We said the Atlanta Falcons offense needed to show us something after a listless three weeks to begin the 2025 season, one that was capped off by an utter embarrassment against the Carolina Panthers where
our favorite team scored zero points. We said they had to keep Marcus Mariota in check, get Parker Romo back on track, and capitalize on mistakes. It wasn’t always clean and easy, but the Falcons checked every box with at least a pencil en route to a 31-24 win.
The score was closer than it ought to have been, chiefly owing to a handful of busted coverages, an ugly Michael Penix Jr. interception, some poor tackling against the run, and some frustrating special teams miscues. Those combined to give Washington short fields and gimme opportunities they took advantage of, allowing them to get to 24 points on a day where Marcus Mariota whiffed badly on some throws, was sacked multiple times, and threw an interception. On a day where the offense was struggling, those issues would have been magnified, but instead we can remark upon them and then move on.
The offense was quite good. Minus that Penix interception, the young quarterback was 19/25 for 313 yards and two touchdowns, consistently delivering balls into tight windows and downfield with aplomb. Minus a couple of drops, that line would have been even more impressive, and any questions about whether Penix would let that confidence-shaking catastrophe in Carolina impact him were laid to rest. He was dealing on Sunday, with Drake London, Kyle Pitts, Casey Washington, and Bijan Robinson showing up big-time as pass catching options to help him make it happen. Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier combined for 126 yards on 33 carries, with Robinson chipping in an absurd 106 yards on four receptions, and the offensive line did a strong job all day of paving the way. This is what we thought the Falcons offense could be, and with their backs very much up against the wall and the blindfold on, they showed us an ability to deliver.
The defense put together arguably its weakest effort of the season, given the opponent’s injury situation, but it was still good enough to earn the victory. Miscues like blown coverage were smoothed over by a turnover and some really big third down stops, and the defensive front in particular continues to look like a force for good. Had it not been for special teams coverage lapses that allowed Luke McCaffrey to average over 33 yards per return, the defense probably would have gotten more stops, given how frequently Mariota was misfiring under pressure.
Overall, it was what we needed to see. A team that gets blown out by an inferior opponent like that has an immediate pall of doubt settling over it, one that can only be dispelled with quality football. The Falcons need to get off the seesaw that has defined their 2025 season thus far, but they now have two quality wins, one closely fought battle against a clear contender in the Buccaneers, and the terrible loss to the Panthers. While the contours of each of those games have been different, the takeaway is that Atlanta’s at least a decent team prone to the occasional major disappointment. We just want more than that.
We have a bye week now and some tough matchups following it, but this Falcons team has a clear idea of what it wants and needs to be. Whether they can start chaining this caliber of efforts together will go a long way toward determining if 2025 is the latest in a long line of wasted seasons, or something better and more worthwhile for a franchise and fanbase that has been calling for triumph for many years without success. The offense getting on track is the sunniest sign yet that things can be different, even if we’re still not sure they will be.
On to the full recap.
The Good
- Michael Penix Jr. vowed to be better, and he was. Minus his one lousy interception, Penix was extremely sharp all day, delivering blistering balls all over the field and hitting six different receivers en route to a career day in terms of yardage with 313. He went 20/26 a week after his career-worst day, scrambled for a first down, and kept cool in the face of pressure, peppering throws downfield with a defender bearing down on him. His excellence—and his work running play action, which the Falcons had declined to do far too often in 2025—helped the Falcons surpass the 30 point mark for the first time this season. I said last week that I was not particularly concerned about Penix’s future based on one terrible game, and he showed you why Raheem Morris and I were in the same corner on that one.
- Bijan Robinson is just so outrageously good. From his spinning, jumping, cutting touchdown in the second quarter to the many nice grabs and go-nowhere runs he made into significant gains, Robinson remains the justified engine of an offense loaded with playmakers and first round picks. He put up an absurd 181 yards on 21 touches with a score to go along with it, and all the once-hyperbolic-sounding praise about Bijan being the best back in the league sounds more and more correct.
- There was the long-awaited Drake London breakout game. He had eight catches for 110 yards and a touchdown, and the stellar hands, route running, and willingness to power through contact all showed up on a day where he finally looked very much in sync with his quarterback. Expect these kinds of days to be much closer to London’s normal output for this season, given his prominent role, Darnell Mooney’s series of injuries, and Penix’s continued trust in him.
- It’s been a great start to the season for Kyle Pitts, too. He’s up to 20 receptions for 210 yards and a touchdown thus far, with at least four receptions in every game and 24 targets, showcasing a level of trust from Penix that is vital if he’s going to be a prominent piece of the offense. The fact that Pitts is getting open and reeling in these catches where he might not have in years past is encouraging, and with Mooney seemingly hurt again, there may be an even more prominent role on the way.
- There was one very quick sack and a couple of runs where the line simply couldn’t get a push, but otherwise they did a great job of paving the way for Robinson and Allgeier while keeping Penix clean. Atlanta allowed just one sack, ran the ball 37 times and piled up 128 yards (with Penix credited with four carries for -2 yards, mind you), and did so with a relatively unproven center in Ryan Neuzil and third-string fill-in tackle in Elijah Wilkinson. That’s applause-worthy.
