Falcons Finish: 'Just Wanted to Give Fans a Heart Attack,' Jokes Cordarrelle Patterson
We will argue that Cordarrelle Patterson has been the Atlanta Falcons MVP on the season, and he came up big again when the Falcons needed him most against the Saints.
Patterson hauled in a 64-yard pass from quarterback Matt Ryan to set up the game-winning field goal from Younghoe Koo in the NFL Week 9 Falcons nail-biter.
The Falcons had blown another big fourth-quarter lead after leading 24-6, but Atlanta avoided another embarrassing defeat in large part to Patterson's heroics. The 27-25 victory brought the Falcons back to .500 at 4-4 and puts them in a playoff position for now.
"It was a play we called earlier in the first drive," said Patterson. "Coach [Arthur Smith] told me that we were going to call that play again. Matt trusted me. I was open. I just try to build his trust each and every week. He gave me an opportunity to go out there and make a play."
Ryan trusted Patterson to make a play, and Patterson and the Falcons trusted Ryan to lead them to the victory with just 61 seconds left in the game.
"Matt Ryan says let’s go get it done," said Patterson. "That is just Matty Ice. He is not nervous. He has been doing this his whole career. He has been bringing teams back."
Patterson couldn't help but joke about the close nature of the Falcons' games this season. Atlanta has won two of its last three games on game-winning field goals by Koo.
"We just like to give our fans a heart attack," joked Patterson. "Just to keep them on their toes to make sure they're paying attention."
"We got the win; that's all that matters."
Patterson had just 10 yards on nine carries rushing, but he was the team's leading receiver with six catches for 126 yards on Sunday.
The Falcons will need another good performance on the road at Dallas this weekend. Atlanta is 3-1 away from Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but they will be facing an angry 6-2 Cowboys team that was just embarrassed at home by the Denver Broncos.
