- 12 hours ago
Another frustrating week for Atlanta. The Falcons fall 34-17 to Joe Burrow and the Bengals in Madrid, dropping to 3-6. Hear Kevin Stefanski’s postgame reaction, plus Mike Johnson and Grant McAuley breaking down why Bijan Robinson’s big day wasn't enough to overcome brutal penalties and trench warfare.
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00:00Welcome back into the Mercedes-Benz postgame show on the Atlanta Falcons radio network.
00:04I'm Grant McCauley alongside the former Falcon Mike Johnson.
00:0734-17 the score over in Madrid as the Falcons fall to the Cincinnati Bengals.
00:11Four losses in the last five games for Atlanta now 3-6 are the Falcons.
00:156-2 though the Bengals as they continue their winning ways with another victory over in Spain today.
00:21We're going to hear from Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski.
00:24Dave Archer just caught up with him.
00:25Our visit with Coach Stefanski is brought to you by Mercedes-Benz, the official luxury vehicle of your Atlanta Falcons.
00:30A tough day, a lot of penalties, some self-inflicted wounds in this one, and some opportunities that went by
00:35the boards as the Falcons suffered this loss.
00:37Let's hear what Coach Stefanski had to say to Dave Archer in our conversation with the Falcons head coach.
00:42Kevin, a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes, especially down in the scoring zone.
00:47Do you scratch your head over that kind of stuff?
00:50Well, we've got to perform.
00:53We've got to be better in those moments.
00:55All of the above.
00:56When you get against a good team, and a team that you've got to score touchdowns versus, you have to
01:01be at your best.
01:02You have to have heightened awareness down there, and we did not today, and that cost us.
01:06Jay, I think you anticipated, obviously, Burrow and that group was playing well on the offensive side,
01:11that it might be an offensive game and that holding serve was going to be a major part of it.
01:16Without a doubt.
01:16I mean, as you said, they're a good team, good offense, good across the board, and we just didn't play
01:21well, period, not to single out any side of the ball.
01:25Single us all out.
01:26It's a group effort, and we just did not play well enough.
01:28When you get the stop to start the second half, you come out, you come out with resolve, get the
01:32three and out, and get the stop.
01:34That had to encourage the offense to respond and went down and scored touchdowns.
01:37Yeah, we felt really confident coming out of halftime that we just get back to who we are, get out
01:43of our own way.
01:45We'll be able to move the ball on offense, score points, and get some stops, and ultimately, we did there.
01:50We just did not do that enough.
01:51Okay, and you got Bijan going again, and now I know that was a major part.
01:55Obviously, it helps the entire offense.
01:57Did he touch the ball the way you wanted it to?
02:00Yeah, I mean, I'd have to look at just in general, but yeah, of course, he impacted the game.
02:04You get down by two scores there, and it becomes a little bit different game, but yeah, he was ready
02:09to play.
02:09We just, we all have to be better.
02:11Is that really good, the message you share with these guys?
02:14Hey, you just got to play better.
02:15You got to win these games.
02:17Bottom line, Arch, as you know, week to week, you got to go performing, and I'm talking players and coaches.
02:22We got to go performing, and we did not perform to our standard today.
02:25Kevin, thanks for your time.
02:25Thanks, Arch.
02:26That was Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski visiting with our own Dave Archer.
02:30A lot of things we're going to unpack from that conversation here in just a moment.
02:32Before we do that, though, let's pause 10 seconds for station identification on the Atlanta Falcons radio network.
02:38Falcons games on the game.
02:40This is WZGC Atlanta and WZGCHD1.
02:44Sports Radio 92.9, the game.
02:47Mercedes-Benz Post Game Show here on the Falcons radio network.
02:50Mike, we just heard from Kevin Stefanski there.
02:52A lot of different things that I think we expected to hear.
02:54Number one, starting with, we've got to be better.
02:56That means the coaches.
02:56That means the players.
02:57I think that was safe to say there were a lot of missed opportunities in this one to make it
03:02a closer game.
03:03The interesting thing that I think he hit on that is pretty obvious, and you knew this coming in, and
03:07we're obviously going to talk about this as well, is holding serve against an offense like the Bengals.
03:12It felt like you've got to score a touchdown pretty much every time you touch the ball because of what
03:16they're capable of doing.
03:17Falcons did that on the opening drive.
03:19They appeared poised to do it on their second drive.
03:21Penalties.
03:22They had to settle for a field goal.
03:23There's a missed field goal a little bit later.
