FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Well, the start of the 2024 season has come and gone, and with it the notion that perception does not yet equal reality if you are the Falcons' offense.
After losing 18-10 to the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday, fans were ravenous for answers as to why the Falcons offense failed to amass more than 51 total yards of offense in the second half of the loss.
Is Kirk Cousins really healthy and 100% following a season-ending Achilles tear in 2023? If he is healthy, why did the Falcons operate out of shotgun and pistol formation when Cousins' bread and butter with the Vikings was under center? Why was there not a single play action play deployed by the Falcons offense? These are the questions that flooded the Tuesday Mailbox.
The problem with these questions, though, is that I really don't have a good answer for you. I can't tell you why the coaches made the decisions they did, or better yet, I can tell you what they tell us in pressers but perhaps that isn't the answer you want to hear or care to believe. Which is totally fine, I just ask that you don't shoot the messenger when I do relay the information.
All I can really tell you is Raheem Morris himself was asked these questions Monday. Terrin Waack relayed his answers here so you can read that. You can also watch the video I have placed at the top of this article of Morris' Monday press conference. So, for that reason, I don't really have much else for you in this specific vein until we speak to Cousins and offensive coordinator Zac Robinson Thursday afternoon for their weekly press conferences. As much as I hate to say it, we will just need to be patient and you'll have to read my opinions on things until we get more concrete answers from those actually involved.
Until then, there are questions to be answered, so that's what we're going in the meantime.
Ed H. from Auburn, New York
In your estimation, what do the Falcons need to fix prior to the next game against the Eagles? Or better yet, what should take priority?
Tori: Priority for me has to be limiting turnovers, ill-timed penalties and making it more difficult on defenses to pick up on offensive tendencies. The good news about all of these things is that they are fixable and are more self-inflicted than not.
As I wrote in my notebook Monday, a lot of what we were seeing from the Falcons offense was the unit getting in its own way with those turnovers and penalties. But it was also the ease in which it seemed the Steelers (particularly T.J. Watt) was able to decipher in real-time what the Falcons' offensive attack was.
After the game, Watt himself said there were a moments of "golden nuggets" where he recognized what the Falcons were setting up to run. Now, that's Watt, but it seemed as though he wasn't the only one who was picking up on tendencies. Alex Highsmith jumped two screens in the second half. One ended in a nearly sacked Cousins and the other was tipped by Highsmith himself. Both passes fell incomplete.
Variety and mystery is the name of the professional game, and the truth of the matter is that there were too many people watching from their couches who were picking up that the Falcons were going to throw out of shotgun and run out of pistol Sunday. If people from home could see that or people in the stands at the game itself, then it makes sense why the Steelers defense — the professionals — were playing with their ears were pinned back in the second half.
Now, I also say all of this to ask say: Who knows how the game plan would have evolved without the turnovers that resulted in shortened drives. But we can only go off of what we were able to see, which were 50 offensive plays run.
The Falcons issues are correctable, but they need to correct them quickly with the Eagles defense on the horizon.
Jack S. from Savannah, Georgia
Falcons front office has been consistent in saying Kirk is healthy. If that is the case, why does it appear that he is unwilling to plant his right foot when throwing? Is it not fully healed or is does he not trust it?
Tori: Look, the only way I can answer this question is to say what the sources say, and straight from the horse's mouth time and time again Kirk Cousins has said he is healthy. The Falcons — with the clearance of doctors — have said he is healthy. Raheem Morris said Monday, Cousins is healthy and has "been healthy since he's been here."
Cousins has been cleared to play, meaning he medically has to be healthy. I know people want there to be a conspiracy theory, but based on everything that has led us to this moment, there isn't a conspiracy.
We will speak to Cousins Thursday, so I am sure this question will be asked backwards, forwards and three times over. So, until then, I have really nothing else to add to this conversation other than I do think it does take players who suffered a season-ending injury like what Cousins experienced a little time to feel confidence in a surgically repaired ligament even when that ligament is operating at 100%. There are a lot of players who I have had conversations with over the years that say this is the case. Now, is this what Cousins is experiencing? We won't know until he speaks on it.
