Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons still kicking leads away

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- The Atlanta Falcons have not learned their lesson from Super Bowl LI.

Despite their best efforts, the Falcons are starting to reveal their true selves.

With them, no lead is safe, after the Miami Dolphins roared back from a 17-0 deficit to win 20-17 Sunday.

The Falcons have been outscored 72-40 in the second halves of their first five games of the season. They come out strong and then fizzle.

Just like in Super Bowl LI.

The Falcons appear to lack a killer's instinct to finish off opponents.

"I recognize the story," Falcons head coach Dan Quinn said. "I don't think it's justified, but I recognize the story."

While Quinn won't agree with the concept, he struggles to explain the second-half blues.

"The reason I say that, we're going to be in a lot of close ones," Quinn said. "The league, the margin of victory, I said maybe a week ago, is the closest it's been in years and years. Let's get real comfortable in these close ones. We'll get our share where we have to close it out and win."

The Super Bowl hangover appears to be real.

"In one we have, and another we didn't," Quinn said. "The scars are definitely deeper when you have it and you let it up to go then when it's back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Those are the ones that piss you off more, for sure, and leave a deeper mark.

"But at the end of it, you come back and say, 'How can we do it better? What can we do to make sure we're going to be our very best at this point, in this moment.' That's what we discussed the most."

The Falcons don't see a common thread that runs through their second-half woes.

"For us, we felt like the run game isn't up to where we would like it to be defensively," Quinn said. "I think that it has extended some drives for the opponent's offense. I wouldn't say we saw it with Chicago.

"There was a long run against Chicago. We've seen that probably in the game against Buffalo and Miami, there were some longer runs that made it extend some drives longer. I think when you look at that time of possession, that was one that really stuck out to us, where they were able to possess the ball, hold onto the ball, where we don't get our normal times at it."

The Falcons are trying to turn the page from the Super Bowl, but until they start finishing teams off, the thought of collapsing will stay around.

"I recognize we're not facing any demons here this week," Quinn said. "It's the 2017 version of us and them. We don't get to replay that one. How it ended, it was a bummer.

"We talked about it maybe once or twice during our time. But what I can say is when you get back in the regular season, man, you just go play for it and get all you can, as hard as you can, right into it, to be the best we can be. That's where we're at and that's where we're headed."

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With the return of defensive end/linebacker Vic Beasley Jr., the Falcons figured to extend their streak of games with a sack to 20.

But the streak was snapped in the 20-17 loss to the Dolphins.

The Falcons didn't have a sack, but had five quarterback hits and batted down seven Jay Cutler passes. The rush couldn't get to Cutler, who was throwing a lot of quick passes.

The Falcons did a good job of timing their jumps and clogging up his passing lanes with the tipped balls.

The Falcons also had a streak of eight games with two or more sacks.

Beasley, who led the league in sacks last season with 15.5, was playing with a hamstring injury and admitted that he was less than 100 percent.

"It went good for me," Beasley said. "I wasn't at my best a little bit of the game, but I guess those are the kind of the kinks that I have to work out and improve on coming back."

He was pleased with the defense's start.

"Man, I thought we came out on fire," Beasley said. "We got off to a hot start and that fire kind of ran out there in the second half."

He believes the Falcons will move on from the tough loss as they start to get ready to face New England in a rematch of Super Bowl LI.

"You just move on, if you don't you get blasted from the past," Beasley said.

Beasley doesn't have an answer for the Falcons' second-half collapse.

"Shoot, they played better than we did," Beasley said. "They made better calls. Their players played a little better than we did I guess. I felt like we came out on fire, but we didn't finish like we wanted to."

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Falcons tackle Ryan Schraeder knew he didn't have a good game against the Dolphins.

"It was a tough game," Schraeder said just before leaving the locker room.

He missed the Detroit and Buffalo games and most of the Green Bay game with a concussion.

The former Valdosta State standout wasn't happy with his performance.

"I did OK," Schraeder said. "I had some issues in pass protection with Cameron Wake, but nothing that can't get corrected."

Schraeder allowed six of the Falcons' 10 total pressures and finished with a 24.4 grade from profootballfocus.com. He ranked 51st out of the 51 tackles to play before the Sunday night game.