03:25There's some more points that weren't on the board there, but that really felt like the objective here against Cincinnati.
03:29Maybe that dialed up the pressure, if you will, a little bit on the offense to not be perfect, but
03:34be pretty close to it.
03:36Yeah, and I'm not going to try to go too deep down this rabbit hole, but when I'm listening to
03:41him talk, all I can think of is that I felt what you saw on display today.
03:45Because, like I said, all the indicators of, like, hey, the Falcons played well are there.
03:49Like, Bajon rushed for 100 yards.
03:51Pennix has a number of scrambles for first downs.
03:52You're 50% on third downs.
03:54Things you wanted to see.
03:56All the things you wanted to see, right?
03:57A couple of sacks on Joe Burrow.
04:00But I thought what you saw numerous times today, and like I said, I don't want to go too far
04:03down this rabbit hole, but I thought you saw the difference between good players and elite players.
04:08Like, Drake London's a good player.
04:11Jamar Chase is an elite player.
04:12Joe Burrow is an elite quarterback.
04:14Dexter Lawrence is an elite defensive lineman, right?
04:17And I thought you saw that at times today.
04:19It's not that the Falcons don't have, you know, elite players.
04:22It just seems like the ways in which they utilize their elite players today is different than what the Falcons
04:27have been able to do.
04:28So, you know, I hear him talking about, hey, Bajon got the touches going.
04:31You got the 100 yards rushing.
04:32You had, what, five catches for him, I believe, or six catches.
04:35Nice numbers.
04:36But it's the ways in which you utilize him.
04:38Like, Bajon Robinson, more times than not, were like a speed screen out in the flat or a check down,
04:42which is fine.
04:43Like, that's a good way to use a running back.
04:45It's not an elite way to use a running back, though, right?
04:47I'd love to see Bajon catch a, you know, a route over the middle and attack Demetrius Knight, the young
04:54linebacker they have.
04:55So there's a lot of different ways to look at it.
04:57And as I'm hearing Kevin Stefanski talk, he's right.
05:00It's on everybody.
05:01Like, they've all got to elevate their game because there's none of that, like, elite skill set at most positions
05:07they have that is just going to step up and rescue them and be able to pick up a third
05:10and 15 or, you know, complete one of these 60-yard bombs down the field.
05:14Yeah, and I will agree, and I don't think it's really negotiable or arguable that it is not a group
05:19effort if you're going to win these things.
05:21Different guys have different jobs, which allows the other guy to do his job.
05:26So if you want to get the most out of Drake London, well, you've got to put him in a
05:28position to succeed.
05:29Same thing with Bajon Robinson.
05:30Like, how are you utilizing these guys?
05:32Whether or not they're elite is almost irrelevant.
05:35We've got to know what their skills are.
05:36We also saw on the other side what Cincinnati's elite players are capable of doing.
05:40And I guess my point here is, if there is one, is that you did see the difference in putting
05:45yourself in position to have the entire engine, everything clicking the way that you wanted to.
05:51All the cylinders were firing for Cincinnati.
05:54It just didn't feel like they were for Atlanta.
05:56Again, I'm going to throw the penalties out there because they have to be talked about.
06:00It was something that really hurt the Atlanta offense.
06:03But to your point, did it feel like, schematically speaking, that there were some opportunities, especially over the middle, to
06:09maybe take advantage of the Cincinnati secondary?
06:12Because this is a team that just got lit up by the Tennessee Titans last week.
06:16They ended up in a crazy shootout with them.
06:18It's not like the Falcons aren't capable of keeping pace or doing some similar things or better than the Tennessee
06:23Titans have, with all due respect to the operation that they're running up.
06:25No, I completely agree.
06:26And it should be.
06:28And like we talked about on the way in here, it's styles make fights, man.
06:32And that style was one that Tennessee was suited for.
06:35I think you saw Cam Ward last week make some throws on the run and do some different things out
06:39of the backfield and move around.
06:40It's just not Mike's game.
06:41And I keep talking about kind of attacking the middle of the field.
06:45But you know what makes that really difficult?
06:46When you have pressure right in your face.
06:48That's true.
06:48And when Ryan Neusel and Chris Lindstrom and Matthew Bergeron are being walked backwards by the guys that they're playing
06:53with.
06:54Look, we talk about the first drive, the seven first downs.
06:57I thought Drake London just blocked his rear end off today.
06:59I thought he competed at the highest level.
07:01I thought Bajon got back to doing Bajon-like things.
07:04But it's just too far apart.
07:07You know what I mean?
