CINCINNATI — At some point during the season, the Falcons’ decision to play with a league- record amount of dead salary-cap space ($77.4 million) was going to show up.
Against the Bengals, the mismatches between the Falcons’ cornerbacks and the Bengals’ wide receivers were stark.
It was really not a surprise that the Bengals passed for nearly 500 yards in the 35-17 win over the Falcons on Sunday at Paycor Stadium.
The Bengals’ top three receivers had a combined base salary of $10.3 million. The combined base salary of the Falcons’ cornerbacks in the game was $3.8 million. The $6.5 million disparity showed as Tyler Boyd ($8.2 million, Tee Higgins ($1.3 million) and Ja’Marr Chase ($825,000) were no match for Darren Hall ($825,000), Isaiah Oliver ($2.8 million) and Cornell Armstrong ($215,000) even though the Falcons were mostly playing zone coverages.
Here are five takeaways from the Falcons’ loss:
1. Team support. The Falcons were supportive of Armstrong, who was called from the practice squad Saturday. He was pressed into full-time duty after A.J. Terrell (hamstring) left the game after eight plays on defense.
“It’s always good to see guys come back and get an opportunity to play on an NFL field,” defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. “That’s a dream come true for guys. To see them have that opportunity is definitely all love. Somebody we definitely believe in.”
Armstrong was a sixth-round pick by the Dolphins in 2018. He spent time with the Texans. He has now played in 31 NFL games with no starts.
His 59 snaps against the Bengals was a career high. He played 48 defensive snaps for the Dolphins in 2018 in the 16th game of the season in a 42-17 loss to the Bills.
“They had a good plan today, and they won the game,” Jarrett said.
2. Still in first place. The Falcons (3-4) remained in a tie for first place in the NFC South after the Bucs (3-4) were beaten by the Panthers (2-5). The Saints are also 2-5.
“We’re still in the hunt,” linebacker Mykal Walker said. “It’s good. We believe in coach (Arthur Smith). We just have to execute better.”
The Falcons need to learn from the loss to the defending AFC champions and move on. The Falcons face the Panthers at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“I feel like we’re getting better week in and week out,” Jarrett said. “We are learning from our losses. We are learning from our shortcomings. We have a lot of optimism going forward. We just have to believe in each other and know that our best football is still ahead of us.”
Jarrett, one of the captains, will try to help the younger players move forward.
“You definitely don’t want to let one game beat you twice,” Jarrett said. “You definitely have to flush it and get ready for the next one. We have to let (the young guys) know that it’s a long season, and that it will go down however it goes down. You can’t let early disappointments hold you back. We just have to keep working.”
3. Tighten up the zone coverages. The Falcons knew they couldn’t cover the Bengals receivers man-to-man but needed to figure out how to limit the yards after the catch.
Four Bengals receivers had more than 25 yards after the catch on their receptions. Chase (39 YAC), Boyd (38), Higgins (35) and Joe Mixon (25).
Getting back to their zone, finding the ball and rallying to the ballcarrier will likely be stressed in Monday’s film sessions.
“Just get back in the locker room, watch the film, take constructive criticism and get ready to go and make improvements,” Walker said.
The Falcons will likely have to keep playing zone coverages until Terrell can make it back. Terrell was doing a great job of traveling with the opposition’s top wide receiver.
“Coach does a (great) job of making corrections,” Walker said. “We’ll get with coach and he’ll get us to fix it, and that’s what we’ll do. We’ll find improvement and get ready for next week.”
Walker didn’t need to watch film to figure out the defense’s top priority.
“No. 1 thing is that we have to tackle better,” Walker said. “That’s the No. 1 thing that can make our defense better is to tackle better. Open-field tackles, we have to talk about it. We have to run to the ball a little better. Just that, we’ll get with coach and figure out how we are going to tighten up the zones, but like I said, the No. 1 thing is tackling.”
4. Injury report. The Falcons knew they were in a tough situation against the Bengals.
“Anytime you lose a starter, you’re going to miss the guys,” Walker said. “But we have great depth. A.J. and Casey (Hayward), they are our star guys. I think the guys did a helluva job. They came in and had a difficult situation. We could have helped them better up front.”
Walker returned after missing one game with a groin injury.
“It felt good,” Walker said. “I was comfortable. We did some different things on defense. (Some) things worked. Some didn’t work, but that’s every week. It’s coming together. It’s only one game.”
Also, safety Jaylinn Hawkins left the game in the fourth quarter and was evaluated for a concussion. Dean Marlowe took his place.
Also, the Falcons have safety Erik Harris, who could play nickel back and move Isaiah Oliver outside. He started his career as a right cornerback.
5. Desmond Ridder watch. Falcons backup quarterback Desmond Ridder, who was selected in the third round of the 2022 NFL draft, has not played an offensive snap this season.
Did the Falcons consider putting him in against the Bengals with the game pretty much out of reach?
“No, no,” Smith said. “There was plenty of time left in the fourth quarter. If we would have gotten a stop late, we probably would have put him in there to hand off the ball. You could have gotten excited about that, but there’s plenty of possessions, no different than L.A. We had three possessions left, they got us off the field on third down, and we never got the ball back.”
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The Bow Tie Chronicles
Atlanta Falcons 2022 schedule
Sept. 11: Saints 27, Falcons 26
Sept. 18: Rams 31, Falcons 27
Sept. 25 Falcons 27, Seahawks 23
Oct. 2 Falcons 23, Browns 20
Oct. 9 Buccaneers 21, Falcons 15
Oct. 16 Falcons 28, 49ers 14
Oct. 23 Bengals 35, Falcons 17
Oct. 30 vs. Carolina, 1 p.m.
Nov. 6 vs. Los Angeles Chargers, 1 p.m.
Nov. 10 at Carolina, 8:15 p.m.
Nov. 20 vs. Chicago, 1 p.m.
Nov. 27 at Washington, 1 p.m.
Dec. 4 vs. Pittsburgh, 1 p.m.
BYE WEEK
Dec. 18 at New Orleans, TBD
Dec. 24 at Baltimore, 1 p.m.
Jan. 1 vs. Arizona, 1 p.m.
Jan. 8 vs. Tampa Bay, TBD
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