INSIDE THE TWO-MINUTE — There's been a disconcerting trend that has reared its ugly head in the Falcons last two games. Against the Panthers, it was a moment the Falcons could shake off and move forward from. The game wasn't directly won or lost because of it. Against the Seahawks, however, it was a moment the Falcons safety duo of Jessie Bates III and Justin Simmons couldn't shake postgame. It's something that did have a direct effect on how the Falcons felt going into halftime and how they played coming out of it.

That's right. We're talking about opponents scoring touchdowns in the final two minutes of the first half.

"That possession before halftime, I thought we were in great position, down three, but instead we gave up a touchdown," Bates said postgame. "That's been a recurring theme that's happened these last couple weeks. Giving up touchdowns before the half, that's big time. That's when great defenses step up and get stops in that situation."

This has been an uncharacteristic happenstance of the defensive performance in their last two showings. For a defense that has been known to hold teams to field goals in 2024, this trend of giving up end-of-half touchdowns is one the Falcons have to nip in the bud fast. That's why I circled it in my notebook when it happened in the Falcons' Sunday loss to Seattle. It's why I am going over it today, looking back at key plays in both games that brought forth touchdowns for the Panthers and Seahawks.

Let's dive into it. Beginning with the Panthers game...

VS. CAROLINA PANTHERS

Play No. 1

The situation: 1st and 10 from the Carolina 39-yard line (1:27)

The outcome: What's interesting about this specific play call by the Panthers is that it created a situation where Andy Dalton had just about any read open that he wanted thanks to space on the field left vacant by the Falcons' look. Running mirroring routes with their "big" receivers (tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders and wide receiver Jalen Coker), Dalton had his choice, along with Chuba Hubbard leaking out to the 40-yard line in front of the inside linebackers if he needed the check down. With no one in the secondary making a quick enough break to either receiver just outside the hashes, Dalton was able to hit Sanders for a 21-yard explosive.

Play No. 2

The situation: 2nd and five from the Atlanta 35-yard line (0:48)

The outcome: In another scenario of mirror routes by the Panthers, this time they were able to freeze up Dee Alford. When Kaden Elliss attacked forward leaving Hubbard unguarded for the short check down at the 33-yard line, it caused Alford to hesitate, thinking about replacing Elliss in coverage against Hubbard or staying on Coker breaking to the flat. That slight hesitation created more than enough space for Coker to break to the sideline for the six-yard grab to garner the first down and get out of bounds to stop the clock.

Play No. 3

The situation: 1st and 10 from the Atlanta 29-yard line (0:43)

The outcome: Unlike the previous two plays we've looked at, the breakdown in the play up front was the problem, not the zones in which were left open by the secondary. The Falcons sent both Justin Simmons and Kevin King on the blitz, which accumulated to six Falcons players attacking Dalton. Lorenzo Carter ends up being the free man. Though he had Dalton dead to rights, the quarterback somehow still leaks out and picks up 18 yards. Because of the deep routes the Panthers were running and the one-on-one coverage the secondary ultimately had (with Bates the safety net deep), it gave Dalton a lot of green grass ahead. This was a situation in which the secondary had solid coverage on the backend, and the blitz did work. The problem was that Carter just didn't finish the play with a sack.

VS. SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

Play No. 1

The situation: 1st and 10 from the Seattle 32-yard line (1:07)

The outcome: Despite Nate Landman being within a yard of Jaxon Smith-Njigba at the 35-yard line, Alford sprints past an incoming Tyler Lockett to assist in the flat. When he does, Lockett immediately breaks left to the middle of the field, the open space in the zone. Simmons comes up to make the tackle in space but it still resulted in a 15-yard gain for the Seahawks to move the chains.

Play No. 2

The situation: 1st and 10 from the Atlanta 26-yard line (0:24)

The outcome: This play is nearly the exact opposite to the one we broke down above. On this play, Alford steps like he's going to cover Smith-Njigba in the middle of the field. However, when he doesn't see Landman stretch to his left to pick up tight end Noah Fant running to the boundary until well through Dalton's throwing motion, he changes direction to push Fant out of bounds after a 5-yard pickup that allowed time to stop. Landman was too far away to make the play.

Play No. 3

The situation: 3rd and 15 from the Atlanta 31-yard line (0:10)

The outcome: This play is an example of some good 'ole fashion eye trickery and miscommunication. For starters, there's a subtle moment in this play that ultimately leads to a 31-yard touchdown reception from D.K. Metcalf. As Metcalf nears the 10-yard line, he bends his route a little towards the sideline, even going as far as to turn his head towards A.J. Terrell on his outside shoulder. When he does he baits Simmons into breaking towards the sideline, too. As soon as Simmons does this, Metcalf cuts back towards the middle of the field. It's there Dalton finds him. Simultaneously, while all of this is happening, Landman begins to break away from Metcalf at first before turning back towards him. By that point, it's too little too late.

After the game, Simmons took full responsibility for this moment, saying "that's on me." He said it was a miscommunication on his end and one "that can't happen" again.

Insights

There's a theme within all of these moments, have you found it yet?

Even though the all-22 film cannot tell us exactly what each person's assignment is, we can still see that in just about every single play we've dissected that a split-second decision in which too much space was given decided the outcome.

In some plays, the decision was a hesitation, having to decide who to cover when and not getting to the pass-catcher in time. In others, the decision was a break to one player too soon, a lot of times leaving another receiver in an unaccounted for area of the field. None of these plays are contested catches. All of them involve significant space for opposing receivers to work. This could be byproduct of playing within a two-minute, absolutely, but it also speaks to the ample amount of space the Falcons own on-field decisions are creating, too. The latter being decisions at the end-of-half that both Dalton and Geno Smith were able to exploit.

Regardless, this trend is one the Falcons' secondary is hoping to rectify quickly. It wasn't the difference in the game two weeks ago against the Panthers, but it had serious effects against the Seahawks. And with the Falcons heading down to face Tampa Bay this coming weekend, Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans are having production similar to that of Smith and Metcalf. The Buccaneers are going to air it out, especially inside the two-minute. The Falcons have to limit the space given for them to do so.

"That's not good enough, unacceptable. There were a lot of things that didn't go well, and just speaking defensively we didn't play nearly well enough today to even give us a chance to win the game, regardless of what happened around the offense and special teams," Simmons summarized postgame. "... especially situational ball at the end of the half, on me giving up that score. That can't happen. So, if we want to be where we want to be and there's no panic mode button, but you can't do stuff like that."