07:08Like when Jamar Chase is not catching a long ball, then T. Higgins is going for a touchdown.
07:12And then Chase Brown didn't have massive numbers on the ground.
07:15But I don't even think he had 10 carries.
07:16You know, Samaj Pirine ends up having good numbers as well.
07:21And their average yards per carry seemed like it was about 30.
07:23I mean, it just was explosive on the ground when it needed it to be.
07:27So it's just, it's a frustrating game to watch.
07:29And the biggest takeaway is we get to this point every year and we're at the midway point of the
07:34season.
07:35And numbers start to even out.
07:36And averages start to make sense.
07:38And it's not a stylistic thing.
07:39And it's not a, hey, they're chasing points kind of thing.
07:41Like you start to see the Falcons have played in just about every situation.
07:45This wasn't an injury riddled team.
07:47You know, it's just that you have to come to the realization that you are what you are.
07:50And you have to get better at certain things.
07:52And right now, that's an uphill climb for a 3-6 football team.
07:55Yeah, and you were right on the money about Chase Brown.
07:58He had nine carries, but 57 yards for him.
08:00So 6.3 yards per tote.
08:02That'll certainly work.
08:03I mean, 100 yards on the nose for Bajon Robinson on 19 carries.
08:075.3 yards per carry.
08:09He also had his first touchdown in nearly a month.
08:11That's probably something else we should be digging into.
08:12It just doesn't seem like a stat that you want to associate with Bajon Robinson
08:16as he's scoring one touchdown per month in a season and in a game like this
08:21where you expect, again, your elite players to come in and do the elite things.
08:25And that's not to throw any shade or put any blame on Bajon Robinson.
08:29Individually speaking, he's one of the best players in the league.
08:31And, you know, he does his thing.
08:33He had six catches for 47 more yards.
08:35He certainly affects the game.
08:36It just seems like, you know, for the Falcons, it's just not all adding up.
08:39And even when you look in the box score and find some of the numbers
08:41and indicators that you want, I'm not going to say they're empty numbers,
08:44but they just don't add up to wins at the rate in which you would hope they would
08:49considering the talent that you have on hand.
08:51There are just some struggles in different areas and some inconsistencies
08:53and some winnable games that have slipped through the Falcons' fingers
08:56or not looked altogether winnable by the time that thing was said and done.
08:59Yeah, and it's the ways in which the things happen.
09:03It's like we talked about earlier.
09:05It's when you get the penalty, right?
09:07Massive third down pickup by Kyle Pitts.
09:09Penalty.
09:09Bring it back.
09:10And look, I'm not here to say that I don't know if the play would have happened
09:15or not without the penalty.
09:16You know what I mean?
09:16Like you get the holding call.
09:17It's like, oh, yeah.
09:18It's a what-it.
09:19But I think it's stylistically what you're able to do.
09:21I mean, you run a tush push, which I know we'll probably get into later
09:24with Charlie Warner, and you can't get it.
09:26And then you run Bajon, and what does he have to do?
09:28He has to bounce the ball out and kind of string it out to the sidelines of the pylon.
09:33It's the way in which you go about it and whether or not you can put your foot down
09:37when push comes to shove.
09:38And today, the Bengals put their foot down when push came to shove,
09:42and that's just not the kind of game that I think the Falcons are able to play right now.
09:45Yeah, and they're going to have to figure out ways to play games like that
09:48and win games like that as well because Cincinnati was going to be a challenge.
09:52We all knew that.
09:53The Falcons went up 10-7 in the first quarter, then 17 unanswered points
09:57heading into the half for Cincinnati.
09:59The Falcons were able to get the stop coming out of the half.
10:02They were able to score a touchdown.
10:03It felt like they were going to keep this thing manageable.
10:05But, you know, that clock, which was really favoring the Falcons in terms of time of possession,
10:09slowly but surely started to tick back.
10:12The sands started moving in the direction of Cincinnati by the time it was all said and done.
10:16It wasn't about putting, you know, more and more and more points on the board for Cincinnati.
10:19It was about just kind of managing the game and keeping that lead,
10:22and they were able to do it, and the penalties were a big reason why.
10:25We'll talk a little bit more about some of the things that have gone wrong on this day for the
10:29Falcons,
10:29and we'll head back out to Madrid.
10:31We'll also hear from quarterback Michael Penix and others as the Falcons fall to the Bengals.
10:36It's 34-17, your final score.
10:38More of the Mercedes-Benz postgame show is coming your way right here on the Atlanta Falcons Radio Network.