Atlanta Falcons football is back (derogatory). The Dirty Birds’ offense and special teams were a mess and wasted a good defensive performance—a far too familiar story. Here are the Week 1 Snap Reactions:
Special Teams comes out cold
Nick Folk missed one kick in 2025, he doubled that in his Falcons debut. While the offense was a massive disappointment, the special teams left six points on the board. In a slugfest, those points are more critical than ever. Folk was able to go 2/4 on the day but fans wil once again worry about their
kicker when he comes on the field for the next few games.
It wasn’t just the field goal unit that struggled. The Falcons kickoff and kickoff return unit was sloppy. The Steelers opened with a nice return, which led to points on the drive. Later, Brian Robinson looked confused about whether to kneel or return the ball, which led to poor field position for the offense. The decision to keep Goodson on the practice squad and go with only two backs, despite his return experience, is puzzling. Craig Aukerman and Chase Blackburn have a lot to clean up
Playing Cooper Rush was unwise
Look, I understand wanting to protect Jack Strand, but the decision to go with Rush cut the Falcons offense off at the knees. The intermediate and deep areas of the field were inaccessible all afternoon, and outside of Bijan, none of the Falcons pricey investments could get going. The offense’s passing game became so repetitive that TJ Watt timed up a screen play and took it to the house for six.
Bijan did his best to put the team on his back, but the workload led to some uncharacteristic mental mistakes. Ultimately, the death by a thousand cuts strategy didn’t work. Credit to Rees for at least putting together a game plan that moved the ball; unfortunately, they couldn’t overcome the quarterback play.
Defense picked up where they left off
Don’t let the score fool you; the defense did their job today. Turnovers put them in a bad spot, but when the Steelers were forced to drive the ball down the field, they struggled. The defense held the Steelers to 3/13 on 3rd down and 0/2 on 4th down.
Maason Smith was a force from the first snap. He pushed the pocket and was a nuisance in the run game. The other Smith addition (Za’darius) also had a hell of a debut, coming away with two sacks. It wasn’t the best day from stars like Divine Deablo and AJ Terrell, but the defense showed they have enough talent to pick each other up when everyone isn’t firing on all cylinders.
Looking ahead
The Falcons played not to lose instead of playing to win. No, the team couldn’t foresee Cooper Rush’s back giving out the night before the game, but refusing to adjust to that information is what cost them. Heading into Week 2, the hope is that either Tua Tagovailoa or Michael Penix Jr. will be ready to go but if that’s not the case, then it should be Jack Strand’s first start.
After a summer of anticipation, fans are left feeling no better about the state of the team than they did in the final week of the 2025 season. The Carolina Panthers are on deck, and their offense was rolling against the Bears.
