Jim Bob Cooter has seen the final pass play he called against the Atlanta Falcons run "a lot of times" during his coaching career, but never has he seen the wide receiver catching the pass get stopped short of the goal line.

"We’ve run that play a lot of times over the years, and I’m not sure we haven’t gained that 1 yard ever," Cooter said Thursday. "But there was a small risk of that and it happened. So I was aware of that going in, but the guy made a heck of a play to get his hand on his shoulder pad or whatever he did and the rest is history.”

The Lions (2-1) lost to the Falcons last week when Golden Tate was stopped inches short of the goal line after catching a quick pass from Matthew Stafford on third-and-goal from the 1.

Officials initially ruled the play a touchdown on the field, but replays showed Tate's knee was down short of the end zone and the game ended on a mandatory 10-second clock runoff.

Tate did not take a direct route to the end zone on the play after Falcons cornerback Brian Poole jammed rookie receiver Kenny Golladay on his pick route. Poole then made the tackle on Tate.

More:

Mitch Albom: Detroit Lions lose in new way but it tastes just as bitter

Should Lions have had 1 second to run last play vs. Falcons?

Jim Caldwell should have criticized rule, stood up for Lions

Cooter said that play was a "good learning moment" for Golladay.

"The guy fell off of him," Cooter said. "Whether or not he was going to do that depending on what he saw and all that stuff, I don’t know. I don’t know what all their keys were with where guys lined up and all those type of things. But yeah, good learning moment for our whole crew with really that whole sequence of plays there, kind of things we could do better, things we could do to win that game."

Cooter said he "thought a lot about" the final play call in the hours after the game and took the blame for the play's failure.

"Plenty to learn, plenty improving to do," he said. "At the end of the day, had a really good shot to win that thing and falls on my shoulders to find a way to get us something that gets that done."

Asked what he'd do different next time, Cooter declined to say.

"That’s in my notepad upstairs," he said. "I’m not going to share. I’m not going to share with (Vikings coach) Mike Zimmer. We might end up right back there (this week). Who knows?"

Stopping the run: The Lions gave up 151 rushing yards to the Atlanta Falcons, when Jarrad Davis missed the game with a concussion. But defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said the struggles against the run weren’t solely attributed to the absence of his middle linebacker.

“I don’t think it was all Jarrad, I’ll just say that,” Austin said. “I don’t think it was all Jarrad, but I think we’ll be better this week. That’s really all I can tell you.”

The Vikings present their own formidable run threat. They rushed for 125 yards last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with 97 yards coming from rookie Dalvin Cook.

But getting Davis back certainly wouldn’t hurt. Profootballfocus.com ranks him 11th against the run among NFL linebackers (the Lions’ Tahir Whitehead is ninth) and gave him the highest grade of the game against the New York Giants.

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!