Panthers stay atop the division, even after a bye

With just under five minutes remaining in the first half, the Falcons offense found a spurt. Two big throws from Penix, one to Drake London and another to Jahan Dotson, put the Falcons inside the 10-yard line. From there, a dart to Kyle Pitts ended up being the Falcons’ only offensive touchdown of the day. Paired with three field goals, it seemed like that would be all they needed.

But the Ravens drove back downfield in a two-minute drill that included a huge play to Zay Flowers. When Falcons corner Mike Hughes was injured on a long play to Rashod Bateman, the Falcons — with AJ Terrell still on Injured Reserve and CJ Henderson having exited the game earlier with a groin injury — had to turn to Mike Ford, who had played one defensive snap all season to that point.

Unsurprisingly, the Ravens went there immediately. It worked, as Charlotte native Tez Walker pulled in the touchdown that, when all was said and done, helped his hometown team stay in first place in the division. Baltimore needed a two-point conversion to tie, and Derrick Henry took the direct snap, bowling in for the conversion, his first in five years.

The Falcons attempted to get back downfield for a game-winning field goal. But after Penix took a hard sack that brought in Tua Tagovailoa for a play, Atlanta was too far back and had to settle for overtime.

“Honestly, it shouldn’t have gotten to overtime,” preached Bates. “You got an eight-point lead. As a defense, the defense that we have, that’s when you want to close out those types of teams, and we didn’t do it.

“When you got a good team in your stadium, you got to put them away, and we didn’t do it.”