The Falcoholic
The Atlanta Falcons had a bad day at the office on Sunday. It’s never a good sign when the head coach says, “we need to wake up” in the halftime interview. The Falcons took a beating but were their own worst enemy. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but a few players managed to stand out in a positive light. Here’s this week’s 3 up and 3 down:
Our only beacon of hope yesterday had another explosive showing. Bijan looks better than ever and made light work of the Seattle Seahawks defense. The back had 143 yards on 24 touches, good for nearly 6 yards a pop. Robinson notched his first 100-yard rushing game of the season and scored touchdowns in back-to-back weeks for the first time in his career (Bijan scored in Week 10 and 12 last year; Week 11 was the bye) and he’s matched his 2023 touchdown total in just seven games.
After a two-week slump, Robinson has once again positioned himself as one of the most dominating backs in the league. Best of all, the blocking is still showing up every week. Bijan has made himself a legitimate three-down back in this league, and we’re seeing him succeed with whoever is blocking for him. Even though everything went wrong for Atlanta yesterday, the running back didn’t let it affect him. It was like watching Matt Ryan throw five touchdowns in defeat.
After a rocky start, the All-Pro has returned to his elite ways and has helped pave the way for the offense’s recent success. Lindstrom has had to deal with both of his immediate linemates going down this season, and he even played with a familiar face in Matt Hennessey yesterday. Lindstrom did allow a few hurries, but he hasn’t given up a sack in weeks, and he was dominant in the run yesterday. It’s no coincidence that the run game improved in this same time frame. Lindstrom is one of those players fans may already be taking for granted, but Atlanta is lucky to have a legit blue-chip player like him.
A debut is a debut, and after yesterday, the Falcons only left with a few positives, but they did get to see Penix in action, and it went well. Penix ended the day with a perfect completion percentage and had 14 yards on his one attempt. He even got rookie preseason darling Casey Washington involved. It would’ve been cool if the Falcons let him throw more, but at least the team let him take some reps. I was surprised they did so, considering it was a meaningless game at that point, and the team mentioned how they didn’t see the point in playing guys in those situations, but it was nice to see them change their tune.
The rough 2024 campaign continues for one of Ryan Neilsen’s strongest soldiers. Elliss has been a disaster this...
