Multiple Meltdowns In Atlanta
September 9th, 2024
Joe thoroughly enjoyed watching the Steelers, with a backup quarterback, punch the Falcons in the gut yesterday, and the complete meltdown in Atlanta that followed.
Meltdown? Yeah, Falcons fans, after losing 18-10, realized Kirk Cousins isn’t healthy from his blown Achilles last season.
Joe wrote many times here about how assuming Cousins would be completely ready to go, like so many were predicting, was asinine. That got Joe a share of harsh feedback from fans claiming Joe doesn’t understand how rehab has changed for Achilles injuries and that it’s different for quarterbacks.
Yesterday, Cousins spent the entire game in shotgun or pistol formation. Why? Because he can’t move properly. And this was a guy known as a dropback passer.
Joe will treat you to prose from an opening paragraph from a Falcons blog called Blogging Dirty.
…Outside of one drive, the offense was broken and part of it had to do with the handcuffed playcalling in the new system.
The Falcons have spent all of the offseason calming the media down about Cousins’ Achilles’ health, but no one knew the real truth. If week one was any indication, the truth wasn’t what we were being told, which should have us all worried.
Cousins played a decent first half, but he got worse. His final line was 16-for-26 for 155 yards — 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions.
Joe will add that Steelers manbeast pass rusher T.J. Watt had two strip-sacks called back for penalties. One was an absolute joke because Watt was called for offsides but replay showed he wasn’t. Cousins was a sitting duck — at home.
Cousins’ allegedly big and scary weapons, Kyle Pitts and Drake London, combined for 41 receiving yards.
Joe’s writing all this because an endless stream of experts picked the Falcons to stroll past the Bucs to the NFC South crown because they claimed Cousins is spectacular and Raheem Morris has morphed into Kyle Shanahan.
It was nonsense then and it is now.
The Faclons’ next two games are at the Eagles and then home for the Chiefs.
September 9th, 2024 at 1:51 am
Many of us already knew it…they aint nothing,,,,but the media tried to put them on a pedestal….just like theyre doing with scamala
go ahead, hate me LOL
September 9th, 2024 at 1:56 am
Who thinks a 36 yr old QB will be recovered from an Achilles injury so quick
It’s crazy Penix will start soon watch
September 9th, 2024 at 2:00 am
and Penix is coming off injuries too….i love the guy, he can sling it accurately but if your legs fail you, theres that
September 9th, 2024 at 2:02 am
I knew this would happen which is why I jumped all over the Bucs odds at +300 before the season to win the division.
September 9th, 2024 at 2:06 am
We all knew something was up in April’s draft when they picked a Qb with their 8th overall 1st round pick. That told anyone paying attention they knew counting on Cousins this year was risky. They paid him a heck of a lot of money for his injury status and age. Penix is a really good Qb so they might be alright. It’s great that the Bucs play them twice in the first half of the season.
September 9th, 2024 at 2:30 am
Mwaaaahaaaahaaaahaaaa. O-3 sounds pretty dirty for the birds.
September 9th, 2024 at 2:44 am
I enjoyed that game very much.
September 9th, 2024 at 2:58 am
It was fun watching the Falcon Flop but even more watching the Canales Calamity.
September 9th, 2024 at 3:07 am
I didn’t want to see the Aints do a 40 burger though. The Panthies D was supposed to be the strength of the team.
September 9th, 2024 at 3:10 am
That shows everybody what some of us being saying for a long long time, the so called experts don’t know a thing.
cowherd, Eisen, Simms and I can keep up…..
I don’t listen/watch them anymore, media has became a business, there is no more Triuth on it, thats why the Rogan’s of this World are so succesfull, because what they say is what he honestly thinks, despiste you agree or not.
September 9th, 2024 at 3:17 am
I was really surprised at Atlanta’s game plan. I thought for sure they’d be more of a running team with Robinson & Allgeier (to keep the pressure off of Cousins), but no, they opted to go more with the passing game. They ran it 22 times & passed 26 times (plus they took 2 sacks). And it bit them in the butt (2 INTs & only 155 passing yards & 1 TD).
To be fair though, the Steelers’ defense looked awesome, and controlled the Falcons on 3rd down (only allowed 15 first downs, 3-for-10 on 3rd & 4th down, & only 50 Falcons’ plays for 24:24 TOP). Most importantly though, they generated 3 takeaways (against 0 giveaways). Steelers’ offense didn’t impress me all that much, but it got the job done.
