Falcons hoping ‘hard talks’ lead to ‘culture-changer’ win over Bengals

MADRID — After the Falcons withered away in an uninspiring 16-0 loss to the Buccaneers last Sunday, defensive end Zach Harrison said the team needed to own it and “be grown men about it.”

What followed was a Monday filled with film review, corrections and — most important — difficult conversations that resonated on both sides of the ball.

“The main thing is like, ‘It may hurt your feelings, but it’s the God-honest truth,’” receiver Drake London said. “And that’s what needs to be said in order for us to get better as a team. So, no hard feelings, but we looked at it in an honest way and we pushed past it and we’re trying to fix that.”

“We had some hard talks that needed to happen,” defensive tackle Brandon Dorlus said. “But we put it behind us, left it in Flowery Branch, and moved on. We’re on to Cincinnati now.”

The Falcons (3-5) believe they have a chance to resurrect their season Sunday afternoon in Madrid, where they’ll face the Bengals (5-2) at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

Falcons star running back Bijan Robinson said he “most definitely” views it as a statement game for the Falcons to prove they’ve moved beyond a disheartening loss in Tampa Bay. Robinson views every game as a statement game, he conceded, but a win over one of the NFL’s best teams carries greater significance than usual.

“This game right here is something that can be a culture-changer in the building,” Robinson said. “We know what this game means and what it’s going to mean at the end of the season. So, this game right here is going to be a playoff-type game for us as we go into it.”

The Falcons and Bengals are playing in the NFL’s second-ever game in Spain. The Dolphins and Commanders faced off in the inaugural meeting last year. It’s a chance, Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski says, to help grow the game — and the Falcons’ fan base.

Stefanski hopes to see a plethora of red-and-black in the stands across the Atlantic Ocean. He also hopes his team plays to an identity — a fast, physical brand — that brings in more moving forward. His players plan to bring his dream to life.

“There’s a lot of people who haven’t seen an NFL game out here,” London said. “So, I think it’s a special opportunity to put on our best for those people.”

Here’s the catch: the Falcons are having something of an identity crisis. It’s not that they don’t know what it is — they’re very confident in that — but that they haven’t executed it much over the past month.

When the Falcons left New Orleans after a convincing 45-24 win over the Saints in Week 4, they boasted the NFL’s best run defense and second-best rushing offense. They were holding opponents below 50 yards per game. They were rushing for over 180. They outrushed their first four opponents, 724-193, for an astonishing 531-yard difference.

Those days feel long gone.

The Falcons haven’t outrushed an opponent since they left New Orleans. In a rain-soaked Raymond James Stadium, they let the Buccaneers set a franchise record with 324 rushing yards. The volume — 56 carries — was a factor, but Tampa Bay averaged 5.8 yards per carry, its second-most this season, despite Atlanta knowing the Buccaneers wanted to run every play.

From Week 5 onward, the Falcons have allowed 753 rushing yards. They’ve gained only 354 yards on the ground. Opponents have outrushed them by 399 yards over the past four games.

In short? Other teams have started doing to the Falcons what they desire to do themselves. Call it a rough patch, or call it an identity crisis. No matter, Stefanski often preaches that how teams run the ball, and how they defend the run, defines who they are.

The Falcons haven’t particularly defined themselves positively since Week 5, a span in which they’ve lost three of four games.

“We’ve got to do a better job of getting back to who we are in the run game,” offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said Thursday. “It starts with me and what we call and how we design it. I think teams have done some things to limit some explosives and limit some of those opportunities.

“I think our run efficiency has still been pretty good, but we’ve lacked some of those explosive runs that really propelled us early in the season. So, we’ve got to find our opportunities for that, and we’ve got to execute when those looks do come.”

The Falcons’ offense has started seeing heavier boxes, with defenses playing more defenders around the ball. It’s forced Rees and his staff to find answers. They’re hoping to have the right solutions Sunday against the Bengals, who rank 20th leaguewide in run defense, allowing 122.3 rushing yards per game.

Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich described the Buccaneers’ 324-yard-surrendering performance on the ground as a “failure by everyone in a lot of ways.” He prepared for a balanced offense and, with the conditions turning the Buccaneers into a one-dimensional, run-based team, felt he didn’t have enough answers or “run bullets” built into the game plan.

But Ulbrich also felt the Falcons were lackluster in their run fits and, broadly speaking, the fundamentals that propelled them to previously grand heights in run defense.

Rookie linebacker Kendal Daniels said the team hasn’t necessarily honed in on stopping the run this week, given the Bengals’ lopsided rate of run vs. pass plays — they throw it on 65% of their plays, the second-highest clip in the league — but the Falcons have addressed last week’s woes.