Cousins, defense and more: 5 things we learned in the Falcons’ loss to Panthers

FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons’ season continued to spiral out of control in a 30-27 overtime loss to the Panthers on Sunday.

The Falcons (3-7) had a 21-7 lead in the first half and tied it at the end of regulations, but couldn’t get a score in overtime.

“We had them, but we just came up short,” running back Tyler Allgeier said.

The bad news started to compound itself Monday, as starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (left knee) is headed for injured reserve and starting receiver Drake London (knee) is set to miss at least one game.

“Just making sure that he’s all right mentally and his being is well,” Allgeier said. “Just making sure that he’s OK is the most important thing.”

Here are five things we learned from the overtime loss to the Panthers.

1. Cousins set to take over: Kirk Cousins, who opened last season as the starter, is set to take over at quarterback. When Penix went down, Cousins was looking at his tablet going over the plays on the sidelines.

“Your heart starts beating a little faster,” Cousins said. “But other than that, you get loose and basically much of what you would be doing, talking to (quarterback coach) DJ (Williams) about calls they are thinking about for the next drive, where they see the game going from there.”

In three games this season, Cousins has completed 32 of 52 passes (61.5%) for 250 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions. He has a passer rating of 73.4. Last season. He led the league with 16 interceptions, before the Falcons went to Penix as the starter for the last three games.

Cousins has his thoughts on how to get the offense rolling.

“Well, I think it’s possession by possession really,” Cousins said. “I mean, you have three straight possessions, I believe, with touchdowns in the first half. I’m not sure. Again, it all happened so fast, it’s hard to know exactly what took place, but there are so many positives.”

He believes the Falcons have gotten better in the red zone.

“You just keep going back to the things that you’ve got to be better at,” Cousins said. “How do we get better, being on the details and believing that if you stay the course, and again, as a team, all come together and make plays and good things will happen.”

2. Falcons have Cousins’ back: Cousins has been professional throughout his stay with the Falcons and still garners major respect in the locker room.

Left guard Kyle Hinton felt the offense didn’t miss a beat when Cousins entered the game.

“For 31 other teams, it’s probably pretty hard,” Hinton said. “But we have probably the best backup in the NFL, with Kirk Cousins. I played with him for a long time. We all played with him last year. We didn’t skip a beat. He came in there and handled it like a pro, like we all knew he would.”

The Falcons tried to run tempo in overtime.

“We were trying to keep the defense on the field,” Hinton said. “They were a little gassed. We wanted to take advantage of that. It had been working all game. We really like it; I’m glad we stuck with that.”

It didn’t work, as the Falcons had to punt on their only overtime possession.

3. Harrison is a linebacker now: Ronnie Harrison, a converted safety, looked at home in the switch to linebacker. He played 78 of 80 defensive snaps (98%) and led the defense with 10 tackles and added a sack. He took over for J.D. Bertrand, who played 25 snaps on special teams.

Harrison was a third-round pick by Jacksonville back in 2018. He played safety in 10 games with the Colts last season. He was signed by the Falcons and converted to linebacker while spending some time with the practice squad.

“It really has not been too hard,” Harrison said of the move. “(Defensive coordinator) Jeff (Ulbrich) does a good job. Coach Ruh (Michael Rutenberg) does a good job getting me ready and prepared for each week. It hasn’t been too hard.”

4. Secondary got torched: With cornerbacks Mike Hughes (neck) and Dee Alford (concussion protocol) out, the Falcons were torched for a Panthers franchise-record 448 passing yards from quarterback Bryce Young.

Cornerback Natrone Brooks played 69 defensive snaps (86%) and had a rough day. He was beaten by speedy Carolina receiver Xavier Legette for a 36-yard touchdown pass.

Brooks had five tackles and two pass breakups. He also had a fumble on a kickoff return.

Also, rookie cornerback Cobee Bryant, who was promoted from the practice squad, played 11 defensive snaps (14%).

5. Who’s going to replace London?: Wide receivers Darnell Mooney and Casey Washington have struggled to the fill the No. 2 role this season.