The Falcoholic
Atlanta faces the Raiders for the first time since Raheem Morris was interim head coach, and they hope to end a slide.
Let’s be blunt: If the Atlanta Falcons don’t win this game, their season is in danger of being over for real. With four straight losses and sitting at 6-7, Atlanta needs to put together the encouraging signings they’ve shown in recent weeks—the growth of the run game, the pass rush coming alive, etc.—and pair it with significant improvement from Kirk Cousins and the secondary.
Working in their favor is the fact that this Las Vegas Raiders team, while game, is pretty bad. They’ve lost nine games in a row, only two of those by less than seven points, and are now down to third-string quarterback and familiar face Desmond Ridder. They have the receiving options in Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers to be a pain, and that pass rush can swarm, but this is one of the easiest opponents the Falcons have faced all year.
A win here gets the Falcons back to .500 and potentially ahead of the Bucs, if they drop their upcoming game against the Chargers. That would be a big boost, but Atlanta has to take advantage on Monday night.
We’ll round up all our coverage from Week 15’s game right here, so keep it open for a feed of every story, live thread, and recap from Falcons-Raiders.
