The Falcons’ offense continues to sputter at critical times.
However, kicker Younghoe Koo, the punt coverage unit and the defense bailed out quarterback Kirk Cousins and the offense, which was held out of the end zone in the 26-24 win over the Saints on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Falcons had two promising drives killed by penalties, including a holding call to nullify a touchdown.
“It’s great to find a way to win in this league,” Cousins said. “After a week of thinking about not finding a way last week… There is a lot to fix. You come away saying I’m so glad we won, but I’m going to be voice memo-ing on my way home to the coaches with some thoughts on how I’ve got to be better. How we have to build on it. It’s a lot easier to give those voice memos after a win.”
Cousins completed 21 of 35 passes for 238 yards and an interception. He finished with a passer rating for 68.5.
Running back Tyler Allgeier turned in the best performance. He rushed eight times for 60 yards and caught two passes for 20 yards, including a punishing 13-yard catch-and-run on third down-and-9.
“Tyler Allgeier ran the football really well today,” Cousins said. “His third-down conversion was a big play in the game.”
The Falcons’ opening drive was down to the Saints’ 31-yard line, but left guard Matt Bergeron was called for a facemask penalty.
Jake Matthews had a holding call on a screen pass to running back Bijan Robinson that went for a 19-yard touchdown.
“I thought penalties were tough today to overcome because some drives were you’re in the high-red zone, and a place where we’ve finally have gotten some momentum and then got in some long yardage situations,” Cousins said.
Bergeron also set the offense back with a holding call.
“My finger got stuck when I tried to kind of take my hand off, his helmet just flew away,” Bergeron said of the facemask call, “As soon as I saw that, I already knew what it was. It was a big play. I think Ray-Ray made a catch. It would have been a great drive for us. I’ve got to do better and keep my hands low and just be better for the team.”
The Falcons were 4 of 10 (44%) on third downs, which was a slight improvement from them going 2 of 9 (22%) in each of the previous three games. The are now 10 of 37 (27%) on the season.
“I was pleased that we were better on third down,” Cousins said.
However, he was not pleased with the game-winning drive.
“Honestly, I felt like the final drive was really not good enough by me,” Cousins said. “By our offense. But Koo made an unbelievable kick. We got a pass interference call and that was enough.”
It was Koo’s eighth game-winning kick since the beginning of the 2021 season.
The Falcons had three incomplete passes after getting the pass interference call.
“The calls are a little bit shorter, but when you play sticky man coverage like that, it goes to who’s open,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “You take the shots to your best players.”
Mooney finished with three catches for 56 yards. Drake London had six catches for 64 yards and Ray-Ray McCloud had six catches for 52 yards. Robinson had four for 46 yards.
Pitts was targeted three times and did not have a catch.
Morris was not overly concerned with Pitts not having a catch.
“It’s about going out there and winning the game when you’re out there and playing,” Morris said. “He had a couple of targets today, had a couple of things going out that way. We believe we got a questionable call at the end of the stretch of the game to Kyle.
“Those things always are unfortunate. Really, for me, stats are for losers, man. I don’t get involved in that stuff. You go out and try to win each game. We were able to win it today, and that’s what we did.”
Cousins is working on getting Pitts the ball and believes he forced it to him on at least one of his targets.
“The under route I threw to him, really shouldn’t have,” Cousins said. “I should have gone over his head to Ray-Ray. On the shallow cross to Kyle where we had the incidental contact. So, really that was one where it was incomplete, but had a chance their if their feet don’t get tripped.”
Cousins also has to work through his progressions on the pass plays.
“Then there are other ones like the third down, at mid-field in the second quarter, that I threw to Drake incomplete,” Cousins said. “Looking back, I wish I’d worked Kyle over his head on a deep corner route.”
Cousins talks to Pitts during the games.
“So, there are some plays out there when I come to sideline, I say, “Kyle, I’ve got to work you there,’” Cousins said. “Then there are other ones where I did work him. I say, ‘I probably shouldn’t have forced it to you.’ It goes both ways. You always go where your reads take you and it skews the numbers one way or the other. Sometimes. it’s really balanced. You just have to go where they take you.”
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