The Falcoholic
We said the Atlanta Falcons offense needed to show us something after a listless three weeks to begin the 2025 season, one that was capped off by an utter embarrassment against the Carolina Panthers where our favorite team scored zero points. We said they had to keep Marcus Mariota in check, get Parker Romo back on track, and capitalize on mistakes. It wasn’t always clean and easy, but the Falcons checked every box with at least a pencil en route to a 31-24 win.
The score was closer than it ought to have been, chiefly owing to a handful of busted coverages, an ugly Michael Penix Jr. interception, some poor tackling against the run, and some frustrating special teams miscues. Those combined to give Washington short fields and gimme opportunities they took advantage of, allowing them to get to 24 points on a day where Marcus Mariota whiffed badly on some throws, was sacked multiple times, and threw an interception. On a day where the offense was struggling, those issues would have been magnified, but instead we can remark upon them and then move on.
The offense was quite good. Minus that Penix interception, the young quarterback was 19/25 for 313 yards and two touchdowns, consistently delivering balls into tight windows and downfield with aplomb. Minus a couple of drops, that line would have been even more impressive, and any questions about whether Penix would let that confidence-shaking catastrophe in Carolina impact him were laid to rest. He was dealing on Sunday, with Drake London, Kyle Pitts, Casey Washington, and Bijan Robinson showing up big-time as pass catching options to help him make it happen. Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier combined for 126 yards on 33 carries, with Robinson chipping in an absurd 106 yards on four receptions, and the offensive line did a strong job all day of paving the way. This is what we thought the Falcons offense could be, and with their backs very much up against the wall and the blindfold on, they showed us an ability to deliver.
The defense put together arguably its weakest effort of the season, given the opponent’s injury situation, but it was still good enough to earn the victory. Miscues like blown coverage were smoothed over by a turnover and some really big third down stops, and the defensive front in particular continues to look like a force for good. Had it not been for special teams coverage lapses that allowed Luke McCaffrey to average over 33 yards per return, the defense probably would have gotten more stops, given how frequently Mariota was misfiring under pressure.
Overall, it was what we needed to see. A team that gets blown out by an inferior opponent like that has an immediate pall of doubt settling over it, one that can only be dispelled with quality football. The Falcons need to get off the seesaw that has defined their 2025 season thus far, but they now have two quality wins, one closely fought...
