Falcons – Patriots recap: The leaves fall and so does Atlanta

The Atlanta Falcons should’ve won that game and made a gorgeous autumn day in New England that much more enjoyable. I know that, you know that, the Patriots know that. They have to be letting out of a sigh of relief in Massachusetts today, given how close the margin was, while the Falcons pick up the pieces of yet another loss.

Compared to their ass-kickings at the hands of both the 49ers and Dolphins, this was very recognizably decent football. The Falcons stunk in the first half on offense outside

of a single drive and a couple of plays from the Patriots 6 yard line, but the defense started clamping down late in the first half and never let up. The Patriots scored 21 in the first half and just three points in the second half; the Falcons controlled that portion of the afternoon almost entirely. Michael Penix Jr. threw three touchdown passes to Drake London, the Falcons picked up six sacks and forced two turnovers, and the team was in a position to tie it up, get the stop, and cap off a game-winning field goal drive late in this one. Instead, Parker Romo missed the extra point, the Falcons got a shot but Michael Penix Jr. got surprised by a snap and picked up yet another intentional grounding penalty, and the Falcons punted on 4th and 20 and couldn’t get the desperation stop out of timeouts. Game.

What’s incredibly aggravating about this one is that the Falcons put together a much better effort than their previous two games despite the quality of opponent, and it wasn’t enough to add up to a win because of the same kinds of errors that have repeatedly doomed them. Romo has not been good enough to keep the kicker spot, something that was obvious weeks ago but has not been addressed, whether because of a lack of options (in Atlanta’s opinion) or a belief that Romo will steady himself. Penix and the offense have not been able to stop making the kinds of mistakes experience should iron out, whether that’s an intentional grounding, brutally bad blocks and penalties, or an actual or near delay of game. The Falcons defense is the better piece of this team, but they are failing to deliver the pressure they’re very capable of generating on critical third downs when they really need it, and they keep winding up with bad coverage mismatches when they need them least. This was a pretty good football game against a very tough opponent in spite of all that, which makes a loss we all thought was coming much harder to digest.

The progress matters in a big picture sense, though. Penix getting more comfortable and confident for long stretches matters. Drake London reeling in three touchdowns and dominating on a day the Falcons were once again pretty one-dimensional matters, especially when the team’s receiving options outside of him, Bijan Robinson, and Kyle Pitts are doing nothing of note. The pass rush making one of the hottest quarterbacks in football look pedestrian for long stretches matters, especially because it came from young pass rushers stepping up. It paints a picture of a team with talent still figuring things out, which should eventually translate to wins. The Falcons are not a team bereft of talent and needing a hard reset; they are a team that needs more work but ultimately should be set if they either figure out how to stop making avoidable mistakes rapidly or get new leadership to push that talent to new heights.

But they also aren’t good enough to win right now, for reasons that range from dumb errors and lackluster options to coaching miscues, and that’s why they’re currently 3-5 heading into what feels like a do-or-die game against the Colts. Given that, we’re left in a familiar position, daydreaming about future potential while the current reality of the team disappoints us, and with major changes potentially looming if the losing continues. I’d love to tell you that the Falcons are on the cusp of turning the corner after that encouraging effort, but given their inconsistency and history over the past decade, all we can really say is that it was a better game that still saw Atlanta fall short. Falling short is, ultimately, the only thing the Falcons have consistently excelled at for most of my life, come to think of it.

On to the full recap.

