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Tag: Zane Gonzalez

  • Dear Carolina, you’re welcome: Falcons end season with a 19-17 win over Saints

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    The Atlanta Falcons were in the driver’s seat on Sunday, January 4. 

    The scenario was simple: beat the New Orleans Saints, and the Carolina Panthers were in the playoffs. Lose, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would get the playoff bid. Beat the New Orleans Saints, and Atlanta would have their longest winning streak of the season (four). Lose, and the momentum that was building will be done, and another seven-win season will be in the books.

    Falcons ended the season with a 19-17 victory and a sweep of their hated rivals.

    Dear Carolina, you’re welcome.

    With five minutes remaining in the game, Saints rookie quarterback Tyler Shough took off running into Falcons territory. He had been playing a good game up to that point and was a threat on the ground and through the air. His next pass, however, became his team’s downfall. The pass was intercepted by Falcons defensive back Dee Alford and returned 59 yards into Saints territory. Zane Gonzalez’s 48-yard field goal with just under three minutes remaining in the game put Atlanta ahead by nine points. Game over.

    The Falcons defeated the Saints 24-10 on November 23. During that game, Saints rookie quarterback Tyler Shough, a serious candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year, passed for 243 yards with an interception while being sacked five times. Atlanta will finish the 2025 season among the top three teams in sacks and set a new franchise record with 55 sacks following a second-quarter sack by defensive back Dee Alford. But it was the Saints’ defense that got things started.

    The New Orleans Saints (above) came into Sunday’s game in Atlanta on a four-game winning streak.
    Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    New Orleans entered the game in Atlanta on a four-game winning streak, and a significant part of that success has been attributed to their defense. New Orleans defensive end Carl Granderson made an immediate impact on Sunday, sacking Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins and picking off one of his passes during the first quarter. 

    Offense was a different story as the Saints got off to a much slower start than their defense. New Orleans was without its leading receiver, Chris Olave, and starting running back, Alvin Kamara. Both players have played well in Atlanta throughout their time with the Saints. The Falcons, however, had their top receiver, Drake London, back in the fold. Cousins found London in the back of the end zone for the first touchdown of the game to help give Atlanta a 7-0 lead with three minutes remaining in the first quarter. The 15-yard touchdown reception was London’s seventh of the season. 

    The Atlanta Falcons hosted the New Orleans Saints in the final home game and regular season game of the season.
    Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    The second successful Falcons offensive drive was an eight-play, 31-yard drive that included a couple of spectacular runs by Bijan Robinson. Those runs put Atlanta in position for a 40-yard field goal from kicker Zane Gonzalez and a 10-0 advantage. 

    Robinson only needed 237 yards to set a new National Football League single-season record for yardage from scrimmage. In just his third season, Robinson had already set a Falcons franchise record a week earlier. 

    Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    The Saints got on the board with 5 minutes remaining in the first half when Shough scored a touchdown on a bootleg run from the 15-yard line. The extra point from Charlie Smyth made the score 10-7. 

    With two minutes remaining in the first half, the Saints’ offense failed to engineer a final scoring drive and put the ball back in the hands of Cousins and the Falcons with 45 seconds on the clock. Atlanta went into the half with the same score on the board.

    The third quarter began with the Falcons forcing a Saints punt following a sack by Pearce, Jr. The rookie has 9.5 sacks this season to go along with 5.5 sacks by his fellow rookie Jalon Walker. The pair has more than lived up to the expectations that were placed on them during the offseason and preseason. 

    Scoring was minimal during the game. Atlanta took a 13-7 lead on a 51-yard field goal by Zane Gonazelz early in the third quarter and a 16-10 lead when Gonzalez made a 38-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. 

    New Orleans managed to pull together another scoring drive with just over a minute to play in the game. Their onside kick attempt was not as successful.

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    Donnell Suggs

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  • Monday Night Field Goal: Atlanta Falcons 27, L.A. Rams 24

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    Monday night was the second Monday Night Football game of the season for the Falcons. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    Zane Gonzalez hit a 52-yard field goal to win the game. I repeat: 52 yards to win on Monday night over the Los Angeles Rams. The Falcons have now won three games in a row. This is not a prank. This is the real deal.

    The Los Angeles Rams hadn’t been held scoreless during the first half of a game all season before they set foot in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Falcons had failed to hold an opponent scoreless during the first half of any game this season. On Monday, against a team with nearly twice as many victories, Atlanta accomplished that feat. 

    That defensive effort could be seen as a sign of what this team is capable of when healthy and focused. Or it could just be a good night in a season of bad nights. The Falcons’ defense also gave up 21 unanswered points, including a touchdown on a blocked field goal late in the third quarter. Either way, the Atlanta Falcons won their seventh game of the season.

    The Atlanta Falcons are at the end of the road. There’s only one remaining game on the 2025 schedule, and after Monday night’s victory over the Los Angeles Rams, there’s a good chance to end the season on a high note. The Falcons are now on a three-game winning streak.

