- 30 minutes ago
The Atlanta Falcons fell in their season opener on the road to the Pittsburgh Steelers 20-13. The passing game was completely ineffective under emergency starting quarterback Cooper Rush, while Bijan Robinson and the Falcons defense did their best to keep the game within arms reach. We react to the good and bad in today's instant reaction episode.
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00:00Instant reaction to the Falcons losing their opening game of the NFL season to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh 20
00:07-13 in a game where I feel like I'm still kind of rubbing my eyes.
00:13It was hard to watch. If you're a Falcons fan and you were watching that game, it probably reminded you
00:20of something you saw at low-level college, high school,
00:23just in terms of the style in which the Falcons were capable of playing with Cooper Rush as the starting
00:31quarterback in this game.
00:32It was that bad. I mean, and listen, the team narrowly loses this game.
00:38They were very much in it. Obviously, you know, all teams are going to make mistakes.
00:42The Falcons made their fair share that ultimately cost them the chance to win this game.
00:47But we'll talk about it. It wasn't all bad.
00:49There were some bright moments, some good things to talk about from the Falcons coming out of this game.
00:56But the ultimate talking point is going to be about Cooper Rush and this passing attack.
01:00I mean, I am kind of surprised. I'm not surprised that I'm not.
01:05Like, I'm not surprised that a coach like Kevin Stefanski was going to stick with a veteran
01:12and not turn to an undrafted free agent in the first regular season game of that player's career
01:19to go step into a hostile environment in Pittsburgh where it's loud and you can't hear
01:24and do all the things that an NFL quarterback has to do to efficiently run the operation.
01:30I'm not surprised in that respect.
01:32But I am kind of surprised that, I don't know, maybe if you're not going to replace Cooper Rush
01:39with a different quarterback that you wouldn't want to maybe use Jack Strand in some ways,
01:45even if it's just some wrinkles to try to confuse Pittsburgh,
01:48if it's a way to try to open up something down the field for you to go to,
01:54because it didn't really feel like Cooper Rush was even capable of throwing the ball too far downfield.
02:00There was a pass that he had early in the game to Kyle Pitts,
02:03Kyle Pitts' only target in this game where he was severely underthrown,
02:08and it could have been a touchdown.
02:09Like, if, you know, I don't want to say if Pennix in the game is a touchdown,
02:13but if somebody's putting that on Pitts where it needs to be with him having beaten his defender,
02:18that's an explosive touchdown.
02:19And it felt like there was just so much on the table for this offense.
02:23I mean, we hardly saw the group of pass catchers get involved in this game whatsoever.
02:29The Falcons, the Falcons receivers outside of their running back,
02:34so their tight ends and wide receivers, had nine targets in this game.
02:39I mean, for comparison, the Steelers had 26, and I would say, you know,
02:43it's not like even that's a ton.
02:45Both of these offenses were pretty plotting and not a lot of plays.
02:49But nine targets for Drake London, who you just gave, you know, a huge amount of money to.
02:56Kyle Pitts, same deal.
02:59Less money, obviously, but it's obviously a part of your offense that you're investing in heavily.
03:04And they were just not able to unlock that value from those players on the field because the quarterback.
03:09The quarterback was just not able to get them the ball.
03:12And that's the thing that we've said about Falcons quarterbacks over the last several years,
03:16is they have to be able to get these guys the ball that the Falcons have invested in through the
03:21draft in these key players.
03:23And Bajon Robinson was able to get the ball.
03:26You know, he's always the player that is the easiest to get the ball in his hands.
03:29And he certainly rewarded Kevin Stefanski with another amazing Bajon day.
03:34Especially amazing considering how much the Clamps must have felt like they were tightened on him
03:39based on the lack of threat that the passing game presented.
03:44And we'll get more to Bajon in a second.
03:46But just to continue on this passing attack,
03:48I know at one point Cooper Rush had only had five pass attempts past five yards downfield.
03:53I believe that was the stat from Mark Rimondi that was posted, I think, at halftime, maybe later.
03:59And he was 0 for 5 on those passing attempts with one interception.
04:03Cooper Rush ultimately is intercepted twice in this game,
04:07one of which was returned by T.J. Watt for a pick six.
04:11He had three other passes that were batted down the line of scrimmage by Cam Hayward.
