Overall, the 2014 season was a huge disappointment for the Atlanta Falcons. The 6-10 record marked the second straight losing season for the dirty birds. In hindsight, fans may feel like there was no hope at all from the start of the season, there was a huge hype train for the Falcons early on in the season. After the opening game against the hated New Orleans Saints, 2014 looked like the year that Atlanta would finally get to see a football championship. The game was a hard fought victory over one of the favorites to get to the Super Bowl out of the NFC, and it seemed to be a tone-setter for the rest of the season for Matt Ryan who was able to rack up an incredible 448 passing yards, the offensive line looked solid and the team’s offense looked nearly unstoppable. Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite the case for the rest of 2014.

It was a slow start to the game, Atlanta couldn’t muster the offense to score, and the defense was able to hold the Saints to just a couple of field goals as the first quarter ended with a 6-0 deficit. The second quarter brought in an 80-yard drive for the Saints which ended with a Khiry Robinson touchdown to go up 13-0 early on. The Falcons were able to answer with an 80-yard drive of their own capped off by a short Roddy White Touchdown. After another New Orleans touchdown and a field goal by Atlanta at the end of the 2nd quarter, we reached halftime with a 20-10lead for the Saints.

The third quarter was dominated by Atlanta as they went on an opening drive of 80 yards and a Levine Toilolo touchdown (Falcons fans maybe got optimistic about the tight end playing somewhat well, those hopes were shattered as he failed to meet any sort of expectations as the season went on), followed by an electrifying 54-yard touchdown catch and run by the speedy Antone Smith after Robert McClain was able to get a clutch interception off Drew Brees deep inside the redzone. The third quarter ended with a 24-20 lead for the Falcons.

It was a back-and-forth end to the game as the teams were exchanging scores throughout the 4th quarter. An incredible touchdown run by Jacquizz Rodgers gave the Falcons a four-point lead with under 3 minutes in the game. The time left on the clock proved to be too much as the Saints easily drove down the field for a quick touchdown. Fortunately for Atlanta, the Saints left 1:20 on the clock and Matt “Matty Ice” Ryan was no new-comer to late fourth quarter drives. The Falcons were able to drive 47 yards and get in range for a Matt Bryant 51-yard field goal attempt for the last play of regulation. Atlanta’s other Matty Ice hit the clutch field goal and regulation ended with a 34-34 tie

Overtime was short lived. The Saints only had two plays in overtime as William Moore made the play of the game with a huge strip of Marques Colston and the ball was recovered by Atlanta’s Joplo Bartu. With the ball already in New Orleans territory, all Atlanta needed was to hold on to the ball and stay in field goal range. Matt Bryant had the game on the line for a 52-yard game winner. He drilled the kick right through the uprights for the win. The Georgia Dome’s atmosphere was incredible and the Falcons looked like they were going to have a successful season with one of the best offenses in the NFL. However, this was the best win the Falcons had all year.





This was the single most exciting part of the 2014 Season for the Falcons. Just listen to that crowd!

