The Falcoholic
The Atlanta Falcons are very good at building us up and tearing us down, and this was the demolition phase. After an impressive game where they ran all over the Minnesota defense and swarmed the Vikings offense en route to a 22-6 victory on Sunday Night Football, the Falcons had to face a struggling Carolina team on the road with an opportunity in front of them to move to 2-1. They…did not take advantage.
Instead, everything looked difficult for the Falcons. Michael Penix Jr. missed easy throws, was under pressure often, and threw a can’t-do-it pick six. Zac Robinson couldn’t seem to scheme up answers and came out throwing on a day where Bijan Robinson was regularly excellent. The defense was actually pretty good on balance, but couldn’t get big stops when it counted. Special teams saw missed field goals, muffed returns, and an uncharacteristic short Bradley Pinion punt. Nobody outside of Bijan was all that good on Sunday, and it led to an embarrassing, lopsided loss to a team that came into today 0-2. It was an embarrassing, deflating loss coming after such a big win over the Vikings, and it created doubt about everything we thought we knew about Atlanta. They have no one to blame but themselves, and now they’re 1-2 and 0-2 in the NFC South.
It was the kind of disaster that casts an enormous amount of doubt on what we had seen to this point. Did Carolina just figure out both the smoke and the mirrors the Falcons were surviving on? Was the lack of a deep passing game in the first two weeks foreshadowing a total lack of a passing game going forward? Is this team too sloppy and poorly coached to make any real noise in the NFC? We’ll get those answers, but after this week, you could be forgiven for thinking we won’t like those answers.
On the full drive-by-drive recap.
The Panthers deferred, and the Falcons got to the 25 on a return from Ray-Ray McCloud from the 13. Michael Penix Jr. tried Kyle Pitts on first down, but it was behind and above him and Pitts couldn’t reel it in. Then Penix found Drake London, who juked, spun, and bullied his way to a first down. Bijan Robinson slipped a little on his carry and picked up three yards. Penix then fired one over the middle to Darnell Mooney, but Mooney couldn’t reel it in. On third down, Penix reeled in a bit of a wobbly snap and found Mooney downfield for about 15 yards and a first down. Then Penix hit London on the sideline with a nice first down ball. Robinson’s next carry was harried from the beginning, and Bijan only got a couple yards. With some pressure coming, Penix elected to throw it away on second down, but it appeared he would have had London if he had hit him. He tried London again, but tight coverage and a high ball kept it...
