PHILADELPHIA -- Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins might want to know if “You like that!”
Cousins guided the Falcons on a game-winning six-play, 70-yard touchdown drive and Jessie Bates III sealed the 22-21 win over the Eagles with an interception with 19 seconds remaining Monday at Lincoln Financial Field.
“Pretty exciting,” said Falcons coach Raheem Morris, who received a game-ball for his first win as the franchise’s head coach. “Pretty exciting game. A lot of fun. That team is special. It means a lot of me.”
The Falcons took a lead into the fourth quarter, but the Eagles stormed back to take 21-15 lead, but the left the Falcons a minute and 39 seconds.
“We knew if we could hold them to three and give our guys a chance to go out there and win the game, we’d have a chance,” Morris said. “We saved just enough time for the guys to down, march down get that game-winning touchdown. I thought it was well-managed by us. Well-managed by the coaching staff. Well-managed by the players. You can’t give those guys enough credit, the guys who go in there and execute. All the credit goes to those guys.”
Cousins completed passes to Kyle Pitts for 11 yards, Darnell Mooney for 21 and 26 yards. He then connected with Drake London for 5 yards before tossing an incompletion. He capped the drive with a 5-yard TD pass to London. Koo added the extra point, after a penalty on London for his celebration, with 34 seconds left.
“We talked about operation,” Morris said. “We talked about communication and that was the highest level of it on both sides of the ball.”
The Falcons tried to close out the victory with a bold gamble with 5:38 to play. The Falcons went for a fourth down-and-1 but running back Bijan Robinson was stuffed Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
The Eagles nearly ran out the clock. They had to add a late field goal and couldn’t put away the game when a third-down pass from Jalen Hurts to Saquon Barkley was incomplete. The dropped pass gave the Falcons plenty of time remaining.
The Falcons improved to 1-1, while the Eagles, who were heavily favored, dropped to 1-1.
London led the Falcons with seven targets. He caught six passed for 54 yards and the mega-touchdown.
“It was just an out route,” London said. “Darius Slay is a great corner. Very, very savvy. Caught him on what he thought it was and I was able to get out there and Kirk put it on the money.”
The Falcons got the ball back with 1:39 to play and no time outs before the winning drive. Cousins, who signed a four-year contract worth up to $180 million, drove them to victory.
“Really important for us to come in here and get a win,” Cousins said. “We had to do it any way we could. As so many NFL games do, it came down to the final drive. Just proud of the way we can playing and kept fighting.”
The Falcons rode a hot hand from running back Robinson and a 42-yard touchdown pass to Mooney take a 15-10 lead, which they carried into the fourth quarter.
But the Eagles answered with a bone-rattling, 17-play, 70-yard touchdown drive.
Robinson rushed 14 times for 97 yards. He had 96 entering the four quarter. Robinson had two 100-yard games last season. He rushed for 105 yards against Jacksonville on Oct. 1, 2023 and 124 against Green Bay on Sept. 17, 2023.
Cousins, who reportedly told ESPN’s Troy Aikman that he was not 100% when out of the pocket, completed 19 of 27 passes for 235 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He finished with a passer rating of 109.2.
The Eagles, on some nice running by Hurts and a 7-yard touchdown pass to Devonta Smith, held a 7-6 lead over the Falcons at halftime.
Both defenses were in control early. After an exchange of punts, the Falcons stopped the Eagles when they went for it on a fourth down-and-4 from the Falcons’ 9-yard line. The Falcons played coverage and forced an incompletion.
After an exchange of punts, the Falcons finally got moving. Cousins tossed a 19-yard pass to London. The Falcons drove from their 27 to the Eagles’ 21, but stalled. Koo made a 39-yard field goal to put the Falcons up 3-0.
The Falcons had bottled Hurts up early on by using linebackers Kaden Elliss or Troy Andersen as a spy. Hurts got loose on three scrambles for 47 yards. The big one was a 23-yard gain on fourth down-and-3, from the 41. He spiked the ball and cost the Eagles five yards.
He capped the 11-play, 70-yard drive with the touchdown pass to Smith to put the Eagles up 7-3.
Behind some strong runs from Robinson, the Falcons moved the ball. Cousins tossed a pass to wide receiver Ray Ray McCloud to move down to the Eagles’ 23-yard line, but he was called for unnecessary roughness for hitting a player’s helmet.
Instead of being at the 23, the Falcons were at the 38. That’s called hustling backward.
The Falcons tried to overcome the penalty and moved it down the Eagles’ 4-yard line. But on third down, Cousins threw the ball away to make sure they could at least get the field.
Koo made a 22-yard field goal for the halftime margin.
The Falcons received the ball to start the third quarter. They drove down the field behind runs from Robinson and Tyler Allgeier. On third down-and-4 from the 8, right guard Chris Lindstrom was beaten by Milton Williams on a move inside and he crushed Cousins for the sack. Koo made a 34-yard field goal to put the Falcons up 9-7.
The Eagles came back with an 11-play, 59-yard drive. On third down-and-3 from Falcons’ 6, Hurts tried to connect with Smith, but safety Jessie Bates III popped him to shake the ball free. The Eagles’ Jake Elliott made a 24-yard field goal to put the Eagles up 10-9 with 4:28 to play in the third quarter.
“We were in cover zero,” Bates said. “There was a lot of space out there. I was late getting out of break. I just played his hands and I punched the ball out.”
The Falcons answered with a 42-yard touchdown pass from Cousins to Mooney for a touchdown to make it 15-10 with 1:21 left in the third quarter. The two-point conversion pass to London was incomplete.
The Falcons took their lead into the fourth quarter, but didn’t have a plan to stop Hurts from running.
Hurts ran the Eagles into scoring range with two 12-yard scrambles. He also picked up a first down on their quarterback sneak play and scored from a yard out to put the Eagles up on powerful 17-play drive that took 8:13 off the clock.
Barkley scored on the two-point conversion to put the Eagles up 18-15 with 6:47 to play.
Bates sealed the win with the interception as he suspected the Eagles would try to get the ball to Smith.
“Anytime you get in this critical times, critical parts of the game,” Bates said. “You lean on your players. Where is the money at on the field? So, that’s where my eyes were at. He inside released. I knew the concepts they were running, he just broke out and I was reading his eyes. Went and played the ball.”
The Falcons had not appeared on Monday Night Football since Week 4 of the 2020 season.
Much was made of Cousins 3-10 record on Monday Night Football. He is now 4-10 and has won 4 of the last 5.
In their second nationally televised game of the season, the Falcons will host Chiefs, the defending Super Bowl champions, at 8:20 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz.
“Proud or the way we found a way to win,” Cousins said. “We can build on that. I think it will build some character and resolve in our group. Really looking forward to building on that up ahead because we have short week against a really good opponent.”
