Atlanta Falcons: Studs and duds vs. Seahawks in Week 8

Stud: Matt Schaub

Matt Schaub, who has served as the backup quarterback to Matt Ryan throughout the course of the year to this point, was pushed into the starting role in the game after Ryan was officially a scratch with an ankle injury he suffered in Week 7 last Sunday.

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Schaub, much like Ryan so far in 2019, had a nice game through the air in the contest for the Falcons, throwing for over 450 yards in the defeat. The veteran backup quarterback ended up converting on 39 of his 52 pass attempts, finishing with 460 yards passing and one touchdown while throwing one interception.

It was good to see Schaub step into the role of starting quarterback and pick things up without really any hesitation in the mix of things offensively for Atlanta. But it ultimately wasn’t enough to push the Falcons to a win at the end of the day.

Dud: First half performance

The Falcons held the Seahawks in check for the most part in the first quarter, trailing by just three at home against Seattle. But in the second quarter, the Atlanta defense let up 21 points and that took things out of reach for the Falcons, which ended up trailing 24-0 at halftime in Atlanta.

The Falcons were able to try and make a comeback in the second half and narrowed things down to as much as seven points in the final few minutes of the fourth quarter, but Atlanta can’t keep digging itself into such big holes to try and battle its way out of throughout the course of games as it has of late.