportunity to beat a bad football team -- but only just barely. UNIVERSE: We have created a scenario in which all you need to do is win two games and you are in the playoffs. Here is a relatively easy matchup.FALCONS: /falling down a flight of stairs The Falcoholic (@TheFalcoholic) pa sed for 212 yards and a touchdown ( Matt Hunwick Jersey he was outplayed by Jameis Winston), and totaled only 54 yards against a team he normally torches. , though, ran wild for 126 yards, and Atlanta's defense played good enough. Once again, the Falcons weren't impre sive, squandering some scoring opportunities and failing to live up to their full potential. It was an ugly win -- something this team has come to master.Ryan summed up the Falcons' performance perfectly when a mic caught him screaming "Get f------- set" at a teammate as the team tried to piece together a put-away drive in the fourth quarter. A few plays later, Freeman turned a three-point game into a 10-point game with a perfectly executed, ankle-breaking 32-yard touchdown run. . out here breaking ankles. NFL (@NFL) The Buccaneers made it interesting by responding with their own touchdown, courtesy of and . Jameis Winston directing his WRs and to ses a perfect TD! within three. NFL (@NFL) But the Falcons closed them out. You can't even credit them for not blowing a late lead, though, because they didn't really do much to earn the victory in the final minutes. They ended up punting the ball back to the Buccaneers and allowing them to march directly downfield without any timeouts to get off a last-second, 54-yard field goal attempt. And if not for an official tripping as he tried to get the ball set so the Buccaneers could kill the clock, that 54-yard field goal try could've been a bit shorter. But the official did trip, burning a few precious seconds, and the Buccaneers didn't have enough time to get off another offensive play. lol arcusD (@_MarcusD2_) And then mi sed the long field-goal attempt. And so, the Falcons won. At this point in the season, that's all that matters for a team on the playoff bubble. The 2017 version of the Atlanta Falcons might not be a good football team, but they're alive and probably playoff bound. At 9-5, they're ahead of three 8-6 teams -- the Seahawks, Cowboys, and Lions -- all of whom they already beat this season, which means they really hold a two-game lead with two games to play. And with those two games coming against the 10-4 and 10-4 , they're not totally out of the picture in the NFC South. And really, that's all that matters right now. The Falcons are not a great football team even though their roster boasts great talent. They're underperforming. That's undeniable. Maybe it's due to a Super Bowl hangover. Maybe it's due to the lo s of Kyle Shanahan. There's no way to know for certain. Regardle s of the reason, the Falcons own the same record that they did at this point last season -- a season that ended in overtime of the Super Bowl. Last year, the Falcons went on a four-game winning streak to enter the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in football. If the Falcons manage to beat the Panthers and Saints to close out the year, they'll suddenly look like a legitimate postseason threat.We've seen nothing to believe that the Falcons will beat teams of the Panthers' and Saints' caliber, but at least they're in a position to redeem themselves. At some point, though, they'll need to prove that they're actually a good team and not a disappointing, inconsistent team that is wasting a ton of talent. We'll find out a lot more about this team from here on out. There are no more easy games remaining on their schedule. And their performance Monday night won't hold up against playoff-caliber teams.Read on for six takeaways. 1. Bucs Dominik Hasek Men Jersey are a me s Entering the season, the Buccaneers -- now 4-10 -- were supposed to challenge the Falcons for the NFC South crown. Instead, their final couple of weeks are nothing more than an opportunity to spoil some seasons and maybe even save some jobs. They didn't play well on Monday night. Winston actually pieced together a sensational stat line -- 27 of 35 for 299 yards, three touchdowns, no picks, and a 130.5 pa ser rating -- and played better than he has pretty much all season long. So don't blame him for the lo s.Injuries and absences played a significant role. The Buccaneers entered the game without running back (inactive for a violation of team rules), linebacker (hamstring), cornerback (hamstring), and defensive tackle (biceps). They ended up losing a heck of a lot more players during the game, including receiver and rookie tight end O.J. Howard. Bucs have announced eight players with injuries tonight, including three (Howard, Sweezy, JEvans) who have been ruled out for the rest of game. Greg Auman (@gregauman) The secondary held up fine against Ryan and Jones, but the defense got gouged by the Falcons' ground game. Freeman ran wild. So did , who filled in for the injured . Heck, the Buccaneers let Ryan -- not the most mobile quarterback -- rush for 29 yards. The Buccaneers treated