The New England Patriots had four interceptions in the fourth quarter, and also had four sacks on Thursday night holding the Atlanta Falcons to a total of 198 yards of offense in a dominating 25-0 win at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
New England (7-4) got on the board when Nick Folk nailed a 32 yard field goal on their second possession of the night. Mac Jones finished off an eight play, 71 yard drive that started late in the first quarter and was finished off early in the second when he found Nelson Agholor for a 19 yard touchdown. That drive was helped by runs of 14 and 17 yards by Damien Harris. Atlanta had a chance to score just over halfway into the second, but Matt Ryan was sacked for a 13 yard loss by Kyle Van Noy on a third down and short at the Patriots 14 yard line. A 45 yard field goal by Younghoe Koo was good on fourth down, but an illegal formation penalty pushed it back to a 50 yard attempt on a re-kick that would sail wide left. Folk added a 44 yard field goal on the last play of the first half that extended the lead to 13-0.
Jones would throw an interception with 5:18 left in the third quarter, and Atlanta drove deep into New England territory but again couldn’t crack the scoreboard as Qadree Ollison was stopped on fourth and short at the Patriots 16 yard line. An interception of Ryan by Devin McCourty early in the fourth set up another field goal from Folk from 53 yards. On just the third play on the next Falcons drive, Ryan was again intercepted this time by JC Jackson and Folk connected for his fourth field goal of the night that made it 19-0. Josh Rosen then took over for Ryan at quarterback, and his third pass attempt was picked off by Van Noy who took it back 35 yards for a touchdown to finish the scoring. The guests made it four turnovers in the fourth quarter when third stringer Feleipe Franks had his first throw of the season intercepted by Adrian Phillips, as the Patriots were then able to just kill the clock to wrap up their fifth straight victory and also improving to 5-0 on the road.
Jones went 22-26 passing for 207 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the win. Rhamondre Stevenson rushed 12 times for 69 yards, while Harris finished with 10 carries for 56 yards. Agholor led the receiving core with five catches for 40 yards and a touchdown, while Kendrick Bourne and Jakobi Myers both had four receptions for 42 and 39 yards respectively. Kyle Dugger had six tackles, while Van Noy had a huge night with five tackles, two sacks, and an interception for a touchdown. Matt Judon also had a sack and leads the team with 10.5. Ryan went 19-28 passing for 153 yards and two interceptions. Atlanta (4-6) was held to just 40 yards rushing on 16 attempts. Russell Gage had five receptions for 49 yards and Fabian Moreau had five tackles. The defense did put some pressure on Jones with three sacks. The Falcons were shutout at home for the first time since Week 6 of the 1988 season. New England returns home to host the Tennessee Titans in Week 12 on Sunday, November 28 at 1 p.m.
