The Atlanta Falcons needed this one. Early on, it seemed like they might not get it. Late, it seemed like they might squander it. Instead, a team that is cursed to make every game interesting emerged with another major victory, one that saw individual moments of brilliance deliver the win.
You can’t overstate what beating the Buccaneers here means for Atlanta. They’re now 5-3 and in first place by a whole game, 2-0 against the Buccaneers for an ironclad head-to-head tiebreaker, and 4-0 against the NFC South while standing 5-1 against the NFC overall. If they can keep things going and push for a playoff spot, all those numbers will mean a great deal, and they make for good vibes and a good Sunday in the moment.
This was a a testament to the offense all day and the defense in moments. Atlanta overcame self-inflicted mistakes and penalties on offense to rack up the points, with Kirk Cousins once again playing terrific football en route to four touchdown passes, an unreal scramble and sneak to keep things alive, and a turnover-free afternoon. The defense was not great but did clamp down for long stretches, with a pair of interceptions, a forced fumble, and a final stand resulting in victory. The Falcons had to overcome ill-timed penalties, a missed Younghoe Koo field goal, and the complete lack of a pass rush once again, but the fact that they did that is a testament to toughness. The fact that Atlanta’s faith in their own ability never wavered, with fourth down tries and hail mary defenses alike bearing fruit, is icing on a cake of victory.
Atlanta’s flaws loomed large in this one to make it closer than it needed to be, and a more consistent run defense, pass rush, and display of discipline will be essential if they’re going to more than a playoff hopeful in 2024. What stands out to me, a forever optimist, is that this team has won five games despite coming up well short of what I think should be their standard over and over again. If you believe there can be better days—or will be better days—ahead, their strong results despite their process are a bellwether of better days. If not, at least we can enjoy the Falcons being in first place in the here and now.
The Falcons will need to put down a scuffling Cowboys team at home next week to keep the good times rolling, but I suggest you enjoy a run against the NFC South and a perch atop the division accompanied by encouraging results that we haven’t seen in a while. Success can be fleeting in this league, and while I hope these Falcons are built to endure, the moments should be cherished. Celebrate this win and let’s hope for even better going forward, fueled by long-awaited defensive improvement and an offense finding joy and success in growth and big plays.
On to the full recap.
The Good
- I love the continued aggression on fourth down. In this one, the Falcons were near midfield facing a 4th and 3 and decided to go for it, and they were rewarded when Kirk Cousins lofted one to an open Kyle Pitts downfield, which resulted in an easy touchdown. In the fourth quarter, facing a 4th and 1 after a long Kirk Cousins scramble, the Falcons entrusted the key conversion with a Cousins sneak and he got it. The team’s willingness not only to try to convert but to take a deep shot in a do or die situation is exactly what I want to see out of them on a weekly basis, even if the results will rarely but quite that pretty.
- Kirk Cousins has had his ups-and-downs in 2024, but against the Buccaneers, he’s a rocket headed for the outer solar systems. For the second straight game against Tampa Bay, he threw for four touchdowns, working through pressure and making canny reads to connect with his talented cast of playmakers, particularly over the middle of the field. If Cousins could play Tampa Bay every week he’d be the best quarterback in football; as it is, the fact that he raises his game against Atlanta’s biggest divisional threat is an extremely welcome development. The fact that he pulled off one of the best scrambles of his career in the fourth quarter on a key drive, picking up 13 yards on a 3rd and 14 running up the middle, is icing on the cake. The sneak for a first down, something we sort of accepted Cousins might not do this season, is the icing atop the icing on the cake.
- On a day where Tyler Allgeier’s trouble with the handoff and lackluster results on the ground were not ideal, Bijan Robinson picked up the slack, as the duo seemingly takes turns with the hot hand. Robinson continually turned nothing in something as has been his wont in recent weeks and came up with big grabs, putting up exactly 100 yards on 19 touches (13 carries, six catches) with a touchdown along the way. It seems obvious that the recent excellence from Robinson is here to stay; the fact that the team has Allgeier to hammer a defense to death if Robinson scuffles on a random Sunday is a real boon for Atlanta.
