4 quick takeaways from Falcons’ loss to Seahawks
Observations from the Falcons’ ninth loss of the season, a 37-9 home loss to the Seattle Seahawks Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Scraping a historic bottom
With their ninth loss of the season, the Falcons made history.
They have clinched their eighth consecutive losing season, which is tied for the longest such streak in franchise history.
In an era of the NFL when league rules, particularly the salary cap, are designed to limit the potential for such prolonged futility, those structures have evidently not done quite enough to help the Falcons escape perpetual defeat.
The Falcons have finished with losing records from 2018-2025, tying the streak between 1982 and 1990.
It was also the sixth loss by 20 or more points in coach Raheem Morris’ 30-game tenure. In the franchise’s first 58 seasons, an epoch of infrequent success, the Falcons averaged 2.1 such losses per season.
Special teams fails again
The Falcons continued their defeat-enabling special-teams play, having a field goal try blocked in the first half, allowing a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the opening play of the second half and putting a fourth-quarter kickoff out of bounds.
After failing to cleanly field a punt inside the 10-yard line (and losing possession) and allowing a 83-yard kickoff return in a loss to the New York Jets in a continuation of ineffective special-teams play, Morris gave his support to special-teams coordinator Marquice Williams, saying he had “a lot of confidence in what Marquice does” and “a lot of confidence in the guys to go out there and execute it.”
It’s reasonable to ask how much confidence should be placed in Morris if he has such confidence in one of the worst special-teams units in the NFL.
Telling start
In the first half, the Falcons outgained the Seahawks 150-111, had a 1-0 turnover advantage and sacked Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold twice while Falcons running back Bijan Robinson was giving the Seattle defense fits, gaining 60 yards on the ground on 11 carries.
And yet, the game was tied at 6.
In the half, the Falcons were 1-for-7 on third downs, had a field goal blocked, couldn’t convert a third-and-3 from the Seattle 12, extended a Seattle field-goal drive with three penalties and failed to make the Seahawks pay on their blitzes, among other shortcomings.
Third-down play abysmal again
The Falcons finished the game 1-for-13 on third downs, joining past single-game efforts of 2-for-11 (vs. Miami) 1-for-10 (at New England), 0-for-8 (vs. Indianapolis in Berlin) and 3-for-12 (at New Orleans).
The Falcons entered the game 29th in the NFL in third-down conversion rate at 33.1%.
Whereas previous third-down meltdowns were precipitated by often being in third-and-long situations, it was not the case Sunday, making this quite arguably one of the least effective third-down performances in franchise history.
The Falcons had seven third downs in which they needed three yards or fewer and converted only one. Not only that, but of the failed six, two resulted in turnovers — a Cousins interception and a lost Robinson fumble.
There were another four that were of makeable distance, between third-and-5 and third-and-7, one of which resulted in Cousins’ other interception.
About the Author
Ken Sugiura is a sports columnist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Formerly the Georgia Tech beat reporter, Sugiura started at the AJC in 1998 and has covered a variety of beats, mostly within sports.
