There has not been a more Jekyll and Hyde team this season than the 3-4 Atlanta Falcons.
The highs, such as a Monday night demolition of the Buffalo Bills, give the impression that they are legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Running back Bijan Robinson and wide receiver Drake London are two of the very best at their position, while their defense has allowed the second-fewest yards in the NFL.
Falcons have suffered head-scratching losses this season
The talent on the roster is obvious to see, which makes games like Sunday’s loss to the hapless Miami Dolphins so inexplicable. Just one week after throwing three interceptions against the Cleveland Browns, Tua Tagovailoa carved up the Falcons secondary for four passing touchdowns and a 138.6 passer rating. The Falcons offense, meanwhile, mustered just 213 total yards and one touchdown in a 34-10 defeat.
It would be easy to chalk this game up as a one-off occurrence if the same thing didn’t just happen in September. In a Week 3 matchup against the Carolina Panthers, the Falcons got shut out by their division rival’s middling defense and allowed Bryce Young and the 27th-ranked offense to march up and down the field with ease. In two games against the Panthers and Dolphins, a pair of teams that are expected to be fighting for draft position, the Falcons have been outscored by a combined 64-10 margin.
The Falcons had hoped that this season would see their first playoff appearance since 2017, but their alarming inconsistency has them mired in third place in the NFC South yet again. As talented as some aspects of their roster are, their inability to escape .500 purgatory is a reflection of a series of head-scratching roster decisions.
Past personnel decisions continue to haunt Falcons
The root of the Falcons’ problems could be traced back to the 2024 offseason and a pair of ill-advised quarterback moves. The team threw $180 million at Kirk Cousins, who was entering his age-36 season and coming off a torn Achilles, and drafted Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth overall pick ahead of the likes of Rome Odunze, Brock Bowers and Bo Nix.
The hope was that Cousins could provide competent quarterbacking for a few years until Penix was ready to take over, but it’s safe to say neither player has come close to meeting expectations. Cousins led the NFL with 16 interceptions in 2024 before handing the job over to Penix, who, in turn, has posted a middling 85.2 passer rating while completing just 61 percent of his passes.
Though not at the same level as their 2024 offseason, the Falcons made another controversial move in the 2025 draft. After selecting defensive end Jalon Walker 15th overall, the team traded back into the first round for fellow pass-rusher James Pearce Jr. at 26th overall, sacrificing its 2026 first-round pick in the process. Though still early, Pearce has failed to make much of an impact, registering just 0.5 sacks and starting just one of the first seven games.
Because of these missteps in the draft and free agency, the Falcons continued to be plagued by the same issues year after year. They have yet to find a reliable second option to London, who has nearly three times the receiving yards as any other Falcons wideout. Their pass rush continues to be mediocre despite the heavy investment in draft capital, as they rank just 20th in the NFL with 16.0 sacks. And perhaps most importantly and inexplicably of all, they have yet to find a quarterback who can lead a functional offense despite the help of two elite playmakers.
With two years and $80 million left on Cousins’ contract and their 2026 first-round pick in Los Angeles due to the Pearce trade, it’s difficult to see how the Falcons pull themselves out of this hole while Robinson and London are still on their rookie contracts.
