DENVER—The loss to the Saints wasn’t a one-off for the Falcons. They were terrible in that Week 10 game. They were even worse at Denver on Sunday. The Falcons are still leading the lowly NFC South. That’s about the only good thing that can be said about them as they head into a bye week with three ugly losses in their past five games.
When the Falcons lost 20-17 at New Orleans, it could be pinned on the usually reliable Younghoe Koo missing two field-goal tries and getting another blocked. There were no such excuses available after this 38-6 wipeout against the Broncos. The Falcons (6-5) faced a better opponent and responded with a non-competitive effort.
The Falcons never had the lead and were behind by three touchdowns with 9:05 left in the third quarter.
“The whole game was about physicality and effort,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “And they ‘out-physicaled’ us, they ‘out-efforted’ us.”
The Falcons (6-5) are still favored to win the NFC South. They own the tiebreaker over the second-place Buccaneers (4-6) by virtue of the season sweep. The Bucs will need to finish ahead of the Falcons to win the South. That scenario seemed implausible two weeks ago. It’s become more realistic with the Falcons now flailing.
The Falcons suffered their most lopsided defeat since a 43-3 decision at the Cowboys during the 2021 season. Does Morris feel any differently about his team after it suffered what he described multiple times as a butt kicking?
“No, I do not,” Morris said. “I think we need to go back and reflect on the bye and get healthy. No one game will ever define you. This one game won’t define us. I know this team is going to bounce back.”
It’s not just about this one game for the Falcons, though. It’s the cumulative effect of the past three losses.
The Saints were on a seven-game losing streak until they beat the Falcons days after firing their head coach. The Seahawks and Broncos routed the Falcons. The past two Falcons victories came against the Cowboys and Bucs. Both teams have lost four straight games. The one quality victory for the Falcons outside of the division was the Week 2 win at Philadelphia.
After the bye the Falcons will host the Chargers, who entered this weekend in position for one of three AFC wild cards. The Falcons play at Minnesota in Week 14. The Vikings are in second place in the NFC North, the NFL’s toughest division. Meanwhile, the Bucs are set to face last-place teams in three straight weeks: at Giants, at Panthers and vs. Raiders.
If the Falcons don’t figure things out during their bye week, then there’s a chance the Bucs will reel them back in.
Said quarterback Kirk Cousins: “We’ve got to go back and fix what wasn’t going enough and make sure we are playing our best football, starring against the Chargers but (also) the last six regular-season games to end up where we want to be. That’s the challenge in front of us and we need to answer the call.”
The Falcons never really got started against the Broncos. Their celebrated offense failed to score a touchdown. The Falcons made it inside Denver’s 20-yard line just once, on their first drive, and settled for a field goal after two penalties pushed them back.
The Broncos bottled up running back Bijan Robinson. They ended his streak of games with 100-plus yards from scrimmage at five. Cousins passed for his fewest yards (173) since his Falcons debut. His interception ended a drive on Denver’s side of the field with the deficit at 28-6 in the third quarter.
“They beat us in the pass game and the run game,” Robinson said. “They were the more physical team.”
The Falcons didn’t get much help from their defense. The group was down three cornerbacks at the start of the game and lost another, Kevin King, in the first quarter. But the absence of those defensive backs couldn’t explain why the Falcons had so much trouble stopping rookie quarterback Bo Nix.
Nix passed for a career-high 307 yards on 33 attempts with four touchdowns. He got more than half those yards by tossing short passes to teammates who ran free through plentiful space. The Broncos complied a total of 199 yards after the catch.
“We were taking away a lot of the deep plays that they wanted to run, and he was just being consistent and checking it down and letting his skill players do what they’ve done all year,” said Falcons safety Justin Simmons, who played eight seasons for the Broncos.
The Falcons kept letting the Broncos off the hook after forcing them into bad down-and-distance situations. That was the pattern on all three Broncos touchdown drives in the first half. The worst blow of them all came just before halftime.
The Falcons trailed 14-6 when the Broncos quickly got back into scoring range after Nix completed his one difficult pass of the half. He zipped the ball down the middle to Devaughn Vele before Falcons safety Jessie Bates could get to him. The 33-yard completion moved the Broncos to the Falcons’ 34.
Denver gained a first-and-goal at the seven. If the Falcons forced a field goal, they’d get the ball after halftime with an 11-point deficit. They caught a break when Nix tripped and fell for a 12-yard loss on first down. The Broncos still needed to gain 12 yards on third down. Here was a chance for the Falcons to finally prevent Denver from recovering after falling behind the sticks.
They couldn’t do it. Nix passed quickly to Mims, who accelerated behind blockers and away from Falcons defenders into the end zone.
“You can’t expect to come into a hostile environment and win with that defensive effort,” Simmons said. “It’s not nearly good enough for us.”
The Falcons could have allowed only those seven points and it wouldn’t have mattered because the offense turned in another clunker. This was an all-systems failure by the Falcons. Morris understandably didn’t want to make too much of one game, but losses in three of five games add up to a bad month.
The standings say the Falcons still are in control of the NFC South. Their performances over the past two weeks say they are at risk of blowing it.
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