Falcons Play Careless on the Road, Lose to Texans 17-10

Houston – Matt Ryan overthrew open receivers and threw two early picks as the Atlanta Falcons fell 17-10 to the Houston Texans. Even with all of the errors Atlanta made early on, they were still in a position to win the game going into the fourth quarter.

Matt Ryan would toss a 4-yard touchdown to Roddy White tying the game 10-10 with 1:46 left in the third quarter. Mike Peterson would intercept T. J. Yates and run the pick back for a score on Houston’s next series but the play would be negated by a penalty on Falcons’ cornerback Dunta Robinson.

From that point on the Texans would march the length of the field ending the possession with a 1-yard touchdown run by Arian Foster. Houston would eat up tons of clock on that possession with a 19-play, 85-yard drive that took 10:41 off the clock.

The Falcons only had themselves to blame for this loss. In the first quarter Ryan would overthrow both Roddy White and Julio Jones on who were wide open on deep routes that both could have gone for scores. 

Ryan would also throw two interceptions on back to back series in the first quarter.

The Falcons also squandered a defensive scoring opportunity in the first quarter when James Sanders pick up a fumble and ran it back for a score. Although the Falcons kept possession of the ball, the score was negated because of a Falcons penalty. The Falcons would not capitalize on the fumble as Ryan ended up throwing the second of his two picks on the ensuing drive.

Atlanta doesn’t help its playoff chances losing a game they easily could have won as their record drops to 7-5 with the loss. The Falcons face Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers next Sunday in Charlotte, NC.

Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for In Between The Tackles and also writes for both The Penalty Flag and Outside The Redzone. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @rhall_tpfb.