The Atlanta Falcons had a disappointing offensive performance against a stout Pittsburgh Steeler defense in their week one 18-10 loss. The defense shined, but the new-look offense stumbled to a mere 51 yards of total offense as they were shut out in the second half.
Kirk Cousins, making his first career start for the Falcons, threw two interceptions and had a botched snap that led to a fumble. They have plenty of talent on paper, but they looked rusty when it came to their actual play on the field.
Sandra Golden had her first opportunity to discuss this game, and she was understandably frustrated. She had some criticism about how the coaching staff handled the opportunities the starters had over the last few months to iron out some of those kinks that we saw on Sunday.
"I'm going to tell you that there are 17 other teams that play everybody, and often [during the preseason]," she said on Tuesday morning. "My opinion is that they were really bad [on Sunday]. They looked like they hadn't played together, and Kirk said on Thursday before the game, 'Red jersey [non-contact] football isn't real football'."
Raheem Morris has made no bones about it, he doesn't play players during the preseason. In his opinion, the risk of injury in an exhibition game is simply not worth it. Other coaches have different opinions on the matter.
The reality is that on a day where the Steelers only made two trips to the red zone and were held out of the end zone entirely, there is no reason that this wasn't a game the Falcons should have won.
To Sandra, that had a lot to do with what we saw from the man under center.
"[My] optics on Kirk Cousins, and it was the same as last night [with Aaron Rodgers, who is also coming off of an Achilles injury]," Sandra finished. "You're hesitant, you're not instinctual, and you're immobile. I'm going to tell you, when they lined up in the pistol I knew exactly what they were going to do. When you lined up in the shotgun, I knew exactly what you were going to do. If I knew it sitting in my living room, what do you think the Pittsburgh Steelers were thinking?"
