Coming into the season, the Falcons had one singular goal — a postseason berth.
Arthur Blank fired Arthur Smith for not getting to the playoffs. He hired Raheem Morris, wrote a massive check for Kirk Cousins, and allowed his subordinates to draft Michael Penix Jr. six weeks later.
The Falcons expected to make the playoffs, and anything less than that would be seen as a supreme disappointment. To make matters worse, it’s how we got to this point.
Just over a month ago, the Falcons sat in the driver’s seat of the NFC South with a 6-3 record, headed to New Orleans to take on the Saints, who had just fired Dennis Allen. Thanks to a few missed field goals from Younghoe Koo, Atlanta lost, beginning a four-game skid that only ended because the Raiders and Giants, two of the worst teams in football, popped up on the schedule.
During that span of games, the Falcons benched Kirk Cousins, who had thrown just one touchdown to nine interceptions, in favor of Michael Penix Jr. The Buccaneers had control and then fell to the Cowboys, but the Falcons returned the favor thanks to Raheem Morris’ incompetence against the Commanders.
Now, the Falcons will likely miss the playoffs for a seventh consecutive season while an offseason looms in which the club will have to make a decision on Kirk Cousins, another sign of why this season has been nothing but a complete disaster dating back to early March, when the Falcons inked the veteran to a four-year, $180 million contract with $90 million in guarantees.
So, Raheem Morris didn’t get to the postseason. The Falcons gave Kirk Cousins all that money for no reason, AND a new report from James Palmer of Bleacher Report revealed that the Falcons believe Cousins cannot physically play the quarterback position anymore, which has led to the staff believing he was unplayable and his career might be finished.
“If you talk to anybody in Atlanta, they will tell you he has just fallen off a cliff, which does happen to some older quarterbacks,” Palmer said. “They believe he can’t play the position physically anymore. He just couldn’t play it physically any more in the eyes of the Falcons. That bled into some issues in the way he played the position mentally as well… It led into a position where they believed he was unplayable.”
The Falcons can’t seem to do anything right. They are criticized at every turn, and deservedly show, given their track record. With that being said, if there’s one thing that could save the year, it’s Michael Penix Jr. If he can end up being the Falcons next franchise signal caller, all of the other stuff will be spilled milk.
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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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