The Atlanta Falcons were sent crashing back to earth on Sunday with a deflating 29-28 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. They simply had no answer for Eric Berry who not only returned a pick for a touchdown but also brought back another interception for the game-winning 2-point conversion. The Falcons had an excellent opportunity to record their second straight victory, but several missed chances on the offensive end thwarted their bid to move back into solo first place in the NFC South.
For the Falcons to return to winning ways against the Rams, they will need to do a much better job on their red zone opportunities. The high-powered Atlanta offense squandered three glaring scoring chances in the game against Kansas City. As good as their offense has been this season, Atlanta has just been average in scoring TDs in red-zone situations (inside the opponents’ 20-yard line). The Falcons entered Sunday’s clash against the Chiefs, scoring just 24 touchdowns off their 41 red zone opportunities. That 58.5 percent TD rate is good for just 15th in the NFL.
The onus then is on Matt Ryan to deliver the goods this coming Sunday. He completed just 22 of 34 passes for 297 yards and a touchdown with one interception in the loss to the Chiefs. Ryan will look to turn things around against a Rams defense that has allowed a whopping 957 total yards over its last two games. He will hope that star wide receiver Julio Jones will be fit for the Week 14 clash against Los Angeles. Jones, who’s dealing with a leg problem, finished Sunday with seven catches for 113 yards but had no catches and no targets in the fourth quarter against Kansas City.
The losses just keep on piling for the Los Angeles Rams as they suffered an embarrassing 26-10 defeat to the New England Patriots on Sunday. The Rams’ feeble defense had a tough time stopping Tom Brady who passed for 269 yards and a touchdown. Also wreaking havoc against the Rams on Sunday was LeGarrette Blount who ran for 88 yards and a score. It was another disappointing result for the Rams who have now lost seven of their last eight games, including each of their last three.
It’s paramount for the Rams that they sort out their offense ahead of their weekend clash with the Falcons. The Rams finished with a measly 162 total yards in the loss to the Pats. LA managed just 25 yards in the first half of that contest, the fewest by a team in a game this campaign. The Rams are dead-last in the NFL in scoring (15.0 PPG) and total offense (284.0 YPG) this season.
With Ryan and the rest of the Falcons playing some excellent football right now (tops in the NFL in scoring), the pressure is on rookie Jared Goff to deliver a solid performance for the Rams this coming Sunday. He struggled mightily in the loss to the Pats, completing just 14 of 32 passes for 161 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. It didn’t help matters that the Rams O-line didn’t offer him enough protection against New England. Goff was sacked a whopping four times for a loss of 35 yards on Sunday.
