J.D. McKissic & Washington leap over the Falcons for a 34-30 victory (10-3-21)
By: Joe Dillard Jr.
Headline Photo Credit: Brynn Anderson-AP Photo
With a 1-2 record coming into week 4, Washington seemed to have a favorable matchup with the Atlanta Falcons hosting the Football Team at Mercedes Benz Stadium. A season where both teams have struggled to finish drives seemed to be the case in the first quarter as Atlanta got out to a 3-0 lead marching down the field only to be stopped by Washington after having first and goal. After that, both teams looked up and realized they were still in the game, and started to come out of their shell. Washington showed why they spent money on Samuel as he caught the first third-down opportunity for Washington to extend the drive. Washington went for it on fourth and one and was unable to pick up with a dive to Gibson. That gave Atlanta momentum as Matt Ryan took advantage as he connected with a wide-open Cordell Patterson to give Atlanta a 10-0 lead. Heinicke came out and took Washington down the field on a 73-yard drive led by his arm completing passes all over the field finishing with a 33-yard bomb to Terry McLaurin on third down and eight bringing Washington alive and on the board trailing 10-7 to the Falcons. I tell you when good things happen it becomes contagious as the defense came out with energy and looked like the defense we all knew they were forcing Atlanta to a third and seven to get a sack by Montez Sweat to force a punt bringing the offense back on. With the best field position starting on the 37-yard line, Heinicke went back to work spreading the ball around the field including a 15-yard pass to Ricky Seals-Jones who was in for the injured Logan Thomas.
With Heinicke moving the ball, the very next play he dropped back with nothing available and managed to scamper for a 20-yard run bringing Washington to first and goal with 2:32 left in the half. Antonio Gibson punches it in from 2 yards out, however, Dustin Hopkins missed the extra point. Under the 2-minute warning, Washington had Atlanta a with a third and eight and got a pass interference call bringing the ball into field goal position. With Atlanta converting 3 third-down conversions, they capped off the drive on a third and four with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Patterson for his second to give Atlanta a 17-13 lead going into halftime. As the second half got under away, Deandre Carter returned a 101-yard kickoff return for his first NFL touchdown to give Washington the lead. Unfortunately, Hopkins missed his second extra point which left Washington with a 19-17 lead.
On another third down attempt Ryan finds Hayden Hurst for the first down as that seemed to be the problem for Washington. That catch brought Atlanta in the red zone and Washington somehow managed to force a third and 13 on the 14-yard line. What do you think happened?? Matt Ryan with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Patterson for his third. After the Falcons failed to convert the 2-point conversion, Heinicke marches Washington down to Atlanta territory to only stall to a fourth and five where Riverboat Ron goes for it and dials up Curtis Samuel for another clutch catch to allow Washington to get a field goal to bring the deficit to 1 with 5:35 left in the third as Atlanta led 23-22.
On a critical fourth and two, Ryan rolled right and was hit by Chase Young while throwing causing a “roughing the passer” penalty which was questionable, to say the least. As the drive continued Mike Davis capped off the drive taking advantage of bad tackling on a third-down as he runs in off a pass from Ryan to give Atlanta a 30-22 lead with the first play of the first quarter. The rest of the quarter would belong to Washington as they scored 12 points in the last 4 minutes of the game with 2 beautiful drives by Taylor Heinicke. The first one with 3:54 left was a prayer in the back of the end zone to Terry McLaurin for only 17 yards however throwing it from the 30-yard line and in the back of the end zone makes it a 40-yard throw.
After failing on the 2-point conversion Washington has 2 timeouts and the two-minute warning to have another chance which they got thanks to bad management of the Falcons and saw themselves in a third and nine with 2:24 remaining which until now was 10-15 and Washington used no timeouts and stopped them forcing fourth down as the two-minute warning came. With second and ten, Heinicke found Deandre Carter for a 24-yard strike for his first catch of the year which started the drive for Washington. On another second and ten Heinicke found Adam Humphrey for a 17-yard pass with just 1:05 left. On third and seven, Heinicke pulls out the play of the year for Washington as he rolls right and throws back left to a wide-open J.D. McKissic who ran 26 yards and flew 4 yards for the game-winning touchdown. Washington outgained Atlanta in all categories and that was a great sign for a struggling offense. Heinicke went 23 for 33 for 290 with 3 touchdowns and no picks. McLaurin caught 6 balls for 123 with 2 touchdowns. If anything the defense will need to tighten up with getting off the field on third down as they have a tough four games coming up starting with the Saints at Fed Ex. Washington improves to 2-2 and will look to improve on this victory as they are one game behind the division-leading Cowboys who look poised to continue playing good football.