04:16It was just completely impotent.
04:19It was like a high school game in which you're trying to be creative
04:23in finding ways to get your running back the ball.
04:27I mean, that was my high school experience, at least,
04:29which was little sneaky tight end dumps and screen passes for the running back
04:37and little flare passes and stuff and nothing really down the field
04:39because we didn't have a quarterback.
04:41And that's just how the Falcons seemed to go.
04:43And it's a testament to them that they were actually able to be as effective as they were.
04:48Again, speaking to Bajon's 173 all-purpose yards in this game,
04:53he did all he could, but the Falcons just ultimately wasn't going to be enough.
04:59And even though the Falcons were in this game basically the whole way through,
05:03it got to two scores at times, but the Falcons were in this.
05:07Obviously, they only lose it by one score.
05:09It just never really felt like they were going to be able to get those scores
05:14that they were always going to need because you could just see how, again,
05:19impotent is the word I keep coming up with, this passing game was.
05:22And if you look at the third downs for both these teams,
05:25and this really just speaks to the quality of the game
05:28and the quality of both of these teams right now,
05:30Pittsburgh was 3 of 13 and on third downs, 3 of 15.
05:34If you include the 0 for 2, they were on fourth down.
05:36And the Falcons were only converted two third downs in this game, 2 of 12.
05:42You're just not going to win football games like that,
05:44especially when you turn it over.
05:46Ultimately, both these offenses only score one touchdown.
05:50Both of the touchdowns for these teams were set up by defensive turnovers.
05:55The Falcons' touchdown drive only has to go, I believe, like 25 yards
05:58or something like that.
06:00That's how this game was to me.
06:02It looked like two bad teams.
06:04Now, I will say, even though they won, I would be more concerned today
06:10if I was a Steelers fan because at least the Falcons have a genuine explanation
06:14for why they looked the way they did
06:16and an expectation that it's not going to continue to last.
06:21There were reports, as of Ian Rappaport this morning,
06:24that said Michael Penix could return for literally next week's game
06:28and that this could be the last time we see Cooper Rush,
06:31at least unless there's some further injury or mop-up duty or whatever.
06:35But as far as starting games, it could very well be Michael Penix in week two
06:39and going forward.
06:40And where does that leave Tua Tagovailoa?
06:43We'll address that at a later time.
06:45Point is, the Falcons have a very clear route to be much, much better than this.
06:49The Steelers don't really have the same excuse for why their offense looked the way it did,
06:55especially when the whole point of, well, not the entire point of bringing Mike McCarthy back to Pittsburgh,
07:00but reuniting him with Aaron Rodgers was supposed to unlock certain something in Aaron Rodgers
07:06so that he could perform as well as possible late in his career,
07:08and that obviously didn't happen.
07:09But obviously, we're more focused on the Falcons here,
07:12and that's kind of where I have a, where there's a glimmer of hope,
07:16which is that there will be better days for the quarterback in Atlanta,
07:21and this situation is an unfortunate one.
07:25And you can't really expect a whole lot more than what you got out of Cooper Rush today.
07:32There were some questions during the game, certainly, just based on the way he was playing,
07:38just how healthy he was.
07:40You know, there was back spasms that the team reported that he had yesterday morning, Saturday.
07:46Saturday, Kevin Stefanski spoke after this game, said Cooper Rush was close to 100%,
07:52so at least admitting that there were still, there was something hampering him in this game,
07:58but ultimately, it was, the way he looked, you could just tell it was never going to be enough for
08:03this team.
08:04They were never going to be able to have a sustained drive,
08:07and I don't even recall how many times they actually drove the ball into the red zone themselves.
08:13I mean, I guess they technically did because they got the ball at the 25, I think it was,
08:16when they came off of the forced fumble that they got that set up their touchdown score.
08:24But, you know, outside of that, I don't think they did drive into the red zone,
08:28and they were continually settling for field goals that were kind of in that fringe area,
08:33which is where we get to the other issue, which is the kicking game.
08:37You know, the kicking game was supposed to be solved, and it felt like, you know,
08:43a major case of Falcons fandom when we saw Nick Folk missing kicks today.
08:49He missed two kicks, his first two kicks of this game.
08:51The first time he's missed multiple kicks in a game since 2022.
