The Falcons began this last, crucial quarter of football on a third-and-12, but a great completion to Tony Gonzalez by Ryan bailed the Falcons out and kept their hopes alive. Three plays later, a fantastic third-down catch by Julio Jones really kept things moving and really lit the fire under his Falcons teammates.
Atlanta would then come up with a crucial score, responding to 21 unanswered points by the Eagles, on a short TD pass to Ovie Mughelli. That would be Matt Ryan's fourth of the night, and brought the Falcons to within a field goal of tying the Eagles. With Mike Kafka in at quarterback, the game is in the Falcons' hands at this point.
So, the Eagles took over with a three-point lead, and (surprise) continued to hand it off to LeSean McCoy. Tackling wasn't at its best here, and time after time McCoy has been able to turn nothing into a solid gain. Not good news for the Falcons was Corey Peters, who was slow to get up and taken off the field with some sort of injury. Hopefully he hasn't reaggravated that knee injury he suffered in preseason, though it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case.
However, the game continued on, and Curtis Lofton made a great third-down stop that got the Falcons defense off the field. If the Eagles had scored with Mike Kafka, I would have been severely disappointed.
A holding penalty on the next drive had the Falcons on a first-and-17, but right when we needed him Turner The BURNA busted out for a 61-yard run that ended at the Philly 26-yard line. The offense was in business, and a few plays later found themselves deep in the redzone. Then on a first-and-goal at the three, Turner finished what he started running it in for his first score of the night.
All of a sudden the Falcons have put up 14 unanswered points and hold their first lead since very early in the third quarter. With under five minutes to go on this, the Falcons are up 35-31 on the Eagles. Time to close this one out!
For more, head to Falcons blog The Falcoholic and Eagles blog Bleeding Green Nation.