FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — It's no secret the Atlanta Falcons offense struggled in the Week 1 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the game book proves it.
The Falcons totaled 226 net offensive yards, but only 52 of those came in the second half. There was one touchdown in the first half, but the Falcons never reached the red zone again after that. There were three turnovers and three offensive penalties, and there were seven quarterback hits and seven failed third-down conversions.
It wasn't necessarily a pretty performance — and the Falcons know it.
"Need to play better," Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins said. "That's the bottom line. I thought our defense played very well. I thought our special teams played very well. And we didn't complement that enough on offense."
The Falcons (0-1) have the Philadelphia Eagles (1-0) on tap next for a Monday Night Football matchup for Week 2.
That begs the latest Question of the Week: What stat line must the Falcons change for offensive improvement? The Falcons editorial staff of Tori McElhaney, Terrin Waack and Amna Subhan answer below. Will McFadden is sitting this one out while on vacation.
McELHANEY: Play counts. The Falcons only ran 50 plays throughout the entirety of last Sunday's loss. They only earned 52 total yards of offense in the second half. The Steelers led the time of possession by more than 10 minutes.
So, it goes without saying that stringing together longer drives is going to be paramount as this offense moves forward. Drives were shortened by self-inflicted wounds of ill-timed penalties and turnovers (which I know Amna is going to talk about in her section). The Falcons were in one too many third-and-long situations, resulting in them only converting two of their nine total third downs. There were also issues in pass protection, which coincide with issues in offensive movement overall.
At the end of the day, there is not one specific thing that caused the Falcons' play counts to be so low. It's an all-encompassing type of stat, but that's exactly why I chose it.
WAACK: Sacks. Quarterback hits. They both come down to the same thing: protection of the passer. Improvement there is crucial to the offense's success. Kirk Cousins was sacked twice and hit seven times overall. Those final numbers are actually lower than what happened, too.
For example, Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt was credited with only one sack in the fourth quarter. That easily could have been three sacks had Pittsburgh not been penalized when Watt made a strip sack in the second quarter and another in the third quarter. Atlanta recovered one of those two negated fumbles, so the already high turnover count would have also been higher.
Regardless of Cousins' injury history — especially since Falcons head coach Raheem Morris reiterated Monday that Cousins is indeed healthy — that's a lot of contact for a 36-year-old to take in a single game. And the simple fact of the matter is Cousins can't make plays if he is on the ground. The Falcons have to take better care of their $180 million investment.
SUBHAN: After the loss to the Steelers, Raheem Morris called the turnover battle the "story of the game." Kirk Cousins threw two interceptions and miscommunicated with center Drew Dalman for a lost fumble. Pittsburgh scored half its total 18 points off the mistakes.
"That's the big difference. It just goes back to the turnovers," Morris said. "We've got to get that right, and that can't happen."
It really can't happen again, especially under the bright lights of Monday Night Football against a Super Bowl contender in the Eagles.
The Steelers were top 10 in takeaways last season and proved that was a continuing theme into this season. The Eagles weren't as formidable in 2023, ranking in the bottom 10, but Philadelphia should be a much different team than the squad that lost in a wild-card playoff game. They still have threats on their secondary like Reed Blankenship, who tied for sixth in interceptions last season and picked one off in Week 1.
Nonetheless, limiting turnovers is not completely hinged on the defensive effort of the other side. Mental mistakes must be dealt with, especially regarding self-inflicted wounds like fumbled snaps. Cousins and company likely know that more than anyone.