08:57Famously, he only missed three all of last season.
09:01It just felt like that shouldn't be possible for somebody like Nick Folk,
09:05but he did miss those kicks.
09:07Comes back and makes two kicks late in this game,
09:11but ultimately it was not going to be enough.
09:13There was also an issue, and I don't know if something happened to Nick Folk
09:17and if he was potentially feeling some sort of injury
09:20or there was a reason why he missed those first two kicks.
09:24They weren't, I mean, one of them was 50-something yards.
09:27The other one was much more makeable at, like, 45 yards.
09:30But late in the game, Jake Bailey, the team's punter,
09:33actually takes the kickoff and gets a penalty for it.
09:38It was a kick infraction for not landing the ball in the landing zone.
09:41Ultimately, that penalty didn't come back to harm the Falcons.
09:44The Falcons actually got a sack right at the end of that Pittsburgh drive
09:47to move them into long field goal territory where Chris Boswell missed.
09:53But just, you can't have those kind of kicking errors.
09:55And for a while there, the Falcons would have either been tied in this game
09:59or leading it if they had just made their kicks.
10:03And, you know, again, it feels like a curse situation or something
10:08where a kicker comes in, has such a solid track record,
10:10then all of a sudden is errant and missing kicks.
10:14I will say this, for the missed kicks, to me they were not,
10:18I mean, it does feel like nowadays in the NFL any missed kick is egregious.
10:23I want to say they were not egregious in that the kicks themselves didn't look bad.
10:29Like, they weren't ducks.
10:31They weren't, you know, they were end-over-end kicks.
10:33It felt like it was solid contacts, but just wayward for whatever reason.
10:38So, we'll see if Nick Foe can get that straightened out in the games to come.
10:43And the Falcons certainly are set up to require him to make those kicks.
10:48Like, this Falcons team does not have much margin for error, you know, this season,
10:53as this game well showed, where they were trying to beat this, again, very weak Steelers team.
11:00But I'm not totally discouraged for what the Falcons can do going forward this season
11:04based on some of the things we saw in this game.
11:07You know, I think offensively, to kind of wrap that up, put a bow on,
11:11I think you just have to expect that when you get better quarterback play
11:14with Michael Penix or Tua Tagovailoa later in the season,
11:18that then you're going to see the fruit of what these offensive playmakers can provide.
11:24And we obviously saw that today with Bijan,
11:26but it's very disappointing to see Drake so uninvolved.
11:30Obviously, Kyle so uninvolved again, Kyle Pitts.
11:32But especially Drake, too.
11:34I mean, he's such a good playmaker, and he can pick up hard yards for you.
11:39I feel like they could have done more to try to manufacture getting the ball in his hands as well,
11:44but they really didn't do that much.
11:46They did give the ball to him on one kind of handoff, or it was like a pitch, or I
11:51forget exactly.
11:52He had one rushing attempt, at least.
11:53And, you know, he was carrying defenders, you know, and that's what Drake London does.
11:57And it's just unfortunate that this passing offense wasn't able to get it to him.
12:01But you've got to expect that there will be more from him coming this season.
12:04As to where the defense was, you know, a nice, pleasant surprise.
12:08And, of course, you know, I didn't think Aaron Rodgers played well.
12:10I didn't think that this Pittsburgh Steelers offense and passing attack looked all that great in and of itself, either,
12:18for all that we've said about the Falcons.
12:20But at the same time, it did look like there was, you know, like the Falcons were winning up front
12:25defensively.
12:26It looked like they were taking it to the Steelers' offensive line.
12:29And Zachariah, I'm sorry, Zedaria Smith gets in the backfield and brings Aaron Rodgers down twice.
12:34We already mentioned the one that was extremely important to back up the Steelers so that Chris Boswell missed that
12:40field goal
12:41that very well could have gone in had they been that slightly bit closer.
12:45But that moved it out to like a 56-yard attempt, and he just missed.
12:48So good to see Zedaria.
12:50You know, obviously the story that Zedaria Smith himself is, good to see him get home.
12:55But, you know, LaCale London was making things happen in the backfield with some big run stops.
12:59Mason Smith was a constant nuisance in the backfield.
13:03Should have had a sack that was wiped off due to a Falcons penalty.
13:06But it looked pretty good.
