FLOWERY BRANCH – The dust has settled from the 34-14 whipping the Seahawks put on the Falcons on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium that sent the locals headed back out to their tailgates in the fourth quarter.
The Falcons had played fundamentally sound football and some timely defense during their three-game winning streak. But against the Seahawks they were downright sloppy – nine penalties for 72 yards – and the defense gave up big plays.
There are three words you don’t want to hear from the head coach: soft, quit or flat.
Patriots coach Jerod Mayo called his team “soft.” We haven’t heard of anyone that has “quit” this season. However, Falcons coach Raheem Morris felt his team was “flat” and lacked the energy to beat the Seahawks.
“Yeah, I think that’s accurate,” safety Justin Simmons said.
The Falcons had a chance to win their fourth game in a row for the first time since late in the 2019 season, but they kicked it away.
Here are the five things we learned from the win over the Seahawks:
1. Complimentary football in reverse. The Falcons had the ball with 2:15 to go in the second quarter.
It was time to drive a stake in the Seahawks heart. The Falcons wanted to score before the half because they were receiving the ball to start the third quarter.
Not only did the offense do nothing, but then the defense gave up a TD drive.
On third down-and-15 from the 31-yard line, Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith tossed a pass to the team’s No. 1 receiver, D.K. Metcalf, who should have been double-covered.
The touchdown right before the half – with :04 remaining – was a backbreaker.
“It was a miscommunication on my end, and making sure that, obviously no timeouts, knowing to protect the sideline, also knowing you could get a short play,” Simmons said. “They took the short play. I blocked it up well, and they ran a little sting and it’s unacceptable. Like I said, that’s on me. That can’t happen as a guy, then a safety, last line of defense. I got to make sure I get that down.”
The Falcons’ did come out and scored a TD on the opening drive to make it 17-14, which even if they just ran out the first-half clock, they would have had a 14-10 lead.
2. Time to create a pass rush. The Falcons had one sack and six quarterback hits against the Seahawks.
James Smith-Williams had the sack to give the Falcons six on the season.
Smith-Williams and linebacker Kaden Elliss had two quarterback hits. Demone Harris and Grady Jarrett had one.
Morris is not happy with the pass rush and wants to see it get ramped up.
Also, it must be noted the outside linebacker Matthew Judon was limited at practice last Wednesday and Friday for “rest” on the official injury report.
In the 36-30 win over the Bucs, the Falcons managed a sack and one quarterback hit on Baker Mayfield.
If the players are not winning their one-on-one matchups, the Falcons may have to resort to more creative blitz packages to create some free runners to the quarterback.
3. False starts. The Falcons offensive line was not on the same page to open the game.
The Falcons committed three false starts on the opening possession. Center Ryan Neuzil, left tackle Jake Matthews and tight end Kyle Pitts each committed false starts.
“It’s kind of unique, I think, to this week,” Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins said. “Some of them was just trying to make a check, trying to get out of a play with a blitz. So, sometimes it’s just unfortunate. We’ll have to be on the screws about that this week and be better up ahead.”
The Falcons nearly overcame Neuzil’s penalty when they had a 10-yard pass to Pitts to make it second down-and-5. But an incompletion followed by Matthews penalty and then Pitts’ penalty, made it third down-and 15. After an 8-yard pass to Pitts, Bradley Pinion came on to punt.
It was the second game in a row the Falcons didn’t score on their opening drive.
The Falcons have scored touchdowns in two games and a field goal in one game on the opening drive. The specials teams recovered a muffed punt after the opening drive against the Saints.
The Falcons have punted against the Seahawks, Panthers and Eagles to start the game.
“Would have loved to have started faster,” Cousins said. “Did have the penalties that hurt that specific (opening) drive.”
4. Who’s got D.K. Metcalf? The Falcons had allowed only nine pass plays of 20 yards or more over the first six games. They allowed five to the Seahawks, including a wide receiver pass from Jaxson Smith-Nijgba to Metcalf that went for 35 yards.
Metcalf also had the 31-yard touchdown catch with :04 left in the first half and another 22-yarder from Smith.
Tight end Noah Fant had a 28-yard reception and a 21-yarder from Smith.
Also, running back Kenny Walker had a 20-yard run for a touchdown.
“From a defensive standpoint, you just felt (we were) on our heels a little bit,” Simmons said. “In those moments, you rely on guys to make their plays, not go chase plays.”
Metcalf caught 4 of 7 targets for 99 yards and the key touchdown. Fant caught all four of his targets for 65 yards.
“I felt like a lot of the times we were trying to chase plays, but do your job, trust the guy next to you and make the plays that come to you,” Simmons said. “They made a lot more plays than we did.”
The Falcons plan to regroup before they face the Bucs at 1 p.m. Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.
“There is no panic button, but if we want to be where we want to be, we need to fix that,” Simmons said.
5. London a true No. 1. Wide receiver Drake London continued with his fine play.
He caught six of eight targets for 63 yards and had a 5-yard touchdown reception with 7:47 left in the third quarter.
London has had a touchdown reception in three consecutive games and it was his fifth TD catch of the season.
London’s modest streak of three consecutive games with a receiving touchdown is the longest for a Falcon since Hayden Hurst in 2020.
It was London’s sixth-consecutive game with at least six receptions and 50-plus yards.
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