I’m still dragging something fierce after three straight primetime games, but the snap counts must roll on, and so they shall.
Several things did not go according to plan in this one. Matthews played after there was some question of that this week, but he and Lindstrom had their worst games of the season against a tough Baltimore front. That led to a faltering ground game and more pressure than Penix was comfortable with. Every offensive lineman allowed at least one pressure, but those were heavily concentrated with Matthews (3) and Lindstrom (4), who allowed seven of the 12 pressures Penix faced on the day. When the line is struggling, the offense is going to splutter, as it did for long stretches Sunday night.
Otherwise, the usage shouldn’t look unfamiliar here. The Falcons run a lot of two tight end looks, Dotson is heavily favored as the team’s #2 receiver, and Zaccheaus is running ahead of Branch as WR3. The lack of production from Zaccheaus and Branch’s explosiveness in his limited looks may change that in the weeks ahead, however.
ILB Harold Perkins Jr.: 25
Several things went awry here, too. The first was simple wear and tear, as the Falcons had to lean very heavily on Samson Ebukam and Cameron Thomas in this one and taxed their defensive front, leading to a late collapse. The second is that an injury to CJ Henderson, who has playing quite well, put an enormous strain on this cornerback group, where Mike Hughes was already struggling to the tune of 5/8 for 63 yards (a significant portion of the 24/30 for 201 yards Tyler Huntley put up). When Hughes briefly exited the game, the Falcons had to put Mike Ford on the field, and the Ravens immediately went after him for a seven yard touchdown.
Hughes’ struggles have been well-documented at this point—he’s allowed a team-high 288 yards and two touchdowns with zero pass breakups and zero interceptions on 20 receptions and 29 targets—but Henderson had been a bright spot filling in for Terrell. If he’s out, the Falcons are heavily relying on rookie Aveion Terrell, Billy Bowman Jr., and some combination of Ford and practice squad elevations along with Hughes, which is a recipe for a tough week against the Bears.
The other note of note is that Daniels was once again in the driver’s seat for major snaps next to Divine Deablo, and it’s purely a situational timeshare with Harold Perkins Jr. The more a team runs, the more playing time Daniels receives, while Perkins gets more run against teams that pass heavily. It’s mostly working quite well.
The good news: The Falcons only missed one special teams tackle on Sunday night and Nick Folk and Jake Bailey were quite good. The bad news: The Falcons were penalized three separate times on Sunday, each one costing them field position in a game where drives frequently sputtered out. The lack of discipline is showing up week after week on teams, and it’s proving costly week after week.
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* [Atlanta Falcons game information](/atlanta-falcons-game-information)