Slip, slide and a win
Falcons hang on to beat Jets, halt skid
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The football kept slipping out of Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan’s hands — and for the Falcons, Sunday’s game against the New York Jets seemed to be going that way, too.
Fumbled snaps, dropped passes and a big-time drenching left both squads trying to find their footing, but the Falcons steadied themselves just enough in a driving rain to slide past the Jets, 25-20, on a soggy afternoon at MetLife Stadium
“That was some of the hardest conditions I played just for the length of the game,” Ryan said. “I have played in situations where we had some heavy rain or tough wind or anything like that for a little bit. From kickoff to the end of the game, it was coming down pretty hard.
“You just have to find a way, and you have to do the best you can.”
Ryan threw touchdown passes to Austin Hooper and Mohamed Sanu to help the Falcons (4-3) end their skid at three losses — all to other AFC East teams. They’ll finally play their first NFC South game of the season this Sunday at Carolina.
“That was a tough battle for four quarters,” Ryan said. “Nothing is going to go perfect, especially when you play in those types of situations. But nobody flinched the entire game. We continued to play aggressive. It was a good win for our team.”
Ryan, who finished 18-of-29 passing for 254 yards, had lots of trouble with the weather, fumbling four snap exchanges from center Alex Mack and losing two of them. The Falcons lined Ryan up in the shotgun down the stretch to prevent further problems.
The Jets (3-5) had their own problems on the way to losing for the third straight game despite holding a lead in the fourth quarter each time. Quarterback Josh McCown had a bad snap exchange and fumbled on another play — but recovered — and Jeremy Kerley had a costly muffed punt.
McCown finished 26-of-33 passing for 257 yards with touchdown tosses to Robby Anderson and Eric Tomlinson.
“Too many mistakes in the fourth quarter,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said. “Can’t happen. Can’t put the ball on the ground. Can’t have timely mistakes. Everybody has to play their brand of ball. Hard enough, but not good enough.”
The Jets ran for just 43 yards on 22 carries. Matt Forte, who had 7 yards on four attempts, suggested offensive coordinator John Morton “strayed” from the game plan.
“I’m surprised by that,” Forte said. “We knew the weather was going to be like this and then it continued to rain the entire game, and I think we ran the ball (22 times) and it should have been one person getting 20 carries or something like that.”
The Jets opened the game with an impressive drive, going 75 yards in eight plays and capping it with McCown’s 20-yard touchdown toss to a wide-open Tomlinson, who got his first NFL score.
New York got the ball right back four plays later after Ryan botched a snap from Mack and Jordan Jenkins recovered. But the Jets couldn’t take advantage — Chandler Catanzaro’s 46-yard attempt was wide right — and they missed a chance to increase a 17-16 lead early in the fourth quarter when Catanzaro’s kick was wide right from 48 yards.
It gave the Falcons their best starting position of the game, at the Atlanta 38, and they took advantage.
Tevin Coleman eluded a few tackle attempts on a 52-yard run that got the ball to the New York 10. After Coleman ran for 5 more yards, Ryan fumbled the snap and recovered. Ryan then hit a diving Sanu for an 8-yard touchdown pass to make it 22-17, but the Falcons quarterback again fumbled the snap on the 2-point conversion and the Jets recovered.
“It was real tough,” Sanu said of the weather conditions. “You just had to focus.”
New York cut the deficit to two points on its next possession when Catanzaro kicked a 46-yard field goal with 8:42 remaining. But then the usually sure-handed Kerley muffed a punt by Atlanta’s Matt Bosher, and Kemal Ishmael recovered for the Falcons to put the ball at the New York 13.
New York’s defense stiffened, though, and held the Falcons to a 29-yard field goal by Matt Bryant that gave Atlanta a 25-20 lead with 5:19 left.
The Falcons nearly put the game away with what appeared to be an 80-yard punt return for a touchdown by Andre Roberts, but Atlanta’s Sharrod Neasman was called for an illegal block in the back.
While losing to Buffalo, Miami and New England in consecutive weeks, Atlanta looked very little like last season’s NFC champions. The Falcons held on in this one and got back to winning.
“Outside, there was a lot of noise, but there wasn’t inside,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. “So that kind of resiliency, that kind of toughness is what this group stands for.”