- Zach Harrison’s one-man rush on second down of the opening drive was sweet. Not only did he get great penetration up the middle to cause Marcus Mariota to panic and stumble, he finished it off by doubling back and shoving him to the ground. Harrison has struggled in past years to get the kind of playing time his talent justifies, but when he gets it, good things happen.
- Kaden Elliss and Leonard Floyd were probably the most consistently productive pass rushers on Sunday, something I expect to see showing up in their pressure numbers from Pro Football Focus later today. Both had a half sack on Sunday, but Elliss got very close to another one and Floyd hounded Marcus Mariota into multiple bad throws. Jalon Walker also put multiple pressure players on tape. The team having enough quality options that someone steps up every week regardless of opponent is a beautiful thing, one we haven’t been able to talk about for a very long time.
- Credit the defense, too, for not letting Mariota kill them with his legs. A player all-too-happy to tuck it down and scramble when he has a chance to do so ran twice for just 20 yards, a really rough 22 yard gain on a long third down and a loss of two. By forcing him to stay in the pocket or make throws off-balance, Atlanta held Mariota to a very pedestrian passing line, forced him into an intentional grounding, and caused multiple misses.
- Xavier Watts got hurt in this one, but he came back in to pick off a poor Marcus Mariota deep ball in the end zone in the third quarter, his second pick of the 2025 season. While there have been uneven stretches thus far, Watts’ ability to make plays on the ball and his instincts have shown up early on, and I can’t wait to see what kind of player he can become for Atlanta.
- Parker Romo did not have to hit any super difficult kicks, but he did rebound nicely nonetheless. Romo was perfect on two field goal tries and hit all four extra points, helping to fuel a Falcons scoring barrage that propelled them to victory. Remember, Atlanta won by seven, so a missed field goal or two would have put that outcome more in doubt.
- I thought the major difference this week was just in execution, rather than a whole new scheme, but we did see a bit more play action, more willingness to attack deep and over the middle of the field, and a strong commitment to the run. Give the players their kudos for drastic improvement, and to Zac Robinson for trundling down to the field and altering his gameplan enough to take advantage of Washington’s weaknesses.
The Ugly
- Michael Penix Jr. has to learn to vary the loft and speed on his throws more consistently based on the situation. In this one, he was looking for Drake London on a ball he could have thrown right over Mike Saintrisil, but he threw a line drive the defensive back was able to pick off to set up a quick field goal drive for Washington. It was one of his few miscues on the day, but a good reminder for the young quarterback the next time he’s trying to make that flavor of play happen.
- When the Falcons were up 15 and had a chance to put this game away, the defense put together a vintage effort. The pressure was a step slow, the run defense was shaky, and the holes in coverage were exploited to the point where Washington scored a touchdown and got a two point conversion on a drive where Atlanta did all that despite earning a sack and a third down stop. Getting the pressure cooking a little more consistently and getting more consistent quality coverage out of the likes of Mike Hughes and Dee Alford would go a long way, even if Alford is likely headed back to the bench with A.J. Terrell likely to return after the bye.
- The run defense is starting to look like the concerning weakness we thought it might be before the season. Yesterday, Washington put up 147 yards on the ground on just 22 totes, an average of 6.7 yards per carry. Were those numbers inflated by a 22 yard Mariota scramble and a 48 yard Chris Rodriguez Jr. scamper? Absolutely. Do those plays represent major breakdowns for the run defense? Also absolutely. The Falcons have to wrestle with that one during the bye before James Cook, Josh Allen, and then Christian McCaffrey show up.
- Return coverage continues to be very spotty. Luke McCaffrey reeled off multiple good ones, including a second quarter sprint where he got past midfield before Feleipe Franks caught him, and that set Washington up with tremendous field position on multiple occasions. With Atlanta getting solid but unspectacular results on their returns—Ray-Ray McCloud was actually the most productive returner Sunday—it was a good thing the defense had enough sharp moments and the offense was rolling enough to overcome those issues.
- The Falcons once again made some weird clock management choices before the half, which obviously falls on Raheem Morris’s shoulders. The Falcons choosing not to take a timeout with the clock ticking away left them with plenty of timeouts and not enough time to use them as they tried to put together one more scoring drive before the first half was over, one that might have put the game out of reach entirely heading into the second half. The situational decision-making is still a work in progress.
The Wrapup
Game MVP
A great week for Michael Penix and Drake London and a heroic effort by several others, but it’s still Bijan for accounting for nearly half of Atlanta’s yards, a score, and plenty of big runs where he turned modest gains into major ones. He makes this offense go, and this won’t be the last time he earns this honor in 2025.
One Takeaway
The Falcons are capable of winning and putting forth superior efforts on offense, a reminder we needed very badly.
Next Week
It’s an early bye week. The Falcons can try to get A.J. Terrell healthy, iron out their issues on special teams, and come out of the bye ready to win some tough matchups.
Final Word
Muchbetter.