13:08And I thought that, you know, the secondary, they were getting burned a little bit.
13:12But I think that it was kind of, you know, they had to win some matchups.
13:16Ultimately, despite getting burned, like, for example, A.J. Terrell takes down D.K. Metcalf on a deep pass.
13:24No, no, it was Roman Wilson, I believe it was, who he takes down because he got beat.
13:29But then that penalty turned out to be a smart move where A.J. Terrell prevents what would have been
13:36a touchdown for the Steelers.
13:38And the Falcons defense bows up and holds the Steelers to a field goal.
13:42So it kind of saved them four points.
13:44So while you don't want to see that stuff happen in the secondary, still playing smart back there.
13:50And, you know, they had their fair share of successes, too.
13:53So I thought it was a good day for them.
13:56The linebackers, I thought, looked solid.
13:58We saw Kendall Daniels get a nice lick in on, I forget who it was that he hit.
14:01But he had a nice big hit in this game.
14:04We saw Harold Perkins on the field for this team.
14:07Divine Diablo, as always, was just kind of a presence all over the place.
14:10And it feels like opposing, especially backs and, you know, guys he's tackling just kind of bounce off of him
14:16the wrong way.
14:16So positive for Divine Diablo and how big and physical he is.
14:20So I think you have to like what you saw from this Falcons team on defense.
14:23And if they can get that kind of defensive level throughout the year, then this should be a defense that
14:30gives their offense the opportunity to win games.
14:32And they probably will beat a lot of teams.
14:34Now, can they stay healthy?
14:35Can they kind of maintain this level that they set so far?
14:39That's to be determined.
14:39But I think the early signs for this defense is that, you know, the Nate Olley scheme, the way that
14:45he and Jeff Ulbrich have identified the right kinds of players for their front that are going to be effective,
14:51like that trade, to acquire Mason Smith and, you know, get rid of Ruka Roro.
14:55I think that, you know, they're being totally vindicated in what we've seen so far and that those moves are
15:00ultimately going to pay off and that they have a very good idea of kind of their identity on defense
15:06and what they want to be and how they want to play and the players and attributes that they need
15:11in their players at certain positions to be able to pull that off.
15:16And I think that they're still searching a little bit for that offensively as far as who they are and
15:20what their identity is and how they're going to be able to play.
15:22And you were never really going to establish that with, you know, Cooper Rush under center for this team today.
15:28So I know a lot of people are frustrated.
15:30We didn't get to see Dragstrand, myself included.
15:32And while I've said, you know, it's always a long shot that he's going to be on the field, I
15:37am excited about what he offers.
15:38I think that just his ability to run the football, his mobility would have, you know, opened up some opportunities,
15:45I felt like, for the Falcons in this game.
15:46But, I mean, I certainly understand why a coach like Kevin Stefanski wouldn't want to potentially damage kind of his,
15:53where he is mentally at this point in his career, in his development, still a growing player.
15:59And you want to make sure that the experiences for these young players are good ones and that you're not
16:03just throwing them to the wolves, basically.
16:05And so I think that that's clearly something that they're being careful with.
16:08Otherwise, they may have thrown him into this type of a situation.
16:12So that's going to be it.
16:14Thanks for watching this episode of Joe Patrick on Football.
16:17We'll be reacting to these games all season long.
16:19Obviously, we'll be doing it from the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the home games.
16:23And they will be back next week for their first home game against Carolina Panthers.
16:27And maybe we see Michael Penix on the field there.
16:29I got to feel like he's thinking that I got to get back on the field after seeing that level
16:33of quarterback play.
16:34I certainly hope that he's inspired and that he thinks that his level is one that will at least improve
16:44what this team can be offensively.
16:47And I'm sure we're all very excited to see that happen.
16:51Because if we have to watch Cooper Rush in a game like this again, man, it's no fun to watch.
16:58So please leave a like.
16:59If you do like the video, if you like the show, please, I ask personally for your likes.
17:05And I'm going down there and click like.
17:06And then, of course, on 9290 Games YouTube channel where you're watching this right now,
17:09we'll have tons of Falcons content and reaction from this game and previews and lookaheads and reactions all season long.
17:16So go ahead and follow us there.
17:18Thanks for watching.
17:18And we'll see you next time.
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