Turnovers and penalties doom the Falcons.
Hat tips
Pass rush for Christmas?
Don’t say it too loud, but the Falcons’ pass rush has come alive in the last two games. Atlanta took down the quarterback five times last week, and followed it up with a four sack performance against Minnesota — including a back-to-back effort from Eddie Goldman and Arnold Ebiketie.
Ebiketie has definitely been on the rise along the line, and is showing the promise that he displayed at Penn State when the Falcons drafted him in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
With the way the offense has been giving the ball away, the defensive front has certainly dialed things in in the last couple of weeks.
Head-scratchers
Interception Season
We’ve moved from the glory of Kirktober to the dregs of Interception Season. November and December have not been kind to the Falcons’ quarterback, and that’s putting it lightly. Kirk Cousins has been eyeball-meltingly awful during Atlanta’s four-game losing streak, and his turnover issues continued in Minnesota.
Cousins tossed two more interceptions, marking six on his last two starts. Cousins has not thrown a touchdown pass since Week 9 and has tossed eight interceptions since.
Coach Raheem Morris reiterated his support for Cousins next week against the Raiders on Monday Night Football, but the calls for rookie signal-caller Michael Penix are reaching a fever pitch.
Overzealous Zebras
So can we discuss that defensive holding call on Kentavius Street during the Vikings’ field goal attempt? Yes? Then let’s start with where exactly that occurred? This was an egregious call by the officiating crew, one that swapped a field goal attempt for an eventual Vikings touchdown.
The Falcons did enough wrong on their own and didn’t need any additional help on this dreadful Sunday.
What the?!
The secondary has had better days. It was a slopfest downfield against Sam Darnold and the Vikings, with safety Richie Grant and cornerback Mike Hughes kicking off the shenanigans early.
With the Falcons up 7-0 in the first quarter, Darnold uncorked a deep ball down the seam intended for wide receiver Jordan Addison. The ball was underthrown and Addison adjusted — Grant and Hughes did not. What resulted was a microcosm of the afternoon: Boneheaded downfield coverage resulting in big gains for Minnesota wideouts.
The ‘fun’ would continue late in the third quarter, with safety Jessie Bates blowing his coverage assignment and leading to cornerback Dee Alford looking like somebody hit the wrong Madden button as Justin Jefferson snared a long touchdown reception.
Chaos reigned in the Atlanta backfield on Sunday.