The Good

It took until the third drive for the offense to look like anything, but boy did it look like something on that one. Michael Penix Jr. was dealing, Drake London and Kyle Pitts hoovered up targets, and the team only needed a few plays to get into the red zone, where Penix hit London for a leaping touchdown grab. They did something rare on that drive; the Falcons made it look easy. That Michael Penix-Drake London connection is budding into something special, especially in the red zone.
London was an absolute monster. When he has quiet stretches some corners of the fanbase are wont to grumble that he’s not a true WR1, but London now has five 100 yard games in his last nine outings and has scored seven touchdowns in those five. If the passing game was better and he could avoid some early season struggles, London would be producing like one of the best receivers in football overall. On Sunday, at least, he certainly looked like it, working through traffic, making absurd leaping and one-handed grabs, and dominating in the red zone against some very good Patriots cornerbacks. This won’t be the last time in 2025 he goes off like that.
It was another forgettable day on the ground for Bijan Robinson, primarily owing to his blocking, but he still put together a fine day overall. Two one-handed grabs and a couple of nifty cuts translated to 96 yards on 20 touches, a quality day for a player the Falcons aren’t maximizing.
The broadcast had just circled Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. as players who needed to step up with Leonard Floyd out and the Patriots driving up 21-7 with halftime approaching. It was a dire situation, but on that very same play, Walker and Pearce sure did step up. Walker sacked Maye, knocked the ball loose, and Pearce scooped it up and brought it to the six yard line. That gave the Falcons a chance to narrow the score before halftime, and they took advantage to make it 21-14. That was a huge combo play for the promising rookie duo, and likely not the last we’ll see.
Walker had his biggest game of the year, easily. There was the sack, a big run stop, additional pressure that helped set up other sacks, and a third down tipped pass to force a punt late in the fourth quarter with the Falcons down one point. He was every bit as active, disruptive, and just plain good as we hoped, with his lone (costly) miscue coming in coverage against Pop Douglas on the first touchdown of the game. I’m expecting Walker, who has been dealing with nagging injuries all year, to continue to impress with better health.
Brandon Dorlus joined him. He had two sacks and looked ferocious against the run throughout, the kind of breakout effort we’ve been awaiting from a player with tantalizing skills. It’s getting to the point where it feels like Atlanta’s best bet is to play the young guys as much as possible, Dorlus very much included.
LaCale London has played pretty well this year, and his best play yet may have come on New England’s third drive. With Drake Maye getting flustered thanks to Arnold Ebiketie, he tried to scramble up the middle, only for London to smartly break off his rush, extend an arm, and use Maye’s momentum to swirl around and bring him to the ground.
The committee finally showed up. I need to re-watch the game to confirm, but my impression was that the Falcons rotated Ronnie Harrison in quite a bit on early downs with JD Bertrand taking late ones, and both players looked better as a result. Harrison got 41 snaps to Bertrand’s 30. Bertrand was sharper in coverage in general on Sunday even if he predictably gave up the final third down of the game, while Harrison was a piss missile against the run and on those occasions he was employed as a pass rusher. I wish it hadn’t taken multiple games, but the Falcons appear to have found something workable with Divine Deablo out, even if it’s far short of ideal.
The pass rush didn’t always show up when we wanted it to—the 3rd and 8 where Drake Maye completed a 58 yard pass comes to mind—but they did legitimately impact this game. The Falcons had three first half sacks, two of which torpedoed Patriots drives, and three in the second half. They did that without Zach Harrison, who has been perhaps their most consistent defensive lineman, and without Leonard Floyd, who exited the game early and never returned. They did so while blitzing to an impressive degree, given that Drake Maye had excelled against it, and they did it on the road. That says as much about how legitimate this pass rush is—and can be more consistently—than anything else we’ve seen this year.
I’ll give the team credit for adjusting, which helped them go from allowing 21 first half points to three second half points, and which allowed them to go from wildly inconsistent on offense to more productively inconsistent as well. We saw the offense actually make some strides despite the errors, and the defense definitely tightened up, with JD Bertrand improving in coverage and Ronnie Harrison proving to be an early down missile as the long-awaited committee finally arrived. It ultimately wasn’t enough, but it was progress, and we desperately need to see progress.

The Ugly

The offense was a victim of all the same issues we’ve seen: Predictable runs to Bijan Robinson, Michael Penix Jr. getting antsy under pressure that kept arriving and missing throws he shouldn’t have, and comical errors like Bijan Robinson losing a ball in the sun. The way those errors overlapped ultimately doomed Atlanta, with pressure causing Penix to make awful decisions like launching passes into traffic (where he was nearly picked off twice) and dirting it instantly after a bad snap and pressure, which led to a fateful intentional grounding call. The offense was much better than the last two weeks, but still maddeningly inconsistent in a way that left many, many points on the field.
Penix was much sharper as a passer overall, especially to London, and pulled off at least one impressive scramble. The problem was that the same problems that have plagued him all year are still plaguing him in Week 9, from failing to get the play off (which led to a Raheem Morris timeout) to the intentional grounding call to spotty accuracy. Penix is still a young passer finding his way in the NFL, and again, the progress over the middle of the field and in layering his throws was evident. He still has to cut out the dumb mistakes and bouts of wildness before he can take the next step; and yes, I say that even knowing that snap did indeed arrive early because the Patriots managed to fool Ryan Neuzil. Without those improvements, Penix will be inconsistent on a week-to-week basis, something that we’ve seen throughout 2025.
The offensive line is still struggling, and predictably, that did not get any better after injuries to both Matthew Bergeron and Chris Lindstrom in this one. A costly penalty on Jake Matthews or Kyle Hinton here, a blown block that got Penix killed there, and inconsistent paving the way for Robinson and Tyler Allgeier added up to the third straight lackluster week for them. If health is going to be an issue going forward, it’s hard to see how this line is anything but a mild liability going forward.
Parker Romo missing the game-tying extra point was so Falcons it hurt. After hitting his other opportunities on Sunday, missed his first XP of the season at the worst possible time, when it would have translated to a potential stop-the-Patriots-and-set-up-the-win scenario that never came to pass. Romo has now missed three field goals and an extra point in seven games, which isn’t horrendous but is inconsistent enough (especially in big moments) for the Falcons to consider yet another change at kicker. I hate this.
The coaching staff did as much to dig the holes as it did to cover them. I don’t particularly blame Morris for punting on 4th and 20, given that it was a longshot to convert and the defense had played well, and I can’t pin calling the timeout on him when the Falcons couldn’t get a play off again. But I do think not getting that play in falls partially on Zac Robinson, that the team’s third down play calling and early fourth down try to Drake London were predictable and easy for New England to bat away in the first half in particular, and that the team’s ongoing sloppiness in big moments falls on the shoulders of the entire staff. This was hardly the “fire everyone” caliber of performance we saw the last couple of weeks, but the errors still grate, and this coaching staff is not in a position to keep losing games without consequences.

The Wrapup

Game MVP

Give it to London, who made a number of truly impressive grabs while bullying New England’s secondary all day long. Three touchdowns and well over 100 yards is a tremendous day; give Penix and the pass rush their honorary mentions too.

One Takeaway

This was a team down bad rallying to put together a tremendous effort against a very hot football team; the fact that it still wasn’t enough because of big mistakes tells you this team’s ceiling continues to be capped by inconsistency and errors.