The Atlanta Falcons have fallen to the Pittsburgh Steelers to open the season, losing on the road by a score of 20-13. It was an ugly game on offense, aside from Bijan Robinson. Defensively, the team held strong but couldn't overcome the penalties.
Here’s a quick review of how Falcons fared in all three phases.
Offense
To say that Atlanta’s offense today was a one-man show would be the understatement of the year. With veteran backup Cooper Rush being forced to start at quarterback despite suffering back spasms on Saturday, the Falcons embraced a simple plan of feeding the ball to running back Bijan Robinson early, often and as much as possible.
Their top wide receiver Drake London didn't even see his first target until late in the second quarter.
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Robinson scored the team’s first points of the season on a catch and run and proved as elusive as usual in space, but Rush had trouble connecting with any other pass-catchers. The first time Rush really tried to test Pittsburgh’s defense downfield he badly overthrew Jahan Dotson, resulting in an easy interception for Steelers safety Jaquan Brisker. That set up Aaron Rodgers’ first touchdown pass of the season, surrendering Atlanta’s lead. Rush went into halftime 9/14 for just 79 yards.
We only saw more of the same from Rush after the break, as he continued to have trouble connecting with any pass-catcher not named Bijan Robinson. Rush finished with two picks and a passer rating barely over 50.
As for the run game, Bijan and Brian Robinson Jr. weren’t able to find their footing in the first half. Pittsburgh’s defense held Atlanta to just 24 rushing yards at 2.2 yards per carry. You can only contain Bijan Robinson down for so long, though - and he broke through in the third quarter with a few explosive runs. Robinson ended the game with 83 rushing yards on 21 attempts. As a team Atlanta totaled 120 yards on the ground.
Defense
The Falcons were able to get more pressure than expected on Aaron Rodgers despite missing their top two edge rushers from the lineup. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich did a good job picking his moments for the blitz and was able to disrupt Rodgers in the pocket consistently, holding Rodgers to just 5.5 yards per attempt.
The Falcons totaled two sacks (both by Za'Darius Smith) and six quarterback hits all together. Atlanta's defense was also pretty strong against the run, limiting Rico Dowdle and Jaylen Warren to just 55 total rushing yards on 18 attempts. The Steelers got the first downs they needed to in crunch time, though.
On the back end, cornerback A.J. Terrell had a brutal game in coverage. He was flagged for two big penalties in the first half, including a huge pass-interference against Roman Wilson that put the Steelers in field goal range in the blink of an eye. Later, Terrell was lucky to avoid another massive DPI when he hit DK Metcalf's arms early - then had to leave the field as he was shaken up on the play.
Overall, the Falcons were outgained 264-238 on the same number of drives as the Steelers. This was a very winnable game.
Special teams
Unfortunately, placekicker Nick Folk’s first outing with the Falcons was a bust. On his first field goal attempt, Folk missed wide from 54 yards late in the second quarter. Then Folk missed again early in the third from much closer, as well. Folk finally connected from 50 yards late in the third to make it a three-point game but the damage had been done.
With the offense running dysfunctionally, punter Jake Bailey had a busy and solid day, totaling 289 yards on six attempts, pinning the Steelers inside their own 20 three times.
The brightest light on special teams was rookie receiver Zachariah Branch, who broke off what would have been a massive 66-yard kickoff return at one point but it was called back by a questionable hold against Josh Woods. Branch did record 64 yards on two kicks and another 33 yards on three punt returns.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: Breaking down the Falcons' 20-13 loss to Steelers in NFL Week 1
