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Jessie Bates’ pick six recognized as best play of 2023 for Atlanta Falcons

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Jessie Bates’ pick six recognized as best play of 2023 for Atlanta Falcons

The NFL social media team showed a highlight for what they thought were the top ten 2023 Atlanta Falcons games, and there were a few worthy contenders, but one game was representative of the positive aspects of the last year’s Falcons team. In Week 12, November 26, 2023, New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr thought wide receiver Rashid Shaheed beat his man inside on an angle route into the end zone . What Carr didn’t see was safety Jessie Bates sitting and waiting to jump the route and race 92 yards to give the Falcons a 7-3 lead late in the first quarter. Atlanta won this game against their hated rivals 24-15.

The 2023 NFL season, in many ways, was an objective failure for Atlanta. The team finished the season with a mediocre 7-10 record for the third straight season, fired head coach Arthur Smith, and fielded one of the worst offenses in the league (27th in EPA/gameplay) despite three consecutive top ten picks in the construction. the infrastructure on that side of the ball. On the other side of the coin, the Falcons invested a lot of money in the off-season building their defense (13th in defensive spending), the first time they’ve allocated that kind of resources to that side of the ball since 2016 (5th in defensive spending). The headliner of Atlanta’s free agency frenzy and their new defense was Bates, who was expected to patrol on top of Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen’s aggressive man-coverage base defense.

Surprisingly, that was the only highlight on the defensive side of the ball. The other plays on the list were all on the offensive side of the football:

10) Week 7 – Kyle Pitts One-Handed Catch vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

9) Week 14 – Pitts rolls behind the Tampa Bay defense for a 36-yard touchdown

8) Week 6 – Drake London beats Washington Commanders CB Benjamin St-Juste for a 32-yard gain

7) Week 9 – Jonnu Smith shows off his speed by taking a 60-yard screen against the Minnesota Vikings

6) Week 2 – Mack Hollins puts Green Bay Packers safety Darnell Savage on poster after 45-yard flea flicker

5) Week 18 – Bijan Robinson skates past the Saints defense for a 71-yard touchdown

4) Week 17 – Tyler Allgeier completes a 75-yard screen pass against the Chicago Bears

3) Week 14 – London makes a spectacular grab between two Buccaneer defenders on 45 yards

2) Week 5 – Bijan pins the ball one-handed and jukes a Houston Texans defender to score the touchdown in the red zone

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