Atlanta Falcons Five Best Players in Week Two

Despite losing 48-25 to the defending Super Bowl champs Tampa Bay, the Atlanta Falcons did have some bright spots. After three quarters, it was 28-25 but, the fourth quarter happened, and Tampa scored the final 20 points of the game. Nonetheless, some players had a great game on both sides of the ball. Here are the five best players for the Atlanta Falcons in Week Two.

Cordarrelle Patterson

To point out, the run game was not there for the Atlanta Falcons versus Tampa. In total, they had just 55 yards on the ground. Of those 55 yards, Patterson was responsible for 11 yards on seven carries but had a rushing TD. Also, he had five receptions, 58 yards, and a seven-yard TD reception in the third quarter. Patterson proved he can be a dual-threat in the backfield and the open field. As a matter of fact, he was the only Atlanta Falcons player with two touchdowns.

Calvin Ridley

Ridley led all receivers with 10 targets and had seven receptions, 63 yards with a TD reception. Obviously, Ridley is the Falcons’ number one wide receiver and was a priority of Matt Ryan and the passing game. Compared to his game in Week One, this performance was better. Hopefully, this might be the launching pad for Ridley moving forward.

Kyle Pitts

Pitts was the leader for the Atlanta Falcons in receiving yards in the game with 73 yards on five receptions. Eventually, Pitts will get more than the six targets he got in Week Two. Altogether, he had a better catch percentage (83.3%) and more yards per target (12.7 yards) than last week. What’s more: Pitts had more offensive snaps (57 as opposed to 49 in Week One).

Dante Fowler

In this situation, it was important to acknowledge the defense. Although this Atlanta Falcons defense allowed five touchdowns and 48 points, they did have three sacks. Fowler had one of the three, while defensive lineman Marlon Davidson and linebacker Deion Jones had the other two. In addition to the sack, Fowler forced a fumble out of Tom Brady. As a result, the ball was recovered by linebacker Mykal Walker. It was his second forced fumble as a member of the Falcons.

Foye Oluokun

Oluokun also had a forced fumble for the Atlanta Falcons in the game. In this case, he knocked the ball out of the hands of running back Leonard Fournette. Unlike the forced fumble of Fowler, Oloukun’s play did not lead to a turnover. On the positive side, he led the Falcons with nine tackles. A point overlooked is that he led the Falcons in tackles last season with 117.