New Orleans manhandled the Panthers yesterday, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Falcons sitting at 0-5 to start the season (next in line: Eagles, Chiefs, Saints, Bucs).
September 9th, 2024 at 3:27 am
Yeah, DR. Watt was absolutely awesome!
September 9th, 2024 at 3:32 am
Yea it’s over for the falcons. It never really began. The minute those idiots signed an aging injury prone cousins then turned around and drafted a QB in round 1 it was over. Don’t worry all the pundits that jumped on that Atlanta band wagon will be trying to jump back on the Bucs come next week.
September 9th, 2024 at 4:10 am
I’m not blaming the injury Joe. Cousins looked like he did when we got to him in the opener last season, remember? We beat the snot out of him. He was a sitting duck before the injury, not a whole lot worse now, he’s just not good. Penix will be starting when we play them. I’m glad they threw 180 million down the toilet, they could’ve used that cash to help Penix.
September 9th, 2024 at 6:10 am
Hold them to the fire, Joe!
Cousins was a wild card going in. And yet the sports media were going nuts over him. He didn’t do well yesterday and the expressions on his face told a bigger story too. I wonder if there is an over/under of how long they keep him in.
September 9th, 2024 at 6:55 am
Crown their asses.
September 9th, 2024 at 7:01 am
Guess what, injury prone Penix is not the answer either. The new coaching staff is not the answer either. That team set itself back a decade to ever being relevant in Super Bowl talk.
September 9th, 2024 at 8:42 am
Full points to Joe for making the call.
September 9th, 2024 at 8:55 am
BTW, there are two other teams in the NFCS.
CAR: The worst team in the NFL is not surprisingly an even bigger joke than last year, after hiring the worst OC as their HC.
NO: Who dat? Who knows? They played CAR. We’ll see who they really are against DAL.
September 9th, 2024 at 9:44 am
NFC South goes thru the BUCS .
Falcons all hype as usual. Plus we beat Kirk and the Vikings last year.
Saints are the 2nd best team in the division
Go Bucs Super Bowl or Bust.
Lets try to get home field advantage and that first week playoff BYE
September 9th, 2024 at 9:57 am
The Steelers came in there and punched them in the mouth.
It was brutal.
September 9th, 2024 at 10:26 am
Defense Rules says:
To be fair though, the Steelers’ defense looked awesome
—————————————
Any defense is going to look good against a qb playing 100% shotgun and pistol and not being able to run or move laterally. They just pinned their ears back and said meet me at the quarterback!!
September 9th, 2024 at 10:37 am
Maybe Raheem will do 2011 all over again.
September 9th, 2024 at 10:45 am
Injury or not the Steelers will do that to any pocket passer. NFL has changed recently and has no use for statues
September 9th, 2024 at 11:16 am
Atlanta is the media capital of the southeast and all their hype balloon just got popped by the Bucs. Reality bites hard!!!
September 9th, 2024 at 12:04 pm
Makes us Buc fans really appreciate Baker!
September 9th, 2024 at 12:53 pm
Mike Tomlin better know how to build a defense. Look where he interned. Man, I had no idea the Panthers were going to get blown out like in a hurricane. And by the Aints…YECK!! At least, that yahoo Payton isn’t coaching there anymore.
September 9th, 2024 at 1:31 pm
It definitely was awesome to see the Steelers eat Cousins all day long. It’s only one game but they got way over hyped. Cousins won’t be able to stand the pressure teams are gonna put on him, not like they have the eagles or lions oline. Love to see the rivals struggle, let’s hope the saints lose to the cowgirls
September 9th, 2024 at 4:40 pm
I predict Michael Penix will be starting in a few weeks for ATL. Now we see why ATL management still drafted Penix despite signing Cousins. They figured Cousins wouldn’t be 100% at start of season and what of he is never 100% ever again?? Well then at least they have a good top qb prospect for the future to go too in that circumstance.
😆 but it was so satisfying that all the people predicting Falcons to do so well this season ate it yesterday.
September 9th, 2024 at 4:44 pm
So basically 0-3
September 9th, 2024 at 4:53 pm
Ouch, those next two games are brutal. The Birds have avoided playing the Chiefs for a few years now due to their finishes. Not the case this season.