Falcons' highly improbably MNF comeback, plus Matt Chapman’s contract saga

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Last night, Kirk Cousins stormed down the field in just 65 seconds to snatch a victory from the Eagles grasp.

He connected with Drake London for a touchdown at the end of a six-play, 70-yard drive to put the Falcons up 22-21 with 38 seconds left, and Jessie Bates III quashed any hopes of a last-second Philadelphia comeback: JESSIE BATES III SEALS THE IMPROBABLE FALCONS WIN.

#ATLvsPHI pic.twitter.com/ukPLS3LjT8 NFL (@NFL) September 17, 2024 Its hard to overstate how improbable this result was.

A stat to melt your brain: With 1:56 left in the fourth quarter, t he Falcons had just a 0.7 percent chance of winning the game , per Next Gen Stats.

Kind of thing that usually happens to the Falcons.

The win keeps 1-1 Atlanta in the NFC South conversation (despite New Orleans and Tampa Bay s surprising 2-0 starts), with Kansas City visiting on Sunday night.

Heres everything we learned in the upset.

Moving on: Remember famous agent Scott Boras tough winter? His top-flight free agents including star third baseman Matt Chapman largely failed to get the long-term, big-money deals they expected to land.

That narrative changed last week when the Giants , whod signed Chapman to essentially a one-year deal late last offseason, inked him to a six-year, $151 million extension.

The Boras star got his money.

Everything was back on track, right? As Andrew Baggarly illuminated this weekend (and The Windup touched on yesterday), it wasnt so simple and it involved Giants legend Buster Posey .

Two layers here: The Giants are six games under .500 and will miss the playoffs for the third straight year.

Change should probably come.

Theres plenty more depth in Andrews deeply reported story .

Read it here .

Panthers bench 2023s No.

1 pick It is hard to describe the level of failure already seen in Carolina this year, including a 73-13 total scoring margin and culminating in yesterdays decision to sit QB Bryce Young .

It had seemed like a possibility, but is still staggering after just two weeks.

Young has looked lost in his time as the Panthers starter, though its hard to tell how much is his fault and how much is the disastrous situation around him.

Andy Dalton will start this weekends game.

Our full report has more .

Advertisement Penguins finally sign Crosby Sidney Crosby is officially staying in Pittsburgh after signing a two-year deal yesterday worth $8.7 million (of course, his jersey number) per year.

This offseasons contract dance between the Penguins and the franchise icon has been bizarre, but the conflict is now a bullet point in history.

Its a good thing because, barring injury, Crosby should become the franchise leader in multiple statistical categories.

More context here .

More news Jordan Chiles appealed to the Swiss Federal Tribunal to overturn the ruling that stripped her of the womens floor exercise bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.

Texans running back Joe Mixon criticized refs for not enforcing the new hip-drop tackle rule.

It was a tough call, though .

Michigan has a new starting quarterback ahead of its in-conference (still not used to it) game against USC: Alex Orji .

San Diego FC , which will start in MLS next season, named Mikey Varas as the first coach in franchise history .

Some met Jim Harbaughs hire as Chargers head coach with a light jeer.

Sure, hes the reigning college football national champion, but he had not coached an NFL team in a decade.

The game has changed dramatically since 2014.

Harbaughs teams at Michigan relied on a bludgeoning run game to become a powerhouse.

The NFL today is just ...

not that, at least in popular scheme circles.

(Then again, neither is college football.) Regardless, heres Jim Harbaugh, 2-0 in 2024 .

A couple of points: Its early, but there are signs this rebuild is already working .

Its worth pointing out that Harbaugh is one of five qualified coaches in NFL history to have a .700 or better win percentage.

He was possibly an electricity snafu away from winning a Super Bowl.

He has won at every stop of his coaching career.

Maybe we should trust those things.

Soccer: Liverpool at AC Milan 3 p.m.

ET on Paramount+ Champions League is back, and this is probably the best match on a busy day.

Just turn it on.

Catch up with The Athletic FC for more, too.

WNBA : Liberty at Mystics 7 p.m.

ET on NBA TV Washington , Chicago and Atlanta are tied in the standings with one playoff spot to split between them.

New York is the best team in the league, too.

Just two games left in the season.

See our playoff projection meter here .

For years, the Ravens and Orioles kept each other at arms length, polite Baltimore neighbors each worth billions.

Over the last few years, however, the front offices have become legitimately friendly.

I thought the backstory, from ace Ravens writer Jeff Zreibec, was a delight.

Make time for this today .

College football Bubble Watch is back with a look at the Group of 5 teams already winning postseason-altering games in September.

UNLV has been fun.

The biggest story in soccer in years is unfolding this week: Manchester Citys case against the Premier League , which could result in the defending champion being demoted.

Read our explainer here .

There are five NHL stars who will demand big-money contracts soon.

Harman Dayal wondered how their teams can afford it .

Gabby Herzig has a final report from the Solheim Cup on how the U.S.

came together for the historic win .

The best golfers also seem like great partiers.

The next F1 superstar now has his coming-of-age drive: Oscar Piastri is ready to join the greats after his win in Baku over the weekend, as Luke Smith writes.

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday : Our NFL Week 2 takeaways .

What a weekend.

Most-read on the website yesterday : Zack Rosenblatts dispatch on how Aaron Rodgers powered the Jets to his first win in 623 days.

Sign up for our other newsletters: The Bounce | The Windup | Full Time | The Athletic FC | Prime Tire | Until Saturday | Scoop City (Top photo: Cooper Neill/Getty Images).

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