Marcus Mariota, Atlanta Falcons defeat the Seattle Seahawks to earn first win

Marcus Mariota likes playing in Seattle.

The Atlanta Falcons quarterback produced his best game of the season and posted his first win with the Atlanta Falcons Sunday afternoon. Mariota, with a big assist from running back Cordarelle Patterson, led the Falcons to a 27-23 win over the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field.

Mariota completed 13 of 20 passes for a season-high 229 yards and a touchdown and he ran for another score in the win for the Falcons (1-2). Patterson ran for a season-high 141 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries in the game to power the Falcons over the Seahawks (1-2).

Mariota is now 5-0 against college and professional football teams based in Seattle. Mariota has defeated the Seahawks twice and he was unbeaten in three games against the Washington Huskies during his college career.

The pressure had been building on Mariota and the Falcons after they suffered close losses in their first two games of the season. Did Mariota feel a sense of relief of finally posting his first win?

“Not necessarily relief,” Mariota said after the game. “The expectation for us…is to win games. It feels good.”

The Falcons, who had struggled to score in the red zone during their first two games, capitalized on their trips into red zone during the first half against the Seahawks.

With Mariota on point with his passing, the Falcons scored touchdowns on two of their first three possessions. Mariota completed 8 of 14 passes for 183 yards to help the Falcons score 17 points in the half, but they trailed 20-17 at the half.

The Falcons leaned on Patterson in the second half, and the running back responded with 107 yards in the final two quarters, including runs of 40 and 18 yards on consecutive plays to set up a Mariota scoring pass to wide receiver Drake London.

The scoring pass was Mariota’s best play of the game. On a third-and-5 play from the Seattle 14-yard line in the third quarter, Mariota, reading a pre-snap corner blitz by the Seahawks, found London, the “hot” receiver, at the 8-yard line. London spun away from safety Josh Jones and ran into the end zone for the score.

The Falcons regained the lead 27-23 with 41 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

“He made some really big time throws. Staring down and under pressure, he throws to Drake London,” Falcons coach Arthur Smith said after the game. “No flinching in Marcus’s game. Great poise on the road. Some things we changed up, he handled really well.”

Mariota and the Falcons were driving for what probably would have been points to potentially seal the win when they committed a turnover in the fourth quarter for the third consecutive game. A botched exchange between Mariota and running back Tyler Allgeier on a read-option play resulted in a fumble that was recovered by linebacker Uchenna Nwosu at the Seattle 37 with the Falcons clinging to a 27-23 lead with 5:16 remaining.

The Seahawks had another chance, but the Falcons’ defense stepped up by sacking quarterback Geno Smith on third down at the Atlanta 38 and then safety Richie Grant intercepted Smith’s pass to close out the Seahawks.

“The last couple of weeks, we just talked about playing complimentary football. Sometimes the offense is going to stumble and the defense has gotta pick it up and they did at the end,” Mariota said. “In order for our team to be able to go out and win games, you gotta be able to have those moments. Our guys did a great job of pulling it out at the end.”

Note: The game was stopped by NFL security with 6:42 remaining in the fourth quarter because of a drone flying near Lumen Field. The players were sent to the sidelines and the game was delayed for about five minutes.

“So I’m looking up and they’re telling me to get over to the sideline, there’s a drone,” Smith said after the game. “Some interesting thoughts go through your head when they told us to go to the bench. Luckily nothing happened.”

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