Inside the Eagles’ epic collapse: How the Falcons completed a near-impossible comeback to shock Philadelphia
The Kirk Cousins’ period with the Atlanta Falcons gave the impression to be on the brink Monday evening in Philadelphia.
Atlanta trailed, 18-15, with 1:51 seconds left, and the Eagles possessed the soccer dealing with a third-and-3 on the Falcons 10-yard line. In the event that they acquired the primary down, the sport can be over. In the event that they failed to take action by working the ball, then they’d kick the sphere objective to go up six factors with simply over one minute to play.
Nonetheless, Eagles new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore acquired galaxy-brained, and he determined to name a play-action move to Professional Bowl working again Saquon Barkley. Philadelphia’s latest offensive weapon acquired open and the ball hit him within the arms, however he dropped the move. That incompletion stopped the clock with 1:46 left to play, and the Eagles settled for a 28-yard subject objective to increase their result in six with 1:42 left to go.
That gave Cousins, who admitted to ESPN’s Troy Aikman that he’s “not 100%,” one final probability. He made probably the most of it, main Atlanta on a six-play, 70-yard landing drive that concluded with a seven-yard landing move to huge receiver Drake London in 1:05 with none timeouts. Cousins’ game-winning drive resulted in a 22-21 Atlanta win and the NFL’s Subsequent Gen Stats’ seventh-most unbelievable comeback since they started monitoring win chance in 2016. The Falcons had lower than a 1% probability of victory (0.7% to be precise) after the two-minute warning.
One of the vital offensive performs of the evening for Atlanta was Cousins’ first throw of the drive, a move over the center to tight finish Kyle Pitts for a acquire of 11 yards and a primary down. That play kickstarted a string of 63 yards of offense, together with that completion to Pitts, over the drive’s first 4 performs, which spanned simply 51 seconds. These performs featured consecutive deep throws to free agent addition Darnell Mooney for a mixed 33 yards after which the primary of two completions on the possession to London for 5 yards to get Atlanta all the way down to the Eagles’ seven. A fast incompletion to Ray-Ray McCloud briefly halted the momentum earlier than Cousins threw the scoring strike to London.
Nonetheless, the Falcons taking the lead wasn’t assured. Kicker Younghoe Koo was tasked with draining a 48-yard kick for the additional level as a substitute of the default 33 yards as a result of London acquired flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct following his seven-yard landing catch. Koo drilled it.
Two performs later, second-team All-Professional security Jessie Bates III proved he was value each penny of his four-year, $64 million contract he signed in free company in March of 2023, materializing out of skinny air to seal the sport with an interception of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts.
With the comeback full, Cousins discarded his big-game, prime-time choker’s label, leaving that knock behind in Minnesota. He has now received consecutive “Monday Night time Soccer” video games as an underdog, going again to the Vikings’ 22-17 upset win over the 49ers in Week 7 final season. Cousins’ 9 game-winning drives since 2022 are tied for probably the most within the league together with Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, a tally that features an NFL single-season report eight in 2022. He additionally improved to 4-1 in his previous 5 “Monday Night time Soccer” begins after starting his profession 0-9 below the intense lights. Possibly crucial stat since 2022: Cousins improved to 7-4 in opposition to groups coming into with a successful report since after being 17-33-1 in such video games in his first 10 seasons. He additionally endeared himself to a locker room that additionally comprises 2024 eighth general choose quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who was the 2023 Heisman Trophy runner-up with Washington.
Not solely did Cousins’ private popularity obtain a lift inside and out of doors of his franchise from Monday’s heroics; so did the Falcons’ playoff possibilities in 2024. Their playoff odds almost doubled from 24% to 44%, in keeping with CBS Sports activities information scientist Stephen Oh. Atlanta improved to 1-1 on Monday as a substitute of falling to 0-2, which can not sound like an enormous deal, however positively is. Because the NFL playoffs grew to 14 groups in 2020, solely two squads throughout the final 4 seasons have begun 0-2 and made the postseason: the 2022 Cincinnati Bengals and 2023 Houston Texans. Solely 5 0-2 groups since 2020 even completed their respective campaigns with successful information.
The Falcons have a assassin’s row of a schedule the following three weeks, dealing with the 2-0 back-to-back Tremendous Bowl champion Kansas Metropolis Chiefs in Week 3, the 2-0 New Orleans Saints in Week 4 and the 2-0 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 5. As an alternative of coming into that stretch with their heads down, Cousins and the Falcons are coming into their upcoming gauntlet fired up. Everybody in Atlanta positively likes that.