Travis B. from Missouri
We looked real sluggish and out of sync on offense. I understand that part of that was because we played a stellar Pittsburgh defense which has always been good on defense, but I can't help but feel like a portion of the blame should be attributed to not having the starters play together in the preseason in live game action, so this is the first actual game with a new OC and QB. What are your thoughts?
Tori: Maybe I am in the minority in that I have never been a believer in the preseason and playing your starters. And to me, the problems the Falcons experienced offensively Sunday have little — if any — correlation in what they could have gleaned from their operation in 10 snaps in a single preseason game. (Which is likely all they would have received if you look at what other teams across the league gave to their starters in the preseason).
10 snaps in a preseason game does not prepare Kaleb McGary to face T.J. Watt. 10 snaps in a preseason game does not change the Falcons offensive plan of attack in Week 1. They wouldn't show anything of which they were planning to do in a preseason game anyways.
I think the argument that the Falcons should have played their starters in the preseason would have more legs if they would have looked stagnant on offense in the first half. But they didn't. I have very few complaints about the offense in their first drive of the game or in the final few minutes of the half. I have issues with the lack of evolution we saw from the offense when the Steelers started picking up on what they were wanting to do. 10 snaps in a preseason game doesn't help that. Because you're not evolving in a 10 plays. You're running out of your script, which we saw the Falcons do well in at the start of Sunday's game. So, again, there is no correlation for me.
However, I understand the Falcons offense didn't do much of anything in second half to support my own argument. Doesn't change my philosophy on the preseason, but I can at least understand where people are coming from and why they are so loud about feeling the way they do about their preseason takes.
At the end of the day, my opinions on this don't matter at all. The opinions of Morris as the head coach do, and he's been very clear in those opinions every single time he is been asked about it. Including Monday.
"It's very easy for us. It's mitigating injury when playing in the preseason games. You don't get mulligans for a guy getting hurt in the preseason, right? So, guys that played a significant amount of football – Kirk Cousins played 13 years in the league, his 15 snaps for preseason games wouldn't have prepared him any more for the Pittsburgh Steelers than going out there and playing against the Pittsburgh Steelers with the preparation that he had throughout the week, and I wholeheartedly believe in that," Morris said.
"Now, could it help them to go out there and get a feel for the pocket, some of those things? Maybe, but the risk of the injury and the risk vs. reward, I feel really comfortable with not taking when it comes to going out and playing football with those guys out there in that situation. Grady Jarrett didn't play a snap, and he looked really good. It's up to us as professionals and coaches to get those guys ready and we have to get our offense better suited to go and ready to play in those situations. So, the preseason game – that'll be an argument for you until we win, so we have to go out and find a way to get a win this week."
David H. from Marshalltown, Iowa
Tori, please help me find 3 positive takeaways from this game. I'm at a loss a lot like many fans right now.
Tori: Hi David, I think I can absolutely find three positives in this game.
The defense was as advertised, for starters.
Sure, there are probably moments that this unit would have liked to have back, moments of a long-ball to George Pickens or a run that got four or more yards when it should have just been a one or two-yard gain, Justin Fields leaking out of the pocket a little more than they would have liked. But at the end of the day, this defense kept the Steelers out of the endzone and gave the offense every chance to go and win the game.
You could see the effects of Justin Simmons and Jessie Bates III at safety in Fields' completely choosing to not throw down the middle of the field Sunday. Grady Jarrett was playing like a man possessed, and Matthew Judon got going a little bit late. The Falcons inside linebacker core continues to be fun to watch with Nate Landman earning my game ball on the Falcons Final Whistle podcast Monday morning (which is embedded in the story above).
I thought what we saw from this defense was fundamental not elaborate, which makes sense considering how green Simmons and Judon are to it. I think there is a lot of room to establish more flash, which makes me very excited for what's to come with them.
Finally, though no one really wants to praise the offense right now, Bijan Robinson's usage was a plus in my book. Majority of the Falcons' total offensive plays were going to Robinson. The Falcons have said their offense is going to flow through him, and when they were going that was obvious. Robinson felt a step away from breaking a run open and he was solid through the air, too. The offense has a lot of things to work on, but I do think the usage of Robinson is tracking well.
