Wow. Can't believe we pulled this one out but we did it. Just want to give some thoughts:1) I personally have no qualms about Lovie's decision to go for it on 4th down. I even like the call. Where he blew it was in calling time out right at the snap, and allowing the Falcons' defense to see the play-action pass. At that point we lost the element of surprise, which is one reason the linebacker shot out to cover our tight end and Winston was forced to run. If you're going to pass it there, unless the coverage said the original play was doomed, you can't show your hand.2) Huge play in the game was McCoy (I think) getting into the backfield to stop Atlanta on third down with five minutes left in the game. Without him forcing the FG, we don't go for it on fourth down and Atlanta is going in for the win and not the tie. SR stated McCoy didn't make many splash plays, but between that one and gettng to Ryan on 4th down today he made two.3) On our first third down of OT, Winston is in a crowd of defenders when he holds the ball up for a second or so and flips it to the running back for a first down. The play worked but am unsure if that counts as a reckless play or a mark of a good qb. How easy would it have been to have had the ball knocked out of his hand and a fumble caused. When he held it high, I thought it was going to end badly. Am glad it didn't, but would love to know how the coaches graded that decision.3) Matt Bryant is still kicking for the Falcons and seems to be doing well. Couldn't we have saved ourselves a lot of grief at the kicker position if we had just kept him this whole time?4) Receivers are still dropping balls. Now this does not take away that Winston threw a number of overthrows and got lucky regarding no interceptions, but we can't keep dropping balls. Evans dropped one, one on the crossing route which would have been a first down in the 4th, then Stocker drops an easy one one the first play of OT, and Sims (I think) drops a quick throw that would have gained eight or so yards easy. Our QB is growing up. Receivers need to help him.5) Does anyone remember Tampa having a killer instinct. We had four occasions to put the game away. First, on fourth and one the defense plays a regular front and allows Freeman to get the first down on the FG drive. We then can't make a one yard run on two tries when Atlanta has no timeouts. Finally, Winston chokes with Humphries open in the endzone with a chance for his first ever game winning pro pass. This after last week's debacle. We won and deserve credit, but it's as if we have a mental block about sticking the dagger in, metaphorically speaking.6) Ryan completes 82% of his passes with guys wide open all over the place. Meanwhile, even as we moved the ball, we seem to struggle so much harder to get guys open. Can we steal some other team's plays please cuz' they're getting open somehow so much easier than our guys. They roll out to hit the tight end or throw a quick pass to the running back and get 10 yards. We do it and everyone's covered! And don't know what we practiced vs. the seam, dart, or slant, but it didn't work. We were letting guys come out free and clean.Once again, I'm thrilled with the win. We were due, especially after last week. We're not there yet but believe we are headed in the right direction.
