This one seems even bigger than I'd expected it to coming off last week. The Falcons game was THERE for us, and we let it slip away ... not once, but thrice.
1) After Breeland's INT we're 1st and goal, with 4:21 left, a one-point lead, and all the momentum. A TD there and it's probably over. Even if we give up a subsequent tying TD and 2-point conversion, we have a chance to drive for the game-winning FG in the closing seconds instead of tying one. We settle for 3.
2) Hopkins puts the Falcons on their own 20 with 2:38 left. A stop there and it's over. Instead, we go Haslett for the first time, apply no pressure, cover no one, and offer little resistance to a soul-killing TD drive .
3) In OT we get the rock, drive to midfield. We can win the thing outright with a TD, or worst case, are trying a FG or punting to pin them down and take our chances. Instead, our QB and WR aren't on the same page, we throw a true gift of a pick-6 ... and it's just another loss.
We were THAT close to heading into this week 3-2 having won two in a row, including a break-through road win against a good team. The 2015 season, even while considered a "rebuilding" year, would have taken on some hey we might have something here vibe.
Instead, we're 2-3, the pressure is on to not let 2015 start to slip away, and the same old demons are dancing.
A win this weekend and we're coming home 3-3, and expecting to beat Tampa for a hey now 4-3 start before heading to NE, to get clobbered, but STILL hit midseason at .500. We do that and we're feeling, well, like we might have something here. Something we're depressingly unfamiliar with--a second half of a season with meaningful games.
A loss and it's not hard not to envision the wheels starting to wobble and ugliness rearing its foul mug.
Get.
It.
Done.
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