ATLANTA — The final two offensive plays of the Atlanta Falcons' Sunday night loss to the Kansas City Chiefs was a microcosm of their entire game as a unit.
Down 22-17 with 1:03 on the clock, Kirk Cousins handed the ball off to Tyler Allgeier. As he lowered his shoulder to get the one yard needed for the first down, his lane bottled up, and Allgeier's forward motion was stopped inches short of the line to gain.
With the game on the line, the Falcons went for it on 4th-and-inches from the Kansas City 13-yard line. Pitching it out to Bijan Robinson towards the left side of the line, Nick Bolton came untouched to meet Robinson. He was dropped for a loss of three and the Chiefs took over.
As the final seconds of the game trickled down, the reality of the run game's struggles Sunday night stood in stark contrast to the way the Falcons expected the night to go on the ground. In essence, it wasn't supposed to go that way.
Head coach Raheem Morris said he thought the Falcons "would have more success" running the ball against the Chiefs. They felt so because of the success they just saw less than a week before in their one-point win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football.
After rushing for just 89 total yards against the Steelers in Week 1, the run game got back on track in Week 2, surpassing the 100-rushing yard mark well before halftime even hit in Philadelphia. It was a performance that saw Robinson average 6.9 yards per carry, with Allgeier not far behind with a 5.9 average.
Things were trending in the right direction. The run game felt like it was chugging along, business as usual. The locomotive came to a halt against the Chiefs, though. And without the unit being able to establish the run, the offense as a whole struggled to string drives together, resulting in a lopsided time of possession between the two teams.
"They made us fight for everything we had to get," Robinson said after the loss.
By the end of the game, the Falcons had only accumulated 82 rushing yards total (it should be noted, too, that 20 of those yards came on a jet sweep by Ray-Ray McCloud). Robinson averaged 1.9 yards per carry and his longest run from scrimmage was seven yards. Between Robinson and Allgeier, the Falcons backs had only 63 rushing yards split almost evenly between them.
Since 2019, the Falcons have ran the ball for less than or equal to 82 yards in a single game 28 times, including Sunday night's game. They have lost all but six of those contests.
To make matters tougher for the Falcons on Sunday night, specifically, Atlanta was without starting right tackle Kaleb McGary and center Drew Dalman for half the game. Both were downgraded to out at halftime with a knee and ankle injury, respectively. Storm Norton and Ryan Neuzil took over in their places. That switch up wasn't the reason the run game faltered, though. At halftime, the Falcons only had 26-yards rushing.
The backs couldn't find the creases, Robinson said, as they were running against eight-man boxes more times than not. And even when they weren't, it wasn't like the Chiefs defense kept run lanes open for long.
"They did a really good job mixing up their looks, a lot of pressures, a very sound gap defense," Jake Matthews said. "They are a really good defense for a reason. We had our opportunities and didn't make it happen, unfortunately."
The Chiefs shot the gaps all night, Morris added, and to a certain degree, you have to give credit where credit is due.
"They just did a nice job," the head coach said. "You have to give (Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) a lot of credit for what he was able to do, able to force the issue, make you pass the ball, not allowing you to run, not let Bijan and Allgeier get going."
From Robinson's perspective: "They brought pressure in what seemed like every play."
The Falcons run game was bottled up because of it, and for the Falcons to reach their own expectations for themselves, a productive run game has to consistently be a part of their game.
"We gotta fix it," Matthews said. "We gotta find a way to make plays there."
Get an inside look at the matchup between the Atlanta Falcons and the Kansas City Chiefs at Mercedes-Benz Stadium during Week 3, presented by Grady.