There were two in the first quarter.
The first began with a second-down play at the Minnesota 18-yard line during which running back Bijan Robinson took the ball for no gain. A false start on left tackle Jake Matthews pushed the Falcons back outside the red zone to the 23-yard line, but quarterback Michael Penix Jr. completed an 8-yard pass to tight end Kyle Pitts Sr. to place Atlanta back inside the red zone at the 15-yard line. The Falcons’ drive ended after a delay-of-game penalty put them at fourth-and-2 at the 20-yard line, where special teams came out for Romo’s 38-yard field goal.
“That was on us,” Morris said. “We had some stuff that we wanted to get across the headset. We couldn’t get to Mike and allow him to get that stuff off. So, instead of rushing that thing, going out there and putting together a really bad fourth-and-1, we took the delay, kicked the field goal and kept it moving. We were able to adjust and not really have much trouble throughout the day again with noise (inside U.S. Bank Stadium).”
The second began at the Minnesota 15-yard line, where Penix completed a 5-yard pass on first down to Robinson. There were then two consecutive incomplete passes to Robinson and wide receiver Darnell Mooney, setting up Romo’s 29-yard field goal.
In the second quarter, the Falcons reached the red zone once. Again, Penix started off with a 4-yard completion, this one going to running back Tyler Allgeier, but a pair of incomplete passes to Mooney and wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud III followed. Romo made a 33-yarder.
“When you look at it, I think we’re putting ourselves in too many third downs,” Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson said. “We had a lot of third downs where on the second-down plays we could have executed a little bit better to get out of those third downs.”