Before the Falcons took on the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, the team held a players only meeting to express their concerns about how they need to execute better on offense, defense and special teams. The meeting did not translate to the field on Sunday because the Ravens took care of the Falcons 29-7 and have now lost four games in a row.
Baltimore jumped to a 17-0 lead at halftime and never looked back. The first half is what really did the Falcons in. On offense, they could only muster four first downs and had just 60 yards of total offense. But the other thing that hurt the Falcons in the first half is they could not convert a third down and were only 4-of-15 on third down conversions the entire day.
Despite the 29 points scored by the Ravens, the Falcons defense played well enough to help the Falcons win. Robert Alford had two interceptions, the defensive front seven got pressure on Joe Flacco and they were able to recover a fumble on a Jacoby Jones punt return late in the second quarter.
However, the turnovers the Falcons defense created meant nothing because the offense could not turn them into points. The main reason the offense struggled to get anything going was Matt Ryan was constantly being pressured by the Ravens defense. Elvis Dumervil had two sacks, Pernell McPhee had two sacks and a forced fumble and Terrell Suggs sacked Ryan in the end zone in the fourth quarter for a safety.
The offensive line for the Falcons had no answers for the defensive front seven for Baltimore, but they had to play without starting center Peter Konz who went down with a knee injury in the first half.
It was the worst offensive performances for the Falcons this year. They only had 254 yards of total offense and the lone score came in the fourth quarter when Ryan threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Roddy White. There was one point in the first half the Falcons had more yards of penalties than they did on offense.
As for the Ravens, Flacco did throw for 258 yards and two touchdowns to go along with his two picks. The running game was also effective for the Ravens, rushing for 123 yards, and Justin Forsett earning 95 of those yards.
With the loss the Falcons are now 2-5 on the year, but still remain half a game out of the NFC South lead. And in all five losses, the Falcons have lost by 10 or more points in each game.
They will look to snap the losing streak next Sunday when they face the Detroit Lions in London. Kickoff will be at 9:30 a.m.
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