The one silver lining in another disappointing Falcons loss

Another Monday, another frustrating attempt to piece together what went wrong for the Falcons.

Coming off their bye week, the team had a golden opportunity to regroup, heal up, and recalibrate their season. After dropping two consecutive heartbreakers, this game against the Chargers was a fantastic litmus test, a game in which the Falcons could really put their woes from the previous two weeks behind them.

Instead, Atlanta faltered yet again, leaving fans with more questions than answers.

Kirk Cousins was awful, Younghoe Koo continued his shaky stretch, and Kyle Pitts once again posted a buckshot. Atlanta’s veteran signal caller threw four interceptions, all of which came at backbreaking moments. The first led to a Chargers field goal in the second quarter, the second was a pick-six in the third quarter on a fourth down, the third was picked off in the end zone, and the final interception sealed the game for Los Angeles.

That’s at least 10 points taken off the board for the Falcons. The pick-six was an interception that rookies throw, not a 10+ year veteran. The interception in the end zone was equally as egregious. That’s 10 points, and I’m not even counting the three points that Koo accounted for missing.

The loss drops the Falcons to .500 and in a tie atop the division with the Buccaneers after Tampa topped the Carolina Panthers. Fortunately for the Falcons, they own the tiebreaker and are currently 0.5 games up on the Bucs. That’s not the only bit of good news that came out of Week 13, though.

While there wasn’t a lot to cheer about on Sunday, the Falcons pass rush was actually one of the few positives. Atlanta sacked Justin Herbert five times. The club’s previous single-game high was three sacks in their Week 9 win over the Cowboys. Arnold Ebiketie notched two, Kentavius Street and David Onyemata notched one each, and Kaden Elliss and Grady Jarrett chipped in half of a sack.

Though I’m not ready to declare the Falcons one of the best pass rushing teams in football, it’s encouraging to see some life from that unit. It was the one silver lining in Atlanta’s pitiful loss.

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