PHILADELPHIA — As the heavy metal doors of Philadelphia’s visitor’s locker room closed, nothing and no one was safe.
Atlanta Falcons team owner Arthur Blank's plaid gray suit and dark pocket square were also not off-limits as his players joyfully sprayed water to celebrate a 22-21 primetime win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Head coach Raheem Morris was so swamped that he couldn’t read the score written on a paper box he had received moments earlier.
Rookie first-round quarterback Michael Penix Jr. tried to stay out of the spray zone, but “there was a lot of water being thrown,” he told Yahoo Sports. “Everybody was excited for the first win of the season.”
He had a reason for doing so.
Because after the Falcons were defeated 18-12 by the Pittsburgh Steelers in Atlanta, a Falcons team that had already been facing an unusual amount of criticism throughout the offseason was now facing criticism for its performance on the field as well.
A franchise that was questioned for guaranteeing one quarterback $100 million just before selecting another quarterback in the first round has been facing minimal outside criticism all week for how that $100 million acquisition played out in an unsavory loss.
So when the Falcons’ offense scored a touchdown 34 seconds before the game ended Monday and the Falcons’ defense got the game-sealing interception two plays later, Atlanta was neither ready to declare itself champions nor to exaggerate the significance of the win.
But the first win in the Kirk Cousins-Raheem Morris era gave the players in the locker room more optimism than ever before. For Morris, who won a Super Bowl as the Los Angeles Rams' defensive coordinator, and Cousins, who appeared in five playoff games, Week 2's nail-biter victory is no nirvana.
But a franchise that has endured six consecutive losing seasons has to start its turnaround somewhere. Amid the box scores and spotty suits during the club's first appearance on Monday Night Football in three years and 11 months, they did just that.
“I don’t remember a comeback win like that in a minute, and to be a part of that in a way was something special,” Falcons 2022 first-round pick Drake London said after catching the winning touchdown. “There’s a lot of doubters and a lot of naysayers. And I don’t want to say we silenced them because we have a lot of work to do.
“But at the end of the day, we got the win. And we're going to keep working at it.”
Starting with cousins.
How the Falcons bounced back despite a 99.3% chance of losing
When Eagles running back Saquon Barkley lost Jalen Hurts’ pass with 1:46 remaining, London felt the cracks.
The Eagles were content with a field goal to extend their lead to six. The Falcons got the ball with a one-possession deficit.
“Everybody on the offensive line was just saying, ‘Let’s get going,’” London said. “They gave us a chance, that’s all we needed.”
Atlanta had moved the ball well down the field all night. Their third-down attempts were botched, but they did that when they could have extended the game, gaining at least 50 yards on four separate drives in the second and third quarters.
Cousins felt the Eagles' defense was playing soft outside the red zone and thought to himself: “They're obviously willing to give up some yards.”
Cousins said Philadelphia was willing to throw short and some intermediate passes “as long as we don’t get in over their heads.” The question was whether Atlanta could finally score in the red zone after settling for field goals the rest of the night.
So Cousins activated his everybody-eats mode and found tight end Kyle Pitts for 11 yards across the middle of the field. Then he dropped back and completed a 21-yard pass to Darnell Mooney down the left sideline, and Mooney ran again for 26, just out of the grasp of rookie cornerback Quinn Mitchell.
“They're playing two deep safeties and they're trying to get so deep to avoid giving up the big play that it opened up the boundary shot,” Troy Aikman said on the ESPN broadcast after Mooney's first shot. “That was a big chunk play that they needed.”
London got it next with a 5-yard catch and step out of bounds, followed by Ray-Ray McCloud missing an end-zone attempt that was denied by Eagles cornerback Avonte Maddox. But the Falcons still took advantage of it as they had to take care of where their next play would ultimately go.
The Falcons faced a third-and-5 play, the game clock was under a minute and a field goal was not enough to tie, much less win. London pointed just before the play and then dove in to confirm his belief that cornerback Darius Slay thought his path was cut off.
That stutter was enough for London to lose Slay on an out route, whose ball placement Cousins nailed, and kicker Younghoe Koo kicked the extra point to tie the lead. Two plays later, safety Jessie Bates intercepted Jalen Hurts' throw to DeVonta Smith and the 1-point decision was virtually over.
Cousins credited the win to his entire team, from the swatting defense to the isolating London, who “made it easy for me.” Teammates argued that Cousins actually made the difficult look easy as he completed 20 of 29 passes for 241 yards, two touchdowns and no fumbles.
This wasn’t a repeat of the Falcons’ offense from Week 1. They knew the narrative was changing.
,[Cousins] “I've been getting a lot of criticism this whole week,” Bates said. “Kirk can't move. Kirk can't do that.” Checking his balance [in the] Two-minute drive and how fast was it? The leader of this team, when it's nut-busting time and it's time to play, he's the one we depend on.
“I'm glad we found him.”
Winning against the Eagles isn't the Falcons' ultimate goal
There were legitimate concerns about Cousins’ first action after recovering from an Achilles injury following his 36th birthday.
Facing the Steelers' stifling defense, Cousins threw for only 155 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions, his 59.0 passer rating being significantly lower than his average 101.2 rating in six prior seasons with the Minnesota Vikings.
The question is, will Cousins ever return to his form after the injury? How healthy was he when he used the pistol more than anyone else in the past decade and, according to Next Gen Stats, averaged just 3.1 yards per dropback, the fewest in his career?
Eight days later, the Falcons had reincorporated play action and under-center throws into their presentation. Cousins averaged 5.0 yards per dropback in Philadelphia, and his passer rating rose to 117.2.
Progress.
Cousins said, “You can never say, ‘Oh, we’ve unlocked things and now it’s going to be this way or that way.’” But “coming from behind, finding a way on the road in a tough environment against a good football team, that builds determination … that we’re going to have to rely on as the year goes on.”
“The more we are battle-tested and enjoy these moments, I think it will better prepare us for the challenges ahead.”
The Falcons hope to keep that offensive momentum going, with third-down efficiency topping their list after a 2-of-9 (22.2%) night, followed by red-zone efficiency which Advanced The score became 1-3 in the last minute of the game.
Cousins and company know they’ll face a much stronger defense than the Eagles, and they know that in reality they already have a much more difficult task ahead of them after this short week.
Morris' message to the team in the locker room after their first win as a unit was: “Who's next?”
The answer to the semi-rhetorical question: The Kansas City Chiefs will take the field in Atlanta in six days.
So the celebration of Monday night's win must be short-lived, and game preparation must begin in earnest for the team that has won the Lombardi Trophy the past two years.
The Falcons understand the task ahead, both schematically and emotionally.
They will soon know whether they can execute it or not.
“In one short week, we had the defending champions at home – that's just how it has been this season,” Bates said. “We played a little bit poorly the first week at home and then when you come back, you get a big win. So it's like a rollercoaster. You can't go too high or too low.
“This is a big win for us. And 1726582387We just have to flush it and move on.
“This is a huge win against a very good team. I don't care if they had AJ Brown or not. This is a huge win for us and we just need to get through this and move on.”