tackling like a foreign concept. Got em NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) A cameraman did his best reenactment of the Buccaneers' tackling technique: Parabolic mic guy with a big time flop (r ) CJ Fogler (@cjzero) The Buccaneers defended the Falcons' first touchdown of the game -- a 6-yard pa s from Ryan to -- with 10 men on the field. It is hard enough to stop the Falcons. The tried to do with just 10 defenders and failed. Cork Gaines (@CorkGaines) It didn't go well. Matt Ryan finds the open man... and it's an TD! NFL (@NFL) Considering how high the Buccaneers' expectations were coming into the year, it's tough to see coach Dirk Koetter surviving this dreadful year. The only way that seemed likely was if the Buccaneers finished the year strong. The Buccaneers had a chance to upset an unimpre sive Falcons team, but they fell short. You could point to Winston's performance and be encouraged, but Winston has always been an inconsistent quarterback who is capable of playing out of his mind before faltering a week later. I'm not sure this game changes much. You could point to Howard's touchdown, which tied the game at 7 in the first quarter, as a sign of progre s ... . dives for the pylon... and is in for a TOUCHDOWN! NFL (@NFL) ... but then you have to remember that Howard was left wide open by the Falcons. Oh, and he also left the game with an ankle injury. You can compliment the Buccaneers for finally stopping Jones, but then you have to remember that Ryan mi sed a deep touchdown bomb to Jones. And while the Buccaneers didn't get torched through the air, they did get annihilated on the ground. I'm not sure there's any kind of moral victory the Buccaneers can claim from the lo s. The Falcons were bad. The Buccaneers were even worse -- with the exception of Winston. And in the proce s, they got decimated by injuries. 2. Atlanta's ground game gouges Tampa BayThe Falcons won because they ran the ball all over the Buccaneers. You've already seen the Freeman touchdown run above. In all, he rushed for 126 yards on 22 carries. Ward added 40 yards on eight carries. Ryan managed to pick up 29 yards on three scrambles. Atlanta's team rushing total was 201 yards. Credit the offensive line. They opened huge holes and Freeman hit the holes hard, like he always does. And once he got to the second level, he challenged the Buccaneers secondary by initiating contact. Devonta Freeman. NFL (@NFL) Freeman was the game's MVP. 3. Fumble luck Freeman played well, but he got bailed out when he fumbled at the 1-inch line and into the end zone. The ball didn't roll out of the end zone for a touchback. The ball didn't wind up in the arms of a Buccaneer. The ball went directly to , who gave the Falcons a 14-7 lead. . fumbles into the end zone, but recovers! TOUCHDOWN. NFL (@NFL) On the ensuing drive, the Falcons spoiled the Buccaneers' red-zone trip by forcing a fumble of and recovering the loose ball. FUMBLE. forces the BIG turnover in the red zone. NFL (@NFL) Later in the game, Freeman fumbled again and once again, the Falcons recovered the ball. The game could've gone much differently if those fumbles had bounced a different way. 4. briefly shows up I hope you didn't bench Mike Evans in Fantasy. Evans has experienced a disappointing season, and it looked like that would continue on Ryan Oreilly Women Jersey Monday night when he racked up two offensive-pa s-interference penalties -- one negating a huge touchdown -- but he more than made up for his rough beginning by coming down with an awesome touchdown catch in traffic in the third quarter, which cut the Falcons' lead to three points. MIKE. EVANS.Unbelievable catch! NFL (@NFL) Great job by Winston to elude the pa s rush, but this is an even better job by Evans to grab that contested catch over two defenders. Mike Evans doesn't care about your double coverage. CBS Sports (@CBSSports) Evans finished with 79 yards and that one touchdown. It wasn't a stellar outing, but it was an improvement from his past two games -- four catches for 58 yards.Progre s! 5. Falcons eliminate the As a result of the Falcons' victory, the Packers are now eliminated from the playoffs for the first time since 2008. And now, there's a very real chance that they could sit against the on Saturday. Before the game on Monday, Packers coach Mike McCarthy said that Rodgers is sore after his first game back in two months and .With Green Bay's season over, don't be surprised if Rodgers sits. There's no point in risking another injury. 6. What's next? The Buccaneers will get more chances to serve as spoilers. They will finish the year against Panthers and Saints. Those games will help determine the seeding in the NFC.The Falcons are in the thick of the playoff race, but getting there won't be easy. They'll finish the year against the Saints and Panthers.The four teams in the NFC South are going to be seeing a lot of each other in the final two weeks of the season.
https://milotics27421.bloggin-ads.com/44003129/giants-brandon-marshall-i-wouldnt-have-survived-an-entire-season-with-2017-jets
Click here Click here