It’s not a victory Monday for the Falcons, but their Week 3 loss to the Chiefs feels entirely different than their Week 1 loss to the Steelers.
The club went into the locker room with a 14-10 lead at the half, but injuries, self-induced mistakes, and one horrible non-call from the ref proved to be difficult to overcome.
There aren’t moral victories in the NFL, but this was about as close to one as you can have in this league. The Falcons proved, among a lot of things, that they’re capable of competing with the best teams in football.
Kirk Cousins and the offense looked great at times, even without an effective run game. The veteran signal caller is clearly still shaking off the rust and is getting crisper with each passing week, and his performance on Sunday might have been his most impressive of the season.
Injuries really did a number on the Falcons, though. Losing Drew Dalman and Kaleb McGary in the first half was brutal. The run game suffered, but more than anything, Cousins wasn’t protected as he would’ve been with Dalman, McGary and a productive rushing attack. The veteran quarterback is probably lucky he escaped Sunday night in one piece, as he took big hit after big hit in the pocket.
The Falcons only gave up 10 points in the first half, coming up with some clutch moments along the way. What we did learn is this Falcons defense is susceptible on the ground. The Chiefs dominated the beginning of the second half by running the ball, completely controlling the clock and game. The Falcons also failed to get much pressure on Mahomes throughout the game, a consistent theme through the first three weeks.
However, where the Atlanta’s defense thrived is in big moments. They constantly made huge stops on third and short, limiting the Chiefs offense to several field goals in the red area and even had a turnover, when Justin Simmons picked off Patrick Mahomes in the end zone on the first drive of the game.
Very rarely do I complain about the refs, but this one was too much. The second half was very clearly favoring the away team, and in one of the biggest moments of the game, the refs choked on their whistle, as they often do when the Chiefs defense is on the field, missing an obvious pass interference call that would have set the Falcons up with a new set of downs right in front of the goal line.
It is getting Tom Brady/Patriots level of obvious with the Chiefs and refs, Falcons never stood a chance pic.twitter.com/ckzWN7aZo6
— SportsTalkATL Alex (@GeauxSportsTalk) September 23, 2024
That is pass interference everyday of the week and twice on Sundays. In fact, the Chiefs benefited from a pass interference call against the Bengals last week, one that ultimately won them the game, and it was far less egregious than this play on Kyle Pitts. It’s a trend for the Chiefs that’s frankly disgusting, but anytime Patrick Mahomes is on the opposing sideline, you have to assume you’re not just playing Kansas City. The refs are also known to do the chop after the game.
Regardless, there is no telling if the Falcons would have won the game had the proper, obvious call been made. What we do know, however, is that Raheem Morris has the talent to compete with any team on any given Sunday. If they can continue to improve situationally, they’ll have a fantastic chance of ending their postseason drought and perhaps even making some noise in the playoffs.
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