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Atlanta Falcons

Arctos Buys 10% of NFL’s Falcons

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ATLANTA – (Wire Service Report) Arctos Partners is adding a fourth NFL franchise to its portfolio by purchasing a 10% stake in the Atlanta Falcons, Front Office Sports and CNBC reported.

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The private equity firm already owns stakes in the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Chargers.

The deal with Arctos includes a $10.6 billion valuation for the Falcons. Arctos will acquire the 10% stake in two stages, starting with a 7.5% stake, according to Sportico. A vote on the transaction is planned for October.

According to NFL rules, a private equity firm can invest in no more than six teams and the maximum stake size is 10%.

Falcons owner Arthur Blank owns about 73% of the team but it is unclear whether his shares are involved in the deal with Arctos, according to Front Office Sports.

Arctos, which is owned by the sports management company KKR & Co. Inc., also holds a stake in several franchises in the NBA, NHL and MLB.

–Field Level Media

NFL’s Better Birds: Falcons Stun Eagles

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PHILADELPHIA – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Atlanta QB Kirk Cousins threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Drake London with 34 seconds left and the Falcons rallied for a 22-21 win against the host Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.

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The Falcons (1-1) trailed by six with no timeouts and 1:39 remaining and drove 70 yards in six plays in just 65 seconds on the game-winning possession.

The Eagles (1-1) had squandered a chance to run out the clock when Saquon Barkley dropped a pass on third-and-3, and Philadelphia settled for Jake Elliott’s 28-yard field goal and a 21-15 lead.

Following a touchback, Cousins completed passes of 11 yards to Kyle Pitts, 21 yards to Darnell Mooney, 26 yards to Mooney and 5 yards to London to get to the Philadelphia 7-yard line with 43 seconds left.

After an incompletion, Cousins found a wide-open London in the end zone for a 21-21 tie with 34 seconds to go. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on London forced Younghoe Koo to convert the go-ahead extra point from 48 yards out.

Cousins passed for 241 yards and two TDs and Bijan Robinson rushed for 97 yards for the Falcons. It’s the first win for Cousins since signing a four-year, $180 million deal with Atlanta in March and the first since he tore his Achilles tendon last October.

Jalen Hurts passed for 183 yards with a touchdown and a late interception while also rushing for 85 yards and a TD for Philadelphia. Barkley rushed for 95 yards in his home debut as an Eagle.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Falcons struck first on Koo’s 39-yard field goal early in the second.

The Eagles responded with Hurts’ 7-yard touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith for a 7-3 lead with 5:15 left in the first half.

Atlanta answered with Koo’s 22-yarder to make it 7-6 just before halftime.

The third quarter began with an exchange of field goals, with Koo’s third of the game — from 34 yards out — followed by a 29-yarder by Elliott that put the Eagles up 10-9.

One play after converting a fourth-and-4, Cousins connected with Mooney for a 41-yard TD and a 15-10 lead with 1:21 left in the third quarter.

Hurts’ 1-yard TD run and Barkley’s two-point conversion scamper with 6:47 left in the game put the Eagles up 18-15.

–Field Level Media

NFL Desk: Freeman Leads Carolina

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CHARLOTTE – (Wire Service Report by Field Level Media) – D’Onta Foreman ran for 130 yards and a touchdown and the Carolina Panthers avenged a loss sustained 11 days earlier by defeating the Atlanta Falcons 25-15 on a rainy Thursday night in Carolina.

Panthers quarterback PJ Walker threw for 108 yards on 10-for-16 passing in a game that was close but didn’t quite have the drama of Atlanta’s overtime victory in the first matchup between the NFC South teams on Oct. 30.

Eddy Pineiro, who missed two potential winning kicks in the game at Atlanta, booted four field goals for the Panthers (3-7). Foreman had 31 carries to spearhead a Carolina ground game that produced 232 yards on a whopping 47 carries.

Marcus Mariota threw for two touchdowns and rushed for a team-best 43 yards for the Falcons (4-6), who’ve lost two games in a row. He was 19-for-30 for 186 yards in the air with an interception.

Trailing 22-15, Atlanta got the ball back with 2:33 to play, but two sacks on the ensuing possession doomed the Falcons. The Panthers recorded five sacks.

The Panthers built a 13-0 lead over the game’s first 28-plus minutes with Pineiro making field goals of 46 and 49 yards on either side of a Laviska Shenault Jr. 41-yard scoring run.

Atlanta didn’t score until Younghoe Koo’s 33-yard field goal on the last play of the first half.

Still, it was a big contrast from the last game for Carolina, which trailed 35-0 at the break Sunday at Cincinnati in an eventual 42-21 loss.

The Falcons perked up in the third quarter, with Mariota’s 7-yard pass to Drake London giving them their first touchdown and drawing them within four. Koo missed the extra-point kick.

Foreman’s 12-yard touchdown run with 1:51 left in the third quarter also was followed by a missed extra-point kick.

Pineiro made amends with a 40-yard field goal for a 22-9 lead with 9:22 left in the game.

Mariota threw 25 yards to KhaDarel Hodge for a touchdown with 2:56 to play, but Koo’s extra-point try was blocked.

The only scoring from that point was Pineiro’s insurance 37-yard field goal for the game’s final margin with 10 seconds to play.

–Field Level Media