- Pitts had one of the best games of his career, even with a lapse that was nearly costly (we’ll get to that later). He had two huge grabs in the first half, both for touchdowns, and both featuring him running past and over defenders to get to paydirt. After a slow start to the season, he’s been one of the most productive pass catching tight ends in football, and the level of trust Cousins has with him downfield bodes well for his ability to keep eating. He finished one yard off the team lead in receiving yards with 91 on four receptions and those two scores, and was particularly vital in the first half.
- The middle of the field has been Tampa Bay’s kryptonite for weeks, and once again, it was trouble against the Falcons. Cousins found Pitts over the middle twice and got Darnell Mooney for a touchdown late in the second quarter, with the team doing a good job of forcing all-world safety Antoine Winfield to commit to a side of the field with Cousins’ eyes and taking him out of plays. That led to three first half passing touchdowns despite the Buccaneers knowing the Falcons worked them over in that same area in their first matchup.
- Mooney loves playing the Buccaneers, too. He finished as the team’s leading receiver again, working in the middle of coverage and eluding defenders en route to 92 yards on five grabs with a touchdown. The speedy receiver has turned out to be a well-rounded, canny player who comes up with big plays when Atlanta needs them; my only quibble with him is his habit of running sideways when he should plunge forward for another yard. It’s a minor quibble for a player who has been an excellent second wide receiver in Atlanta.
- The fact that the Falcons can plug and play offensive linemen without falling apart is a testament to their player development and the skill of those players. Kyle Hinton has had to fill in at left guard and right guard in consecutive weeks, and while he’s no Matthew Bergeron or Chris Lindstrom, he’s playing well enough to help keep this line afloat. With Storm Norton looking good when called up and Matt Hennessy filling in as a capable third center in a pinch, the Falcons have done a wonderful job of putting together their line depth in a league where some teams don’t even have five quality starters.
- Jessie Bates needs his own coined term for the fumbles he’s causing, and I nominate the Bates Bludgeon. On the opening drive, he clubbed the ball out of Rachaad White’s hands and came up with it, the second time in two matchups he’s forced a key fumble against a Tampa Bay running back. Then he somehow one-upped himself, picking off a deep ball intended for Jalen McMillan on a flea flicker where he simply outworked the young receiver for the pick in a contested catch situation. Bates is just one of the best defenders in the NFL, and inarguably Atlanta’s most vital defender, given that they’re not winning some of these games without his herculean efforts.
- A.J. Terrell has his loud critics, and certainly his stretches where that criticism feels very justified. Against a decimated Buccaneers receiver corps, though, he was a shutdown presence who delivered some big tackles in the run game and his second interception of the season on Baker Mayfield in the fourth quarter. Considering he had zero picks in 2022 and 2023, the fact that he now has two this season is huge for him. On a day where the Falcons couldn’t afford to have Terrell making any mistakes, he and Mike Hughes were major assets.
- Richie Grant was a much-maligned player the last couple of years, and there were times in this game where his coverage was less than stellar. The fact that he was the player who skied to tip the ball out of bounds on the final hail mary of the game was still an extremely cool moment for a player who may be eased into more playing time going forward if Justin Simmons is limited, or simply because Atlanta’s linebacker group is being hit hard by injuries.
- Speaking of the secondary, the fact that some of the biggest hits of the day came from Dee Alford, Mike Hughes, Terrell, and company does not necessarily make us feel great about the front seven, but does give us cause to celebrate the physicality of that group.
- KhaDarel Hodge was the hero on Tampa Bay’s fake punt, inevitably. A bit of trickery and desperation from the Buccaneers was undone because Hodge (and DeAngelo Malone, who also knew what was up immediately) blew it up, with Hodge getting the tackle and making yet another major play on special teams. He’s been invaluable in that phase and has one of the year’s biggest plays on offense, too; as far as I’m concerned he can and should be a Falcon until the day he retires.
- This team’s ability to win the ugly divisional games they’ve lost in years past is a testament to a coaching staff still finding their footing. Raheem Morris has received far less criticism for his game management and handling of the clock than Arthur Smith did—with good reason—and his willingness to trust his offense on fourth downs and be aggressive is a huge point in his favor. Zac Robinson’s ill-timed screen obsession can’t negate the fact that his offense is scoring gobs of points despite execution errors he has very little control over, and that he’s finding ways to attack defensive weaknesses even if the consistency is still coming. Jimmy Lake is not getting the best out of this defense, but he’s making the kind of adjustments necessary to win games with a limited group, even if the beyond-soft zone and red zone shenanigans have been driving us crazy. And Marquice Williams’ group is clamping down on returns even if Younghoe Koo is scuffling a bit, and is savvy and well-coached enough to blow up plays like that fake punt. Lake is going to continue to get heat until this defense improves, but this is a better team than last year for reasons that go beyond personnel.
