The Falcons’ three-game winning streak is over.
Seattle took advantage of some sloppy play and turnovers on its way to a 34-14 dismantling of the Falcons on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium that had the locals leaving early.
The crowd apparently didn’t want to stick around to witness Michael Penix Jr.’s NFL debate in mop-up duty.
The Falcons had been in five one-score games, but this one got away from them as the penalties started to mount, sprinkled in with three turnovers and a 59-yard field goal.
“We did not come out with the energy that was required to win a football game today,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “We need to be better.”
Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins completed 24 of 35 passes for 232 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He finished with a passer rating of 72.6.
“Tough day at the office, certainly,” Cousins said. “Pro football has a way of testing you like that.”
Seattle’s Geno Smith completed 18 of 28 passes for 207 yards and two touchdowns. He finished with a passer rating of 110.3.
The Seahawks, who had dropped three in a row, improved to 4-3. The Falcons, who had won three in a row, dropped to 4-3.
The Falcons wasted a big day from running back Bijan Robinson, who rushed 21 times for 103 yards and a touchdown. He also caught three passes for 40 yards.
“I think that everybody knows what I’m going to say about stats, they are for losers, and we lost today,” Morris said. “Bijan came out and ran the football well. He was able to catch the football out of the backfield pretty well. But you’ve got to put it all together as a team. I will never glorify individual stats over team wins. That’s just not my makeup.”
It was Robinson’s third 100-yard rushing game and his first since rushing for 105 yards against the Jaguars on Oct. 1, 2023.
“I think this is a big learning lesson for us,” Robinson said.
The Falcons were called for nine penalties for 72 yards. The head-scratcher was the Falcons committing three false starts -- in one possession -- in the seventh game of the season.
The Seahawks, who entered the game with the league’s top passing attack, came out passing.
With the help of a pass interference call on A.J. Terrell and a 22-yard gain by wide receiver D.K. Metcalf, the Seahawks drove down to the Falcons’ 13-yard line. Seattle running back Kenny Walker III appeared to score on a run around the right side, but it was nullified by a holding by tight end A.J. Barner.
The Seahawks ended up settling for a 38-yard field goal by Jason Myers to put them up 3-0.
The Falcons had three false starts to help end their opening drive with a punt.
“Obviously you don’t want to give away momentum,” right guard Chris Lindstrom. “Just being dialed in to the cadence and just the accountability, to one another. That’s all that you can do.”
The defense stopped the Seahawks, with rookie defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro pouncing on Smith after a bobbled snap on third down-and-17.
The Falcons went on the move, but Younghoe Koo missed a 54-yard field goal attempt after Cousins overthrew an open Ray-Ray-McCloud on third down-and-7 from Seattle’s 36. Koo’s kick was wide left.
“The first (possessions) we had the penalties that kind of set us backwards,” Cousins said. “The second one, I had that throw to Ray-Ray, I felt if we hit that maybe he scores.”
The Seahawks put together a crisp five-play, 56-yard touchdown drive. On third down-and-7 from Seattle’s 47, without outside linebacker Matthew Judon on to rush, Smith got loose and then flipped a pass to tight end Noah Fant for a 28-yard gain.
After a 5-yard completion to Barner, Walker scored on a 20-yard touchdown run to make it 10-0.
The Falcons went to their rushing attack to get moving. Robinson ripped off four straight runs of 26, 5, 7 and 5 yards. On third down-and-1 from Seattle’s 24, Cousins tossed a 12-yard completion to London. Three plays later, Robinson scored on a 5-yard run to make it 10-7.
The defense forced a punt, but the offense couldn’t get moving with 2:15 left in the first half. Seattle got the ball back and quickly got in to field goal range. But on third down-and-15 from the Falcons’ 31, Smith found Metcalf open in the end zone for a touchdown. The extra point made it 17-7 with :04 left in the first half.
“I thought we were in great position down three, but instead we give up a touchdown,” Safety Jessie Bates IIII said. “That’s big-time. That’s when great defenses they step up and get stops in that situation. I don’t want to overreact to this loss.”
The Falcons blew their chance to take control of the game. They had the ball with 2:15 to play and did nothing with it. Then they gave up an explosive touchdown play when they were set to receive the ball to start the second half.
The Falcons open the second half with a determined 14-play, 79-yard touchdown drive that was capped by a 5-yard touchdown pass to Drake London when the Falcons gambled on fourth down.
“We as a team knew we needed to go down there and score to get the second half off to a good start,” Lindstrom said. “I think a lot of guys made a lot of plays. We made adjustments in the run game, which made it a little bit harder for us. The skill guys, Kirk and those guys, did a good job of moving us down the field and keeping us in the fight.”
On Seattle’s ensuing drive, the defense appeared to have forced a punt, but linebacker Demone Harris slammed into the back of Smith’s legs and was called for unnecessary roughness.
Instead of fourth down, the penalty made it first down-and-10 from the 17. Smith promptly tossed a nice ball on the wheel route to Walker, with Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss giving chase, for a touchdown to put the Seahawks up 24-14 with 3:18 left in the third quarter.
After an exchange of punts, the Falcons had the ball back and had moved into Seattle territory. On third down-and-9 from the Seahawks’ 48, linebacker Boye Mofe sacked Cousins and knocked the ball loose. Derick Hall scooped up the loose ball and scored on a 36-yard return to make it 31-14.
The Falcons had passes intercepted on their next two possessions by safeties Julian Love and Coby Bryant.
After Myers added the long field goal, the Falcons let Penix close out the game.
After a one-game break, the Falcons get back to NFC South action when they play at Tampa Bay at 1 p.m. Sunday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
“We have a really big game next week in Tampa Bay,” Robinson said. “We have to just let this one go. A lot of the really good teams, if they do lose a game, I think they are really good at putting that game away immediately and focusing on the next team.”
The Falcons beat the Bucs, 36-30 in an overtime thriller on Oct. 3.
“We are still in a great position,” Bates said. “We have a huge divisional game next week. We’ll be fine. We’ll get better, I promise you that.”
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