Falcons' mistakes lead to loss vs. Texans

The Falcons 17-10 loss to Houston on Sunday was a comedy of errors, but not the kind inclined to make Atlanta head coach Mike Smith break up in laughter. If the Falcons end up failing to qualify for the playoffs, this one is going to stick with them. Not because they were outplayed physically its hard to say that when you only give up 17 points but because they made as many mental mistakes as a Smith-coached team has made in his four seasons. While some players stood out for the bevy of mental mistakes, this was a team effort. Perhaps the most costly was a defensive holding call by cornerback Dunta Robinson playing for the first time against the team with which he played his first six NFL seasons that negated an interception returned for a touchdown by linebacker Mike Peterson with 14:20 left in the fourth quarter. At that point, the game was tied 10-10. If the play stands, maybe its the Falcons who win 17-10. Instead, the Texans continued a drive whose duration rivaled the Battle of the Alamo. It lasted 10 minutes 41 seconds and took 19 plays, ending in Arian Fosters 1-yard touchdown run with 6:05 left. But Robinson was not the only culpable Falcon. Rookie wide receiver Julio Jones played a game that was baffling for its number of gaffes. Jones was targeted 10 times and caught four balls. Thats not a great ratio but considering Roddy White was targeted 15 times and caught the same number of balls, it doesnt quite look so bad in comparison. Of course, the ratio of catches to targets is not all on the receiver. A few times early in the game, quarterback Matt Ryan overthrew deep balls to White and Jones. But lets count Jones miscues: -- On a first-quarter interception by Ryan, Jones appeared to run the wrong route. FOX analyst Darryl Johnston said that Jones needed to run across the defensive backs face. He did not and the ball was picked. --With 7:42 left in the third quarter and the Falcons facing a 2nd-and-10 from the Houston 41, Jones appeared not to know the play, forcing the Falcons to call timeout. The close-up, slow-motion replay showed a furious Ryan after the signaled for the timeout. On their final possession as the Falcons attempted unsuccessfully to tie the game without any timeouts, they ran out of time and were badly in need of a timeout. --Compounding the timeout he forced the team to call earlier, Jones was slow getting back to the huddle on one play on that final possession, costing the Falcons precious time on the clock perhaps as much as 10 seconds. Ryan was forced to spike the ball to stop the clock a play the Falcons could have used. --On 2nd-and-10 from the Houston 25 with 16 seconds left in the game, Jones stepped out of bounds while running a route, came back in bounds and caught the ball. For that, he received an illegal touching penalty, negating the reception and costing the Falcons 5 yards. --On the final play of the game, Ryan seemed to hit him in the hands in the end zone, but he did not come up with the catch as time expired.The Falcons paid an exorbitant price to acquire Jones, whom they counted on to be a playmaker and game-changer. He is still a rookie and has years to make good on the move, but his four catches for 68 yards on Sunday were far outweighed by his many mistakes. If theres any positive, its hard to imagine him making more mistakes in a game than Jones did on Sunday, creating a potential learning experience. As mentioned earlier while Jones might have made the most mistakes and Robinson might have made the most costly one, it was a team effort. With 8:24 left in the first quarter, Falcons safety James Sanders made probably the headiest play of the game for his team. As Texans quarterback T.J. Yates was chased from the pocket and hit as he threw, the ball seemed to fall incomplete. Sanders had the presence of mind to pick up the ball, thinking it a fumble, and return it for a touchdown. The officials upheld Sanders thinking. The problem was that the Falcons were whistled for illegal substitution as were the Texans. The play seemed dead and so substitutes walked on the field for a would-be field goal attempt. Officially, the NFL gamebook does not list a player at fault, but replays seemed to show reserve safety Schann Schillinger, a special teams player, walking onto the field. The offsetting penalties gave the Falcons the ball after a failed challenge by the Texans, but it still cost them a touchdown. (The Falcons gave the Texans the ball back on that possession when Jones ran the wrong route, leading to Ryans second interception.) Depending on the outcome of the Detroit (7-4)-New Orleans (8-3) game on Sunday night, the Falcons could fall out of the wildcard picture. At 7-5, they are tied with Chicago, but the Bears hold the tiebreaker as they defeated the Falcons in the season opener. If the Lions lose, the Falcons should consider themselves lucky. If not, Sundays comedy of errors could come back to haunt them with only four games remaining.