Ten games in and it’s over. The Atlanta Falcons justifiably fired Dan Quinn to embrace a rebuild they still haven’t finished, resulting in a team that Arthur Smith couldn’t pilot to a winning season and Raheem
Morris can’t win with, either. This isn’t rock bottom because there is no such thing in the long dark abyss that is Atlanta Falcons football, but you’re not alone if you’re feeling mighty low after Sunday.
The Falcons came in intending to stop the run and did so, but then allowed almost 450 passing yards to Bryce Young in one of the most embarrassing efforts from this pass defense that I can remember, which is really saying something. They hit all their kicks and did solid work on special teams, but special teams did not prove decisive to the outcome. They turned 21 first half points into six points in the second half, with Michael Penix Jr. exiting with an injury and Kirk Cousins failing to do much while the ground game disappeared. They had every opportunity to win this game, as injured and shaky as they were, and instead frittered it away yet again.
That’s five straight losses, a 3-7 record, and the team currently on a collision course with a top ten pick that will be going to the Los Angeles Rams. There’s a foundation here that I like quite a bit and there will be flexibility a year from now to remake this roster a bit, but all of that feels quite remote and small at the moment. The Falcons misjudged their moment yet again and now must face the prospect of remaking their front office, coaching staff, and roster for the third time since 2020. It can’t feel good for them; it feels terrible for us.
The Falcons need to be clear-eyed about it, though. Young has been a mediocre passer all year and just looked legendary, the Falcons were in the wrong place at the wrong time over and over again in coverage, and they wasted a strong day in run defense along the way. Missing both Mike Hughes and Dee Alford certainly hurt the cause, but it wasn’t the sole cause. Kirk Cousins got a huge contract after a major injury last year and put together maybe three good games in a Falcons jersey; he’ll be cut in the offseason having been thoroughly forgettable in fill-in efforts while earning a huge contract. Michael Penix Jr. and Drake London got hurt and Bijan Robinson was barely a factor after the first half, Darnell Mooney and Kyle Pitts dropped catchable balls, and the Falcons picked up multiple bonehead penalties along their offensive line. Roster-building, coaching, and execution all let the Falcons down yet again. It has been, all too often, this team losing in all three phases and losing in ways that can be traced back to the general manager, the head coach, the coordinators, and the players on the field to varying degrees, but almost always you recognize the levels of failure that allowed things to get this bad.
When you’re confronted with a season like this—one where you can’t even reap the benefits of a first round pick because you traded it away, no matter how good James Pearce Jr. might look now and in the future—it’s time to decide what the future looks like while this team muddles through the present. The Falcons have to play seven more games in 2025 and will have an opportunity, hopefully, to take a longer look at Penix, at young players like Cobee Bryant and Casey Washington and Ruke Orhorhoro and Jalon Walker, and decide what they can do for you in 2026 and beyond. But it’s also time to start thinking about who and what get left behind when the calendar flips.
Arthur Blank is at a point where he needs to figure out whether riding it out is the right decision and injuries and growing pains are causing this or if a total teardown is needed yet again. The five game losing streak this year, the weird Ike Hilliard firing and Ray-Ray McCloud release, and the overall feeling that this team has no answers for adversity and attrition have me thinking Blank will make some personal history and not allow this staff a third year. With an eighth straight lost season in progress, getting that decision right matters as much as it ever has, and yet it’s harder than ever to believe that whatever decision the Falcons make will work out the way everyone involved would want it to. We’re in a dark, discouraging place right now.
On to the full recap.
The Good
- This was one of Michael Penix’s sharpest games as a pro, so naturally he exited it with an injury. Penix missed to Darnell Mooney early on a sideline ball, but otherwise was sharp, pretty accurate, and even scrambled decisively to pick up nine yards, addressing most of the criticisms he justifiably absorbed earlier this season. Had he remained in for the entire game, the Falcons might have won; at the very least it was a welcome rebound effort for a player who clearly is willing to put in the work to get better. I just hope his season isn’t over.
- Bijan Robinson’s ability to make defenses look stupid will never cease to be a source of wonder for me. His first touchdown saw him basically get tackled by two players, only to stay standing and trot into the end zone, and he followed that up with absurd cuts even when his blocking wasn’t there to break a 20 yard scamper and then score his second touchdown in the second quarter. His first half featured two scores and nearly 100 yards on the ground; while he didn’t do much in the second half as he was stymied and the Falcons had fewer plays, it was still a terrific day.
- Drake London remains a monster. He struggled to reel in a couple of Kirk Cousins targets, including one he definitely should have caught, but on a very quiet day for the rest of Atlanta’s pass catchers, he was the guy the Falcons have counted on all year. Unfortunately he left the game early, but he had over 100 yards again and when healthy will be one of the few bright spots on this offense.
- The difference for the run defense with Kentavius Street and Khalid Kareem in was noticeable, especially Street. His instincts and ability to make contact at the line helped slow Rico Dowdle considerably, something many defenders have struggled to do. The Falcons sold out to stop the run—perhaps too much so, considering what Young did—but give them credit for bottling up Rico Dowdle effectively and keeping Young from taking off and causing problems with his legs.
- James Pearce Jr. is coming on. He had a fantastic sack on Bryce Young early in this one, and then sniffed out Young’s would-be scramble on a two point conversion try in the third quarter, pursuing him and not allowing himself to be fooled by Young’s jukes to stop the attempt cold.
- Kaden Elliss made one of the defensive plays of the game when he read Bryce Young’s fourth down scramble attempt in the red zone, took the right angle, and managed to tackle him short of the first down marker. It was a touchdown-saving play for the savvy veteran linebacker; he also made a nice play in coverage in the end zone late before the Falcons foolishly had him on Tet McMillan, where he stood no chance.
