What happened in Week 13

Key second: The Chargers scored their first landing of the sport within the third quarter off a pick-six to retake the lead from the Falcons.

• Extra: The Falcons led 10-9 when their offense lined up on the Chargers’ 40-yard line for a fourth-and-5 play.
• Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins threw a move to broad receiver Darnell Mooney nevertheless it was intercepted by Chargers cornerback Tarheeb Nonetheless on the Los Angeles 39-yard line. Nonetheless returned the decide 61 yards down the left sideline for a landing.
• The Chargers then had a 17-10 lead.
• When the Falcons’ offense took the sphere once more, they seemed poised to reply the Los Angeles landing. Cousins accomplished a 60-yard move to broad receiver Ray-Ray McCloud III that introduced the Falcons to the Chargers’ 10-yard line. Nonetheless, Atlanta could not cowl the remaining distance to the tip zone, as a substitute counting on kicker Younghoe Koo’s 26-yard kick to tighten the rating, 17-13.

Standout efficiency: Bijan Robinson. The Falcons operating again was productive on the bottom and thru the air. He completed with 135 yards from scrimmage and a landing. Robinson gained 102 yards on the bottom and added 33 receiving yards on six catches. He

Quantity to know: 5. The quantity of instances the Falcons sacked Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. Atlanta’s earlier single-game excessive was three sacks in its Week 9 win in opposition to the Dallas Cowboys. Sunday’s takedowns got here from exterior linebacker Arnold Ebiketie (two), defensive lineman Kentavius Road (one), defensive lineman David Onyemata (one), inside linebacker Kaden Elliss (half) and defensive lineman Grady Jarrett (half).

• Extensive receiver Ray-Ray McCloud III’s 60-yard reception within the third quarter was the longest of his profession. His earlier lengthy was 42 yards when the San Francisco 49ers misplaced to the Las Vegas Raiders on Jan. 7, 2024.
• With a 5-yard reception within the fourth quarter, broad receiver Drake London turned the primary participant in Falcons historical past to catch 65 passes in every of his first three seasons.

Tweet recap: The Falcons editorial employees of Tori McElhaney, Will McFadden, Terrin Waack and Amna Subhan share their intestine reactions to Sunday’s end result in 280 characters or much less.

• McElhaney: The Falcons want extra from Kirk Cousins. No landing passes and 5 interceptions in three video games is not going to chop it.
• McFadden: The Falcons performed nicely sufficient to win this sport, however they value themselves the victory.
• Waack: Cannot say I anticipated a nail-biter, however I should not be stunned.
• Subhan: Cannot say the Falcons protection did not give them an opportunity.

• **Inside linebacker depth**: Though JD Bertrand (concussion) was finally dubbed inactive for Sunday’s sport in opposition to the Chargers, Nate Landman (hamstring) and Troy Andersen (knee) have been cleared. Landman hasn’t missed a sport since Weeks 2-5. Andersen’s availability has been extra sporadic. He missed Weeks 5-9 and the Falcons’ final sport in Week 11.
  • What occurred: Landman completed Sunday’s sport with 4 tackles, his fewest in a single sport this season. Andersen completed with one sort out in opposition to the Chargers. These numbers are partially skewed, nonetheless, as a result of the Chargers solely ran 46 performs.
• **Bye week reflections**: Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins recharged in the course of the Week 12 off time, however he additionally mirrored on Atlanta’s back-to-back losses that led into the break. Cousins didn’t throw a single landing move in both of these video games, marking the primary time in his beginning profession he did not accomplish that in consecutive video games. He thought of and processed all the nice and dangerous from the primary half of the season and finally determined he feels actually good concerning the remaining stretch, beginning with the Chargers sport.
  • What occurred: These good emotions did not final lengthy. After a four-interception sport, Cousins must regroup and put together to face his former group subsequent week in a crucial sport for Atlanta.
• **Participant of the Recreation? Matthew Judon**: Falcons senior reporter Tori McElhaney put the stress on Judon in Week 13, writing that he must be the stress participant the Falcons wished – even anticipated – once they ship a third-round draft decide to the New England Patriots to be able to purchase. McElhaney selected Judon additionally as a solution to put the stress on the Falcons’ move rush general, saying its success – or lack thereof – would decide Sunday’s end result.
  • What occurred: Effectively, the move rush got here alive on Sunday and completed with a season-high 5 sacks. Judon was not among the many gamers who took Herbert to the bottom, nonetheless. He nonetheless has 2.5 sacks on the season.

Trying ahead: The Falcons head to quarterback Kirk Cousins’ former stomping grounds for a Week 14 highway sport in opposition to the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Financial institution Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET. Motion will air reside on FOX.