This one is on

[hawkfannj]

Pete and Gus Pete for not taking the points and Bradley for putting us in a position to give up the game with 31 seconds .

 

[SalishHawkFan]

This one is on the defense. 31 seconds left. You don't give up 40 yards on two plays and let the other team kick a FG.

 

[Jazzhawk]

Definitely on the defense.

 

[Reaneypark]

Just like Miami, Detroit and Chicago. The D needs to learn how to close.

 

[ATLFalFan]

Guys, they game wasn't on your defense at the end of the game. What about the 1st half? It was your defense and your offense. Whenever you guys learn how to start fast consistently a lot of people are going to be in trouble. For your guys to have the youngest team in the NFL the future looks very bright for you guys. Not for years to come. I'm talking about next year. I don't want see you guys in the playoffs no time soon. Great game.

 

[kmedic]

ATL you haven't watched our team like we have all season long. We know the weaknesses of our team and late 4th quarter defense on the road is a big one. The fact is we had a lead with 35 seconds left and the opposing team had to drive 40 yards. It shouldn't be so hard.

 

[Obie]

Guys, they game wasn't on your defense at the end of the game. What about the 1st half? It was your defense and your offense. Whenever you guys learn how to start fast consistently a lot of people are going to be in trouble. For your guys to have the youngest team in the NFL the future looks very bright for you guys. Not for years to come. I'm talking about next year. I don't want see you guys in the playoffs no time soon. Great game.

Its true, but with 30 seconds left, all that was behind them, nothing that happened earlier mattered. And they didnt even come close to making a stop.

 

[Grahamhawker]

We take either of the 2 gimme FGs in the first half, we win the game. Who is that on?

 

[hawksfan515]

Guys, they game wasn't on your defense at the end of the game. What about the 1st half? It was your defense and your offense. Whenever you guys learn how to start fast consistently a lot of people are going to be in trouble. For your guys to have the youngest team in the NFL the future looks very bright for you guys. Not for years to come. I'm talking about next year. I don't want see you guys in the playoffs no time soon. Great game.

thanks for being classy man......

 

[NJSeahawk]

The D is what got us back in the game. You can blame it on the D if you want, but we were lacking in all three components today.

 

[bingotown]

Bingo! Those guys played too hard to have Pete not to do his job. There is NO acceptable reason as to why not to put 3 points on the board. I'm way too pissed to even try to rationalize this game and the decisions that were made.

 

[TwistedHusky]

This game was lost the minute Clemons went down last week. Without our most important defensive lineman, we could not get pressure on the QB.

You simply do not beat an experienced QB without putting any pressure on him. We were forced to blitz, and the Falcons did a great job of picking them up. Irvin is good in short bursts, but he couldn't keep up when he was swallowed up and drained against every run play.

We frankly lost a game we could have won, but which we should not have expected to win. Our best and most important defensive lineman was out, we were playing the #1 seed in their house, and we were playing with what was CLEARLY a hurting Marshawn Lynch.

Our repeated misfires on offense in the first half were sucking the life from our defense, so I am not shocked they had little in the tank to stop anything at the end.

The moment we refused to keep Lynch in when we had the 3rd and shorts should have been the indicator.

The ONLY thing that kept us in this game was the Wilson came to play.

With Lynch contributing little to nothing offensively we got to watch Russell Wilson put the team on his back, bring us back from the abyss and almost win this thing. Kudos also to a hell of a job of blocking by the O-line on those last drives.

We got beat. Away from home, in the last 30 seconds of a game. It happens. Manning and what looked to be one of the best teams in the NFL this year is also sitting home now.

The defense did a great job keeping us in this until the offense could wake up. But the last few defensive calls probably killed us. Hopefully we learn that if we had bothered to show up vs Miami and a few other games, we might have been playing playoff games in our house where we are a better team.

 

[ceej22]

This one is on the whole team. Carroll for not going for FG, Bevell for calling on Turbin then Robinson to get 1 yard, Defense for not being able to tackle, Gonzo owned Chancellor, Chancellor not staying deep and Sherman tripping, Lynch fumbling, Wilson taking a sack with no timeouts, defense giving up a FG with 0:31 left, interior line did not provide Lynch with much running room, not really Lynch's fault but it looked like the injury slowed him down, and special teams for giving up a pretty big return on that last kick as well.

This game was lost the minute Clemons went down last week. Without our most important defensive lineman, we could not get pressure on the QB.

Not only that Irvin was a complete non factor in the run game. Atlanta had it's best rushing performance of the year and Clemons being out was a big part of that.

 

[PhillySeahawk]

This one is on the defense. You score 28 points with the defense we have, you have to win the game. Atlanta never punted until the 4th quarter. Defense couldn't get a big 3rd down stop when we needed one in the 1st 3 quarters.

 

[jkitsune]

The D is what got us back in the game. You can blame it on the D if you want, but we were lacking in all three components today.

I was pretty sure Wilson got us back in the game, along with Zach Miller and some great pass protection.

Carroll definitely gave us the opportunity to ask a lot of 'what ifs,' but ultimately you can't give up 31 points and expect to win very many games. Really excited for this team's future, but ugh. This is a really hard loss to swallow. Almost would have been easier to take a blowout.

 

[hox]

It's on Fed Ex field. Losing Clemons was the difference, imo. We had no pass rush the whole game. And the manufactured blitz at the end got us burned.

Pass rush has to be the #1 priority this offseason.

 

[Bohern317]

I want to tell you all something. I am from Atlanta and I am a big Falcons fan. My son and I went to the game today and he is 8yrs old. We had two Seattle fans (husband and wife) sitting in the row behind us, they loved his passion so much they actually requested for him to take a photo with them. All game we all talked back and forth about the game. The gentleman who was the Seattle fan actually told me my son was the coolest Falcon fan he had met all weekend. At one point they were talking to my son more than me and he was doing likewise. They got to talking to my son so much that they became friends just enjoying this game we all love.

during the game not hearing what was said I asked what the convo was, I was told just good friendly smack by the husband. I told them, well that is OK I am just making sure he was not being rude. bottom line is we had good banter back and forth all of it just being good fandom.

I just wanted to say that the fans I encountered today were classy and passionate, that is something i like. I will say you all are the best I have ever ran into as far as having passion and still remaining classy.

your team is a very tough opponent and I am glad you are not in our division. You have a bright future ahead of you for deep run into the playoffs.

 

[hawkmanj]

There are always so many what if's through out the game. You only question play calling if the play doesn't work, which is fair to a point. We left points on the filed in the first half, but looking at the score at the time it is understandable why you would try to go for a TD instead of 3...

That said, at the end of the day, we had the lead and the defense laid down and died. We needed to make a stop and we didn't.

I'd also put it on Pete for game Management overall. We didn't have an answer for Tony at all.

 

[Bremwahawk]

It's on Fed Ex field. Losing Clemons was the difference, imo. We had no pass rush the whole game. And the manufactured blitz at the end got us burned.

Pass rush has to be the #1 priority this offseason.

My thoughts as well, too many close games this season that could have been ours had we a consistent pass rush. That was our biggest weakness along with the prevent (win) defense.

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

At some point this defense has to step up and win some games for this team with a stop on the other team's last posession on a much more consistent basis if we're going to get that Lombardi trophy or two or.... Games are too close in the NFL to lose and nearly lose as many games on the last posession in a season as this defense let happen this year.