Atlanta halts its slide in the rain
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The football kept slipping out of Matt Ryan’s hands — and the game seemed to be going that way, too, for the Falcons.
Fumbled snaps, dropped passes and a big-time drenching had 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 Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Those were “some of the hardest conditions I played (in), 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.”
Ryan threw touchdown passes to Austin Hooper and Mohamed Sanu to help the Falcons (4-3) end a three-game skid, all to AFC East teams.
“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-for-29 for 254 yards, had lots of trouble with the weather, fumbling four snap exchanges from center Alex Mack, a Cal alum, and losing two of them. The Falcons ended up lining Ryan in the shotgun down the stretch to prevent further problems.
The Jets (3-5) had their own issues while losing their third straight game in which they held a lead in the fourth quarter. 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-for-33 for 257 yards with touchdown passes to Robby Anderson and Eric Tomlinson.
“Too many mistakes in the fourth quarter,” New York head 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.”
After losing to Buffalo, Miami and New England in consecutive weeks, Atlanta looked very little like the NFC champion from a year ago. The Falcons prevailed in this one and got back to winning.
“Outside, there was a lot of noise, but there wasn’t inside,” Atlanta head coach Dan Quinn said. “So, that kind of resiliency, that kind of toughness is what this group stands for.”