The Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers clashed on Sunday Night Football in a big NFC showdown. The Falcons are coming off a massive Monday night win over the Buffalo Bills, while the 49ers just lost their second game of the year to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Both teams are in the thick of the NFC playoff picture, and a win tonight would go a long way towards helping them make the postseason.

The first half was a bit of a snoozer. Neither offense could get much going, but the 49ers broke into the end zone late and took a 10-3 lead into the half. The second half wasn’t all that much more entertaining. We saw just 17 more points between the two, and it was the 49ers who pulled away thanks to some heroics from Christian McCaffrey.

Here were my takeaways from tonight’s game.

Another end of half blunder for the Falcons

Last week, the Falcons had a chance to kick a field goal to end the first half, but Drake London decided to try and score a touchdown, but stepped out of bounds at the one-yard line after time expired, and they were unable to get any points. It didn’t come back to bite them, but this week, they made yet another costly mistake at the end of the first half.

With 10 seconds on the clock, Michael Penix was flagged for intentional grounding after throwing the ball away on a near-sack. The penalty carried a 10-second run off with it, and since the Falcons had no timeouts, they were unable to avoid the run off, and the half ended before they could kick a field goal.

Instead of going into the half down 10-6, the Flacons trailed by seven, and the 49ers got the ball after halftime. By the time they got the ball back, they were down 13-3.

Robert Saleh has San Fran’s defense flying around despite injuries

The 49ers are one of the most injured teams in the league, but Robert Saleh has this defense flying around with a bunch of people you’ve never heard of.

Nick Bosa and Fred Warner are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to San Fran’s injury list, but but despite the fact they’re missing their two best players, this defense is balling. No disrespect to any of these guys, but the 49ers have Tatum Bethune, Malik Mustapha, Darrell Luter Jr. and Ji’Ayir Brown leading the team in tackles, and they just held the Falcons to 10 points.

I’ve never seen a team suffer so many injuries and play such good football. Coaching matters, and the 49ers’ defense is the perfect example of that.

Sell me your Michael Penix stock

As a New Orleans Saints fan, it pains me to say it, but Michael Penix Jr. is really good. I know he doesn’t have the greatest stats this year, but if you just watch him play, you can tell he’s got a special arm. He can make so many throws that a lot of other quarterbacks can’t, the thing he needs to focus on now is being more consistent.

There were some throws Penix made tonight that just made my jaw drop. They weren’t 70-yard bombs downfield, but the way he can rifle a ball into a tight window, but also layer a throw over a defender, is something not many quarterbacks have. So please, if you don’t think Penix will be any good, sell me your stock, because I’ll buy it all.

What was that play call?

The Falcons found themselves trailing 13-10 with eight minutes remaining in the game. They had the ball on the 49ers’ 34-yard line, and instead of lining up for a 51-yard game-tying field goal, they elected to go for it. I don’t think that was a bad move, but what the heck was that play call?

The Falcons lined up in the shotgun with Tyler Allgeier – not Bijan Robinson, one of the best running backs in the NFL – lined up next to him. They had two receivers plus a tight end to the left, and one receiver to the right out wide. The Niners loaded eight men in the box and were playing man-to-man coverage.

Before the snap, Penix motioned Drake London over to his right, and he ran a little five-yard out route off the motion, but he was trailed by his defender the entire time, and was never really open. Penix threw it, and the defender jumped in front to knock it out of London’s hands.

I get the concept, but the execution was poor. There needed to be another read. London had a defender on his tail the entire time, but Penix never even looked anywhere else.

I personally would’ve ran it with Bijan or at least thrown it to him, but I’m not an NFL coach. I can understand using your best player as a decoy on a play like that, but to not even have him on the field is absolutely wild. I could’ve told you that ball was going to London with Robinson on the sideline.

It was just a bizarre play call, and one that might’ve cost them the game.

Classic CMC game

Christian McCaffrey has struggled to run the football this year. He came into this game averaging 3.1 yards per carry, but he made up for it with 444 receiving yards through the first six weeks. However, the 49ers got the run game going tonight, and we witnessed a classic CMC game.

McCaffrey ran the ball 24 times for 129 yards (his most rushing yards in a game since 2023) and two touchdowns, but he also added 72 yards in the pass game on seven receptions. I knew he was having a good game, but it didn’t feel like 186 yards good. When he’s hot, you don’t really even notice he’s killing his opponent by 1,000 cuts.

McCaffrey has already been one of the best fantasy running backs this season, but if he can keep running the ball like he did tonight, he’s only going to be even better.