LAS VEGAS — The Atlanta Falcons got what they needed on Monday night, right? After dropping their last four games, the Falcons needed a win. As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers continue to stack wins, the Falcons needed something to keep what's left of their postseason hopes alive. And they got it, right? They defeated the Las Vegas Raiders in prime time. But did the journey to a win overshadow the win itself?
That's the question the Falcons must wrestle with following a 15-9 against the Raiders on Monday Night Football.
In all honesty, the Falcons' win in Vegas didn't do much to build confidence in (specifically) this offense's ability to score points — the fundamental goal of any offense at any level of the game. For not the first time this season, the Falcons got away with a win without much offensive production. They did so this time around because of three themes.
- Special teams' dominance that included a tipped punt, a blocked punt and extra point, plus a couple consistent returns in the kicking game.
- A defense set on getting after the quarterback. At the current moment, the Falcons are the only defense in the NFL with an active streak of at least four sacks in three consecutive games. They haven't reached this feat since the 2004 season. Pass rush is working.
- And, well, let's talk about it: The Raiders inefficiencies as a team at the current juncture. Las Vegas entered into this Week 15 matchup down their best player (Maxx Crosby), on a nine-game losing streak (now 10 games) and with Desmond Ridder as their quarterback (because of injuries sustained to the room at large).
The elephant in the room is that the Raiders were not a good team. The bigger elephant in the room is that the Falcons are a should-have-been good team. And while there are things to praise about the performance of this team (pass rush, Bijan Robinson's performance, KhaDarel Hodge's special teams prowess), everything is overshadowed by the lack of production the offense has had overall.
On Monday night, the Falcons offense was set up time and time again. Whether it be because of a blocked punt or a turnover, field position was never a problem for the Falcons against the Raiders.
Of the Falcons' 11 total possessions Monday, six began at their 40-yard line or better. What's more, four of those drives began in Raiders' territory. The result of those four drives: One punt, two made field goals and one missed field goal. Six points. That's it.
The Falcons got in the end zone one time against a defense that came into the game ranked 25th in the league in red-zone defense and 30th in points allowed per game. Despite solid field position to start drives all night, the Falcons never once got to the red zone. Not once.
The Falcons have a red-zone efficiency problem. And against one of the league's worst red-zone defenses, they still couldn't get it done. That will never bode well for a team looking to tap into the potential it once felt it held in its grasp.
"It's pretty simple, you have to score," head coach Raheem Morris said postgame. "… I don't care if you run it in or throw it in, we have to be way more efficient and we have to be better at practice, and that's got to happen for us just in the long run and the overall template of what we want to be and how we can be it."
With Kirk Cousins struggling to find consistency in the pass game, the Falcons relied heavily on the run game to sustain them against the Raiders. And though Bijan Robinson had a record day, it wasn't enough.
"As the game started to go on we saw where the game was going, so it was more like we have to run the ball and grind it out to get the points that we want," Robinson said, "but obviously, we need to put the ball in the end zone. The defense gives us so many opportunities and for us not to capitalize on a lot of them is on us."
And perhaps this furthers the argument that the Falcons need more from the quarterback position to unlock the offensive production they were experiencing over a month ago.
"He's got to play better," Morris said of Cousins. "Obviously, you have to be able to go back and look at everything but he wants to play better. He's got to play better. We have to find a way to get him to play better.
"… We gotta play better at the quarterback position."
Because for all the run game could do — and did do — against the Raiders, it almost didn't matter in the end as the Raiders cut the game to one score with less than three minutes to play. The frustration of this being that the Falcons didn't have to put themselves in that position. They had more than a handful of opportunities to drive down and score. But they didn't. That's not what happened.
And despite a win in prime time, the game itself left a bad taste in the mouths of not just Falcons fans, but the national audience at large.
The saying always goes that a win's a win. But when a win comes with this many questions left unanswered about this team and its future, how do you wrestle with the outcome?
Get an inside look at the matchup between the Atlanta Falcons and the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium during Week 15, presented by Grady.