Atlanta Falcons tight end celebrates his receiving touchdown in the third quarter at Mercedez-Benz Stadium on Sunday OCT 16, 2022. (Atlanta Falcons)
by Marko Ukalovic
Injuries eventually catch up to the best teams.
The Atlanta Falcons took advantage of the San Francisco 49ers injuries on defense as they dominated the trenches in a shocking 28-14 win on Sunday afternoon at Mercedez-Benz Stadium.
San Francisco had its two-game winning streak snapped and fell to .500. Atlanta has won three out of its last four games to get to .500 after starting the season losing its first two games.
Atlanta (3-3) pulled a reversal of fortune as they pulled a page out of San Francisco’s playbook by controlling the game on the ground and their defense shutout the 49ers offense in the second half.
The Falcons rushed for 168 yards on 40 carries led by Caleb Huntley’s 59 yards on 16 carries. San Francisco on the other hand could not establish its strong running attack as it only had 60 yards on just 16 carries.
The 49ers missed Nick Bosa, Arik Armstead, Jimmy Ward and Javon Kinlaw on the defensive side of the ball as they were out with injuries. To make matters worse, cornerback Charvarius Ward was injured in the first half and did not return to worsen an already depleted secondary.
Atlanta’s defense made San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense one-dimensional in the second half as they pressured quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo into throwing two interceptions and rushed throws that ended in incompletions.
San Francisco (3-3) didn’t do itself any favors on the offense with a couple of dropped passes and penalties by the offensive line in the second half that either prevented big plays or negated them.
“When you put yourself in that hole, you can’t overcome some drops (by our receivers) that we missed I thought. There’s no room for error and that’s pretty obvious that’s self-explanatory,” Shanahan said.
Atlanta drove down the field on their opening possession going 74 yards on 11 plays that resulted in a two-yard reception by tight end MyCole Pruitt from quarterback Marcus Mariotta. It was the first opening drive for a touchdown the 49ers defense had given up this season.
The Falcons were gift wrapped their second touchdown when Jeff Wilson Jr. fumbled at his own 20-yard line. Ishiah Oliver picked up the ball and ran to the one-yard line before fumbling it in the end zone where Jaylinn Hawkins recovered it to give Atlanta a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter.
“These guys believed. They understood the focus on playing a (good) team like that does a lot of differnt stuff. They (San Francisco) got some really good players, and they were locked in,” Falcons head coach Arthur Smith said.
It was the biggest deficit San Francisco had suffered this season.
San Francisco got back on track by scoring the next 14 points with a Garoppolo connecting with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk for two receiving touchdowns in the second quarter.
The first for Aiyuk came on a wide receiver screen for a 12-yard touchdown. His second was a 14-yard touchdown where he deked out a Falcons defender with a circle move to get free along the right wing where Garoppolo threw a perfect pass and Aiyuk did the rest.
It was a breakout game for Aiyuk as he led San Francisco in receiving with eight catches for 83 yards to along with his two scores. Tight end George Kittle matched Aiuyk’s production also having eight catches for 83 yards.
Atlanta regained their lead with 57 seconds left in the second quarter when Mariotta finished off an 11 play 75-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run where he outraced cornerback Sam Womack III to the corner pylon for a three-yard touchdown.
Mariotta gave the Falcons an insurance score with 8:40 left in the third quarter when he connected with tight end Kyle Pitts on a seven-yard receiving touchdown that completed the scoring in the game.
Marriota started out with a perfect 13 for 13 before finally throwing his lone incompletion in the fourth quarter. He finished 13 of 14 for 129 yards and two passing touchdowns. He also chipped in 50 yards on the ground on six carries and one rushing touchdown.
Garoppolo was hit and miss throughout the game as he finished 29 of 41 for 296 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Wilson Jr. had a disappointing game only rushing for 25 yards on seven carries to go along with his fumble.
Atlanta’s ability to run the ball down successfully set up short and manageable third down situations that San Francisco’s defense wasn’t able to stop and kept the drives alive for the Falcons.
San Francisco offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey suffered a calf injury in the first half while blocking on a run play and did not return to the game.
GAME NOTES: San Francisco finished 3-for-8 on third down conversions. Atlanta was 9-for-14.
San Francisco is now 48-33-1 all time against Atlanta.
UP NEXT: San Francisco returns home to host the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday 10/23 at 1:25pm.
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