The Falcoholic
The Atlanta Falcons justifiably took a stable full of manure for their loss against the Carolina Panthers. They were disorganized, discouraged, and disinclined to score, which led to a terrible 30-0 loss that cast the entire season into doubt. The way they responded to that was going to tell us a lot about whether they were capable of recovering and trying to make a playoff push this season.
We need to acknowledge that Washington was down multiple starters, including Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin, but every team does deal with injuries. Down A.J. Terrell, the Falcons defense scuffled at times against this Washington offense, but the Falcons offense found life, Parker Romo returned to form, and Atlanta overcame some bewildering special teams mishaps to beat Washington. It wasn’t the complete game we hoped for, but it was enough to earn the win against a talented Commanders team, and that’s all we really wanted to see.
Atlanta’s offense was much sharper minus an ugly interception from Michael Penix Jr.—who put together a career day otherwise—and the defense came up with a couple of key stops, including a Xavier Watts interception. The Falcons are now 2-2, and suddenly the deep despair we felt in Week 3 has largely returned to a cautious hope after Week 4. If Atlanta can actually put together this kind of day on offense more regularly, this team might do something.
On to the drive-by-drive recap.
Atlanta won the toss and decided to receive, and with a touchback, got it at the 35. Bijan Robinson took it for five yards on first down. A quick screen pass was dropped by Ray-Ray McCloud, but Michael Penix Jr. found Kyle Pitts downfield for 26 yards. Robinson then picked up three yards on first down, and then picked up eight on second down. On first down, he then picked up nine yards, but on the next play the ball was punched out by Daron Payne and rolled backwards for a six yard loss, with Penix recovering. On third down, Penix rolled away from pressure but couldn’t get it to Robinson. Parker Romo hit the 38 yard field goal to make it 3-0 Falcons.
Luke McCaffrey returned it and took it out to the 32 yard line. The Falcons run defense swarmed Deebo Samuel and he lost four yards. Marcus Mariota felt the pressure, stumbled, and was pushed to the ground by Zach Harrison. Mariota then badly missed McCaffrey downfield. Punt, and Jamal Agnew called for the fair catch at the 27.
Bijan got some nice blocking on a toss and picked up nine yards again, and then got the first down and a couple of yards. Penix hit Drake London on the sideline for another nine yards. Bijan then took it four yards and a first down again. Then Penix found London over the middle of the field for 15 yards and a first down. Tyler Allgeier picked up a couple of yards, and then Allgeier powered through...