The Ugly
- The pass protection was a little shaky earlier on. Cousins was under pressure on the first third down of the opening drive, forcing a rushed throw, and again on a rushed and high throw to Darnell Mooney on second down on the second drive and again on the following down, when Lavonte David was basically in Cousins’ face immediately. There are pressure situations that Cousins has blundered into this season, but in these cases he wisely got rid of it because the time was not there. Things improved the rest of the way, too.
- I don’t understand Zac Robinson’s screen usage at times. The play type has only been an occasional winner for Atlanta, and he tends to bunch up his usage of them, with four in two drives in the third quarter that gained a combined…couple of yards? Maybe? There’s no need to throw out screens entirely because well-blocked screens featuring, say, Bijan Robinson can deliver stellar results. If it’s not working on first down and it’s your answer again on second down, setting up a third and unmanageable situation as it did yesterday, I have quarrels.
- The run defense is not getting better, and the defense in general was not up to the task of stopping an obvious game plan. Working against Rachaad White and Bucky Irving, the team routinely allowed for four lane highways for the two backs to work in, resulting in chunk pickups that kept Tampa Bay moving. That combined with a short passing game that heavily utilized the running backs and Cade Otton, just as we all knew it would, was unsettlingly effective against a Falcons defense that had to know what was coming but seemed incapable of coming up with stops in the early going. While they were great in the heart of the game, getting a pair of turnovers and limiting Tampa Bay, the defense cratered hard again after the safety on Atlanta, allowing a long touchdown drive to Baker Mayfield and company that featured far too many wide open receivers.
- I have only this to say about the pass rush: It’s not great. The little bit of pressure on Baker Mayfield was welcome, but it was rare and the team once again got zero sacks. Jimmy Lake’s talk about the evolution of the pass rush and the defense will ring hollow until we see some improvement here.
- Kyle Pitts nearly gave away a touchdown in the second quarter by jogging in to the end zone and letting the ball hang loose in his hand, sometimes Antoine Winfield is notorious for taking advantage of. Winfield was able to knock the ball loose, but after a review of the play, the touchdown was upheld because Pitts appeared to have already crossed the plane. Thank god for that, but I hope Pitts will hold that ball a little tighter next time out so we can avoid the drama.
- Younghoe Koo’s re-tooled approach raised some eyebrows, but if it was working to perfection nobody would be all that troubled. The fact that Koo is on pace for his lowest field goal percentage since his doomed 2017 season with the Chargers is troubling, however, and the latest miss on a 46 yarder against the Buccaneers that would’ve effectively put the game away missed by quite a bit. He’s now 16 for 20 on attempts this year, or 80%, and while I doubt neither the ability or the ability to rally from this, it goes without saying that a team that plays a lot of close games can’t afford to have him continue to miss.
- This team’s propensity for ill-timed mistakes continues. A Bijan Robinson touchdown wiped out by a Ray-Ray McCloud hold is one example, and a botched handoff between Kirk Cousins and Tyler Allgeier deep in Atlanta territory that resulted in a bouncing ball that turned into a safety is another. The Falcons will only reach their considerable potential if they can stop turning the ball over and earning penalties at the worst possible moment, and that’s a work in progress.
The Wrapup
Game MVP
Kirk Cousins now has nearly 800 yards and eight touchdowns in two weeks against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, startling numbers against the team’s biggest rival for the divisional crown in 2024. He’s the obvious choice even without his yards on the ground.
One Takeaway
Flawed and frustrating as they are, the Falcons are dominating the division and hanging tough in most every game, last week’s bummer loss to Seattle notwithstanding.
Next Week
The Falcons return home to face the Dallas Cowboys, a talented team achieving subpar results. They’ll hope to beat Dallas and stay ahead in the NFC South race.
Final Word
Glorious