The Falcons come home after back to back prime time road games, and they will continue the prime time sequence with a third consecutive such game. This one is against an opponent whom they have rarely ever beaten in the handful of games they have played.
The Baltimore Ravens come to town and they put their 5-2 all time record against their fellow bird themed opponent on the line. Due to their recent inception into the NFL in 1996 (the Ravens were technically the old Cleveland Browns but the NFL made the ruling that the history of the Browns would stay in Cleveland as they quickly got an expansion franchise three years later) and playing in the AFC, the Ravens and Falcons have not faced off much.
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The first ever meeting went into overtime and went Baltimore’s way in 1999 before the Falcons got some payback behind the DVD offense in 2002. The Ravens as a franchise, meanwhile, did not have to wait long to taste ultimate glory in the NFL, as they won the Super Bowl behind one of the most dominant defensive units of all time just five years into their existence in 2000.
That defense remained formidable for the next decade plus, led by the best linebacker of his generation (Ray Lewis) and the best safety of his generation (Ed Reed), and it was that defense which shut the Falcons down in 2006, before Matt Ryan figured them out and led a game winning drive on Thursday Night Football in an elite battle in the 2010 season. That was about all of Atlanta’s success, as they have dropped the last three games in this matchup since then.
The Falcons’ season was dead in the water by the time they went up to Baltimore for a Christmas Eve showdown, sitting at just 5-9 and now using the rest of the campaign to evaluate the play of rookie quarterback Desmond Ridder. He faced off against Tyler Huntley, who was starting in relief of the injured Lamar Jackson (sound familiar?).
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It was a rough outing for the offense, as they came away with no points on their first four drives, getting into Baltimore territory twice but turning it over both times — once on downs and once via a Drake London fumble. They finally put together a last second field goal drive in the first half but the Ravens had already scored a touchdown, two point conversion and two field goals by that point.
The uphill battle was on in the second half as the Falcons’ defense tightened up and allowed just one field goal the rest of the way, but the offense stayed stuck in neutral. Younghoe Koo kicked a pair of field goals, but the back breaker was Tyler Allgeier getting stuffed from the Baltimore 1-yard-line on 4th and goal to cap off a long fourth quarter drive as the end zone was a foreign concept to the Atlanta offense on this day.
