ATLANTA — Falcons fans were understandably shocked on Monday night to see the team pull off a win in a fashion where, so often, the team has been on the losing end.
But it was heartbreak for the other guys this time, as the Falcons took possession with just over a little 1:30 to go, down 6, and Kirk Cousins orchestrated a six-play, 70-yard drive for a winning touchdown.
Just a minute before in the game, such a course of events would've seemed nearly impossible. The Eagles had the ball and were driving, eating out the clock, but a decision on third down to go for a pass and ice things ended up backfiring for Philadelphia. It resulted in an incomplete pass, stopping the clock, and led to a field goal -- with enough time to just leave the window open for the Falcons.
How close was that window to being closed? Darn near shut, according to the NFL's Next Gen Stats account.
The account posted that, by the running win probability odds, with 1:56 left in the game -- as the Eagles started on a fresh set of downs at the Atlanta 17 -- the chances of a Philadelphia win were at 99.3%.
In other words, the Falcons had just a 0.7% chance of winning with about two minutes left in the game.
Of course, a lot can happen in two minutes. In the case of the Falcons, Cousins completed five of six attempts to drive downfield, the exclamation point being a seven-yard touchdown pass to Drake London, who immediately grabbed his head in disbelief.
According to Next Gen Stats, there was good reason for that emotion -- the comeback win was the 7th-most improbable since they've been tracking win probability stats in 2016.