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Right guard Wes Schweitzer continues to play well after a shaky debut in Chicago.

Schweitzer didn't allow a pressure in 39 pass blocking snaps and finished with his highest game grade (83.3) of the season from profootballfocus.com. He has now graded as a top-10 guard in two consecutive games.

NOTES: FS Ricardo Allen had seven tackles in his return to action. He missed one game with a concussion. ... RT Ryan Schraeder played his first game back after missing the past two games in the league's concussion protocol. ... WR Marvin Hall had a 40-yard touchdown catch. It was his first career touchdown catch. ... QB Matt Ryan went 24-of-35 for 248 yards and one touchdown. This is the 60th straight game Ryan has thrown for at least 200 yards and this is his 23rd straight game with a passing touchdown -- currently the longest streak in the NFL. ... RBs Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman teamed up for 115 total yards. Freeman finished the game with nine carries for 68 yards and a 7.6 yards-per-carry average. ... RB Tevin Coleman scored his 10th career rushing touchdown and his first of the year. He finished the game with nine carries for 32 yards.

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LB Deion Jones recorded his first interception of the season - third of his career. He finished the game with 11 total tackles - highest of the season and tied for the second highest in his career.

REPORT CARD VS. DOLPHINS

--PASSING OFFENSE: C - Matt Ryan, the reigning MVP, has thrown six interceptions over the past three games, including two losses. He's committed seven turnovers. Ryan missed on his first throw of 20 yards or more, but connected with wide receiver Marvin Hall on his second deep ball for a 40-yard touchdown. Ryan had connected on only 3 of 15 passes traveling 20 yards or more before his bomb to Hall. With Mohamed Sanu out with a hamstring injury, Ryan moved the ball around to seven receivers in the first half. Right tackle Ryan Schraeder struggled in pass protection.

--RUSHING OFFENSE: C - The Falcons continue to try to finesse things in short-yardage situations. On their first possession, the Falcons settled for a field goal after getting stopped on third-and-1. Offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian called a toss sweep and Tevin Coleman lost a yard. On their fourth possession, Freeman busted loose for a 44-yard gain in the second quarter to set up Coleman's six-yard touchdown run, the 10th rushing touchdown of his career. The run game was stymied in the second half and was held to 18 yards after it amassed 82 yards in the first half.

--PASS DEFENSE: C - Middle linebacker Deion Jones had a nice interception when he made up some ground on a weak side-armed passed by Jay Cutler intended for Jarvis Landry. He was spying Cutler when he picked off his second pass in the third quarter that was negated by a roughing the passer penalty on Grady Jarrett. The Falcons were fine with Landry, Kenny Stills and tight end Julius Thomas working underneath. They just couldn't let Stills get open deep and they were successful. The defensive line did a good job of getting their hands up as Cutler wanted to just dink and dunk on short routes as they batted down seven passes.

--RUSH DEFENSE: F - Dolphins running backs Jay Ajayi and Damien Williams had some success running to the weak side of an unbalanced line. The Falcons gave up 125 yards rushing against Chicago. They gave up 117 against Buffalo, 71 to Detroit and 59 to Green Bay. The unit did a better job with missed tackles, but defensive end Brooks Reed lost containment early when Ajayi scooted outside for an 18-yard gain. The Dolphins finished with 139 yards to lead the comeback. The Falcons keep talking about being knocked out of their gaps and not playing sound.

--SPECIAL TEAMS: C-minus - Kicker Matt Bryant missed his first field-goal attempt of the season, a 59-yard attempt right before the half. He was about three yards short and punter Matt Bosher made the tackle on the return. Bosher's punts had hang times of 4.53 (47 yards) seconds, 3.92 (26-yard shank) and 4.99 (55 yards). Bosher had to run on his third attempt after the snap was botched by long snapper Josh Harris.

--COACHING: D - Falcons head coach Dan Quinn told the CBS network that the team didn't play with emotion against Buffalo and lost. So, against the Dolphins, the Falcons went over the edge a couple of times and earned stupid penalties and almost started a fight on the sideline. The Falcons must figure out how to play smart and with emotion. Jarrett's knockdown of Cutler was utterly unnecessary, way too late and it led to a Dolphins touchdown to make it 17-14. Rookie Takkarist McKinley also had an unnecessary roughness penalty.