There’s plenty of finger-pointing going on after the Falcons’ 19-13 loss to the Commanders in Week 12.. Quarterback Marcus Mariota is taking his share of the blame for throwing a late interception, but there were several other factors that cost Atlanta on Sunday.
Arthur Smith’s decision to throw the ball near the goal line with three timeouts remaining has been questioned, while the defense couldn’t stop Washington’s ground attack. A late running-into-the-kicker penalty on Ade Ogundeji was the final straw as it took away the team’s last chance to get the ball back.
Following the game, defensive lineman Grady Jarrett talked about coming up short yet again.
“At the end of the day, it wasn’t enough, so we got to play better the whole game,” said Jarrett in the locker room after Sunday’s loss. “It’s definitely disappointing to come out with the [loss], especially how it went down. However, at the end of the day, we are going to continue to look forward and continue to play ball. We got five games left and have to put our best foot forward.”
Those five remaining games come against the Steelers, Saints, Ravens, Cardinals and Buccaneers. Three are home games Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where Atlanta is 4-2 this season. Their only two home losses came against the Saints in Week 1 and the Chargers in Week 9.
“We put ourselves in this position, it’s going to be up to us to get out of it,” said Jarrett.
Falcons left tackle Jake Matthews echoed Jarrett’s comments and expressed confidence about the team’s mindset going forward.
“We expect to win,” said Matthews. “We have a lot of pros on this team, guys that care a lot and work hard. I speak for everyone when I say we are very frustrated about it. All we can do is bounce back and win next week.”
