Despite being outgunned by the Cincinnati Bengals and their loaded offense, the Atlanta Falcons had their chances to make Sunday's game in Spain a competitive one. Unfortunately, the Falcons shot themselves in the foot on a couple of key possessions when they had a chance to narrow the gap.
Those mistakes proved costly as the team lost by a final score of 34-17. Over at NFL.com, they have detailed those mistakes in their recap for Week 9.
"The Falcons O-line committed two fouls in the red zone on their second drive, leading to the first field goal of a touchdown fight. Its most critical error, though, came at the start of the fourth quarter, when down two TDs at the Bengals' 10-yard line, Atlanta was called for offensive holding on a third-and-2
incompletion. Cincy accepted the penalty and forced a fourth-and-12. Settling for cutting a two-score lead to a ... two-score lead, Nick Folk instead shanked a 38-yard field goal, and the Bengals' lead held at 14."
While they didn't name him, the guy responsible for the hold in the fourth quarter was right tackle Jawaan Taylor, who came to Atlanta leading the league in penalties over the last few years and has been unable to shed the bad habit.
The Falcons were put into a bind by the retirement of Kaleb McGary, and for a sudden replacement Taylor wasn't a terrible option. However, what he's put on tape has been pretty disappointing this season. In addition to the ongoing penalty problem, Taylor is grading out at 55.3 for the season, which ranks 65th out of 71 qualifying tackles.
Needless to say, the Falcons front office will need to replace Taylor this coming offseason - and they'll have plenty of assets to do so with four top-100 picks and nearly $150 million in cap space.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: NFL analyst calls out Falcons' 'most-critical' error against Bengals