- Ronnie Harrison appeared to get much more run this week at inside linebacker, and that decision paid off. Harrison was everywhere, picking up a nice pursuit sack on a third down in the fourth quarter where Bryce Young was trying to escape and make something happen and consistently showing up against the run. He also tipped a pass on a key fourth down and sniffed out Young trying to scramble, showing instincts that should make him a valuable long-term reserve if Atlanta is smart enough to keep him around. Divine Deablo should be back soon, but Harrison is and must be the team’s top inside linebacker reserve, even if his coverage work was not always pretty.
- Rookie Cobee Bryant was a player fans clamored for, but he hadn’t gotten any action until this one. With Mike Hughes and Dee Alford out, Natrone Brooks and Bryant both got time, but Bryant was the more impressive player with good coverage instincts and some excellent tackling, especially given that tackling was considered one of his weaknesses coming into the league. I hope we see more of him down the stretch.
- Raheem Morris takes a ton of abuse for his game management decisions—and I have some criticism later on—so give him credit for his decision to throw the challenge flag on the Tet McMillan fourth down catch. The Falcons got time back on the clock and forced the Panthers to go for it on fourth down, and while Carolina got it before failing on their next fourth down conversion, it was a gutsy call and a correct one for the embattled Atlanta head coach. It just might be one of the last ones he gets to make.
The Ugly
- The Darnell Mooney situation continues to be dispiriting. Mooney fumbled his first catch backwards and then Penix couldn’t hit him on the sideline on the opening drive; that led to a quick punt that set up Carolina’s early scoring drive. Mooney made a super impressive grab in somewhere in there, but it was not the moment that caused things to click into place. Kirk Cousins then got in on the fun, missing Mooney on one target and having Mooney fail to reel in another one. The injury has clearly been a major factor here, but Atlanta’s #2 receiver has been a nearly complete non-factor and it’s hurt this offense a lot. It’s hard to imagine Mooney, who has a big cap hit, returning in 2026.
- Speaking of Cousins, it was another forgettable day for a quarterback who has clearly played his best football. There’s no shame in that at age 37 after injuries have piled up, but it is a shame in the context of this Falcons team, given that they need him to be good when Penix goes down and he simply isn’t moving well enough or delivering passes with good enough accuracy to get the offense humming. We’re probably going to see more of him, though.
- Kyle Pitts had a costly drop on a catchable ball for the second straight week, this one in overtime on a grab over the middle that would have set the Falcons up to convert third down and keep moving. Pitts is no lock to return to Atlanta but had been making his case; if he’s going to return to being an unreliable receiving option, you can kiss him goodbye in the offseason.
- The ground game going silent in the second half effectively killed Atlanta. Bijan couldn’t get any room to run and couldn’t make any magic happen, the run blocking disintegrated, and Atlanta only tried 10 carries in the second half and overtime for 21 yards, with a pair of scrambles from Penix and Cousins mingling with 14 very unproductive Cousins throws. Considering the margin, the Falcons being both unable and unwilling to run more definitely helped to kill them.
- Chris Lindstrom is great, but picking up two holding calls in one game simply isn’t acceptable for any offensive lineman.
- Natrone Brooks has been a summer standout and a valuable special teamer, but he had an abysmal game against Carolina. He allowed two big chunk completions early, including one way downfield for Xavier Legette for a touchdown, and then fumbled the subsequent kick return to give the ball back to Carolina and set up a score that Atlanta needed heroics to prevent. Filling in for Mike Hughes and Dee Alford instead of Keith Taylor, who was coming off a solid game but was not elevated from the practice squad, Brooks was in a tough spot and did not acquit himself well. I like Brooks, but when you’re a borderline roster guy, performances like that can end your time with a team.
- The sequence before the half was utterly baffling. A first down carry seemed to signal the end of the half, but then Raheem Morris called a timeout with nine seconds left. Bijan Robinson then carried it again and picked up a good chunk of yards, but didn’t get out of bounds before the half ended and wouldn’t have quite been in field goal range regardless. It seems logical to either kneel out the half if you don’t want to try to set up a score or try to get in field goal range; going the middle road and using a timeout on the 1% chance that Bijan would break one for a touchdown seems and is nonsensical. That’s the kind of move you make when you think you can afford to be a little silly and try things out, and the Falcons can never afford that.
- This coaching staff blew it in ways large and small. There was the before-the-half decision-making that lands on Morris, the pass/run split in the second half and lack of easy short passes for Cousins on Robinson, and the inability to figure out Young and get the right coverage option on the right receiver for Ulbrich, with the team hunkering down in zone and choosing not to blitz with predictable results far too often on Sunday. For a coaching staff that appears to be in some trouble, losing to the Panthers twice, pressing a lot of the wrong buttons, and losing five games in a row overall will have that fire roaring. It should be roaring.
- I could write more in the details but it hardly seems worth it. This team should be good enough, despite their massive flaws, to at least float around .500. The fact that they’re in danger of falling to the bottom of the NFC South 10 games in is an indictment of basically everyone associated with the franchise, and an unwelcome reminder that it probably won’t be simple fixes and firings to get this team to turn the corner.
The Wrapup
Game MVP
Sorry, not handing one out this week.
One Takeaway
The Falcons, losers of five straight and 0-3 in the NFC South, are a bad team facing a lost season. Seven games to go.
Next Week
The Saints. You always want the win against them—and there’s not much point in rooting for draft position right now—so let’s hope they beat New Orleans.
Final Word
Ihatethisseason.