    On Monday night, the Atlanta Falcons faced the Los Angeles Rams in a game that meant much more to the visiting Rams than it did to the Falcons. But only in the standings. The Rams were a game behind the San Francisco 49ers and two games behind the Seattle Seahawks, two teams that had defeated the Falcons this season. Atlanta, on the other hand, was looking to extend their two-game winning streak and get another game closer to going .500 at home.

    There’s one more Falcons home game to play this season. Up Next: the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, January 4, 2026.
    Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    The game got off to a competitive start, with Atlanta scoring on the second offensive possession of the game. The 11-play, 65-yard drive included Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins finding receivers David Sills IV and Darnell Mooney on long pass routes, and running back Bijan Robinson with a pair of passes, the latter for the first touchdown of the game. Robinson came into the game with 2,000 total yards from scrimmage and had already passed the 800-yard receiving mark following the first quarter. In just his third season, Robinson now has the team’s single-season record for most yards from scrimmage. 

    On the following defensive possession, the Falcons’ defensive front, arguably the MVP of the season, got a big fourth-down stop on their own 13-yard line. Reserve edge rusher Khalid Kareem came up with the big stop on Rams running back Kyren Williams.

    Early in the second quarter, Atlanta failed to take advantage of that seven-point cushion and punted on their next possession. The Rams, led by former University of Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford, did even worse on their next opportunity to score. Stafford was not only picked off by Falcons safety Jessie Bates III at the Rams’ 25-yard line, but he had to watch Bates III make his way into the end zone, putting Atlanta ahead 14-0 following the extra point by kicker Zane Gonzalez. 

    The interception was only the fifth of the season for Stafford. He would throw a sixth interception on the following Rams possession. Prior to Monday night, Stafford had only thrown two interceptions in one game this season, a 31-28 loss at Carolina on November 30. Stafford was sacked twice in that game. He was sacked four times during the first half of the game on Monday night. 

    Robinson added a second touchdown to his 125-yard first half with a 93-yard run that put Atlanta ahead 21-0 with 1:28 remaining in the first half. 

    Falcons rookie safety Xavier Watts intercepted two Stafford passes during the game. The latter ended a drive that could have tied the score with nine minutes remaining in the game. Watts now has five interceptions on the season.

    None of that mattered as the Rams scored 21 unanswered points to tie the game at 24 with less than three minutes to play. Rams receiver Puca Nacua, who had been a problem the entire game, scored the game-tying touchdown.

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  • Atlanta Falcons’ lack of fourth-quarter scoring can’t continue

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    The Atlanta Falcons came into Sunday‘s game against the Carolina Panthers ( now 6-5 overall) three games under .500, quite a distance from first-place Tampa Bay, whom the Falcons had already lost to in week one, and on a four-game losing streak. Believe it or not, things have gotten worse.

    The Falcons, now 3-7 overall, managed to score just six points in the fourth quarter against the Panthers, resulting in a 30-27 loss. Three of these points came courtesy of a clutch 52-yard field goal by Zane Gonzalez late in regulation. 

    This season, Atlanta is averaging 5.3 points per game during the 10 fourth quarters they have played. With the exception of the 10 points Atlanta scored against the Minnesota Vikings in week two, they haven’t reached the double-figure mark in a fourth quarter this season. Let’s get into the numbers:

    The Falcons scored seven points against Tampa in a week-one loss, no points in the fourth quarter at Carolina in a 30-point loss in week three, and just three points against the Washington Commanders in a 34-27 victory at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Atlanta was ahead 31-16 after three quarters and only managed a field goal the rest of the way.

    In a week six win over the Buffalo Bills, the Falcons scored only three points in the fourth quarter, marking the last game they would win for the next five weeks. Atlanta did not score in the fourth quarter of their 20-10 loss at San Francisco in week seven. 

    The fourth-quarter scoring picked up a bit when the Falcons scored nine points against New England in a one-point loss on the road, and eight points in an overtime loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Berlin, Germany, last week.

    The Atlanta Falcons are averaging 5.3 points per game in the fourth quarter this season. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

    The first game of the two meetings with the New Orleans Saints, the last-place team in the NFC South and one of the worst in the National Football League, will take place in two weeks on Nov. 23 at the Caesars Superdome (4:25 p.m. kickoff). Fourth-quarter scoring might not be needed to defeat the struggling Saints (2-8 overall), 

    The team’s saving grace this season, despite the play on the opening drives to start the game and to start the second half on Sunday, has been the Falcons’ defense. On Carolina’s second drive of the game, the Falcons forced a punt following a sack by rookie corner Billy Bowman, Jr. That sack almost knocked Young out of the game as he was slow to get back on his feet afterward. Young had started nine of the Panthers’ 10 games this season.

    This team should be able to score more points in the fourth quarter. Falcons receiver Drake London went over 100 yards receiving with his fifth reception of the first half on Sunday. Bijan Robinson had over 90 yards rushing at halftime of the loss to Carolina. It has been the second half of games that have been the issue this season. 

    The Saints game is followed by a trip to New Jersey to play the New York Jets on Sunday, Nov. 30. The opportunity for the Falcons to make the playoffs might be dwindling, but getting back to .500 is a realistic possibility. That, however, will start with scoring in the fourth quarter.

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    Donnell Suggs

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