For those who missed the thrilling end of Monday Night Football, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning and Matt Ryan offered their real-time thoughts as Kirk Cousins led Atlanta on a six-play, 70-yard drive, using 1:06 off the fourth-quarter clock (courtesy of the ManningCast on ESPN2 and Omaha Productions). Down 21-15, the Falcons took a 22-21 lead with 34 seconds remaining.
B.Mann kicks 65 yards from PHI 35 to end zone, Touchback to the ATL 30.
PM: No sacks. Get it out of our hand. No sacks. No negative plays. I always like to have a positive play on this first-down play. It doesn’t have to be an explosive play, just a positive play. At some point in these first four plays, we need an explosive play; we need a 20-yard pass to shorten this drive because we’re playing against the clock.
EM: No doubt.
MR: That’s what we used to call it, the two-minute trifecta: Positive first play, no negative plays, one explosive equals points.
PM: That’s it. That’s it. … We’re down six. We need a touchdown. Just the way you like it; there’s no mystery.
1-10, ATL 30 (1:39) (Shotgun) K.Cousins pass short middle to K.Pitts to ATL 41 for 11 yards (N.Dean).
PM: That a baby! There’s a good start. Way to get the first, Pitts!! … Hand the ball to the official!! Don’t spot it. Hand the ball to the umpire and let him spot the ball! The umpire, right? Not the referee, the umpire. He spots the ball; hand it to him.
1-10, ATL 41 (1:20) (No Huddle, Shotgun) K.Cousins pass deep left to D.Mooney to PHI 38 for 21 yards (R.Blankenship).
EM: Take a shot.
EM: Sideline! Get out of bounds! …
PM: That a way. Get up field! … Don’t spike it. Don’t spike it.
EM: Just keep going. (Cousins signals for strong formation). Strong, trips right.
PM: Hey, Matt. I like how they’re just getting lined up. They’re not changing formations; it takes too much time.
MR: Time’s the most important thing right now.
1-10, PHI 38 (:56) (No Huddle, Shotgun) K.Cousins pass deep left to D.Mooney ran ob at PHI 12 for 26 yards (Z.Baun).
EM: Under pressure. … Go, go! … Alright. Here we go. Wow! That was a little too easy right there.
MR: I don’t know about you guys but, when you moved to a new offense, didn’t you feel like sometimes, two-minute was the easiest spot to be in?
PM: Yes, yes. Staple plays.
MR: Because you were not thinking.
PM: First-day install plays, the plays that you know the most. That’s what you’re running. The receivers know. Less thinking. … Hey, I know you think I’m crazy, let’s take a little time, Atlanta. Let’s don’t score right away. Let’s take a little time here. Philly better start calling timeouts here.
1-10, PHI 12 (:48) (Shotgun) K.Cousins pass short left to D.London pushed ob at PHI 7 for 5 yards (Q.Mitchell).
EM: There you go. Get out of bounds.
PM: I played against (Bill) Belichick in this situation one time, honestly, (Tom) Brady on the other side. I’m like, ‘We are not scoring right away. We’re going to score with about 10 seconds left.’
EM: That’s tough to do, though, Peyton.
PM: I know. I don’t care.
EM: I know. You can’t say I don’t care! You’ve still got to score. I know! You haven’t been that bad running the ball in the red zone.
PM: Hey, I wouldn’t have gone out of bounds right there. He didn’t have to go out of bounds right there. That’s what I’m saying.
EM: They haven’t been real productive down here. They’ve got to get in while they can.
2-5, PHI 7 (:43) (Shotgun) K.Cousins pass incomplete short middle to R.McCloud (A.Maddox).
PM: That’s interference!
EM: Oh my God. How did they not call that? He had a little arm hook there, didn’t he?
MR: I want to see another look at that one.
EM: The ref’s running around in there. No? … Actually, looked like he just flopped a little bit.
MR: Was he underneath?
PM: You’ve got to call that. He’s got to call it.
EM: He sold it.
PM: One on one down here. One on one down here.
3-5, PHI 7 (:38) (Shotgun) K.Cousins pass short right to D.London for 7 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
EM: You gotta score. … Got him!
PM: Got him. Got him!
EM: Hey, great little move.
PM: Option route, right?
EM: Yeah, they were probably expecting that post, that little bunch, wide and post, he faked the post and ran the out. Great timing. Timing route. Kirk threw it on time. Watch this, little fake to the post, what a great route.
PM: Hey, Matt, you called it. It’s the most comfortable Kirk looked all night. The receivers were on the same page. They were just in rhythm. It looked easy!