A masterclass in clock management it was not from Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris as his team fell 30-24 in overtime to the Washington Commanders.
The first-year coach failed to properly deploy timeouts not once, but twice – at both the end of the first half and regulation. Atlanta now no longer controls its own playoff fate and needs a win against the Carolina Panthers next Sunday along with a Tampa Bay Buccaneers loss to win the NFC South.
Rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. led the team on a game-tying touchdown drive with 1:19 left in the fourth quarter and the Falcons defense forced a punt from the Commanders. The offense trotted back on the field with 40 seconds remaining and two timeouts. Penix connected with Darnell Mooney for a gain of 25 yards that moved the ball to the 44-yard line and created the possibility of a game-winning field goal with a few more gains.
But no timeout was called, and precious seconds ticked by as Penix and the offense lined up. By the time Penix’s next pass, an incompletion intended for Mooney over the middle, hit the ground, there were just 12 seconds remaining.
A pass interference call against the Commanders gave kicker Riley Patterson a chance from 56 yards out to win the game as time expired in regulation, but he came up well short.
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Morris explained after the game he thought saving the timeout would be better and that he assumed the offense would line up and snap the ball faster.
‘Probably could have,’ Morris said of calling timeout in that moment. ‘Thought we could get to the line of scrimmage with our operation a little faster there.’
He added: ‘In hindsight, could have been a good decision, could have been a better decision, to take that timeout. But I wanted to have the opportunity to move up there. You could always second-guess those things. You could always second-guess those motives.’
A similar situation played out in the first half. Running back Bijan Robinson and Penix, making his second career start, had the Falcons moving in a well-executed two-minute drill. With 46 seconds to play, Penix found Mooney across the middle for a 12-yard gain to the Washington 24-yard line. Atlanta didn’t snap the ball again until 20 seconds were left in the half, and the Falcons ultimately settled for a 39-yard field goal from Patterson to end the half up 17-7 instead of having a better chance to go up by two touchdowns.
Morris said he didn’t want to give the Commanders another possession to end the first half since the Falcons were kicking off to start the second half.
‘Lot of things you could clean up, lot of things you could always do better,’ Morris said. ‘Always things you could get better at, particularly with a young quarterback.’
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