After the Atlanta Falcons’ big 36-30 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last Thursday, Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins said he was starting to “anticipate” where his receivers were going to be and that helped him play “faster” and “throw the ball more decisively.”
After hearing that and also hearing Falcons head coach Raheem Morris say on the The Coaches Show Monday with Dave Archer that the offense is capable of doing that every week, The Morning Shift explained why Falcons fans should expect more performances like they saw last Thursday.
“Kirk Cousins obviously has seen a lot of football, as has Zac Robinson, as has Raheem Morris, and you just trust these guys don’t you," Mike Johnson asked. "You trust them to be able to kind of correct that and get it right to the point where all of sudden you wind up with a 500-yard passing game.
"I think it’s worth kind of mentioning that as Kirk Cousins continues to dive into film and this offense continues to evolve it’s not stagnant, it’s not just a playbook that you installed, like all of these things will evolve. You’ll eventually get plays off of plays, off of plays, and be able to kind of move forward that way, so I think that’s exciting what Raheem Morris is saying.”
Beau Morgan believes Thursday’s performance “unlocked” the Falcons offense, and that’s the reason why you’ll see more offensive performances like you did last Thursday against the Bucs moving forward.
“The fact of the matter is with Kirk feeling the flow of the offense and being decisive of where people are going, people are going to eat and when you don’t run the ball well you can have that counter," Beau said. "So that to me is a huge moment in the offense, and I think Kirk’s comfortability pushes that forward and basically it felt like the offense has been unlocked.”
If the Falcons can score anywhere from 24 to 28 points a game moving forward, nonetheless 36, you have to think they’ll be able to win a bunch of games as long as their defense can get better at stopping the run game, and not allowing 30 points on a consistent basis. Hopefully last Thursday’s win is a sign of things to come for the Falcons offense.
