What the film shows from the Falcons' 30-0 loss to the Carolina Panthers is only half the story.
Tori McElhaney
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. Yes, this is a film study. And yes, I watched the film. But, quite frankly, nothing I saw on tape, nothing I can list or dissect here about what went wrong inthe Falcons' 30-0 loss to the Carolina Panthers Sunday,matters.
The film, to me, doesn't matter. What I think about it doesn't matter. What matters is how the Falcons respond to it.
After the loss, Bijan Robinson was asked his thoughts on the team's performance and how the organization moves forward from it. His response? That's the only thing put on tape Sunday that means something for this team at 1-2 with its two losses coming at the hands of NFC South teams.
"I didn't want to lose by 30 (Sunday). Obviously nobody did. But it happened," Robinson said after the loss. "I believe this can either break a team or make a team. For us, this needs to make this team. We need to come in (Monday), we need to watch this game, and we all need to feel the same hurt the same way. This is a division game at that, so it needs to hurt even more."
At this point in time three games in, the Falconsparticularly offensivelyare not in the position they want to be in. They're not having the production they want, or need, to have a sustained winning product on the field. They have scored one touchdown in eight quarters of work. They didn't make it inside the Carolina 31-yard line Sunday. And no wide receiver or tight end on this offense, which boasts as many first-round talents as this one does, has caught a pass for a touchdown yet this season.
That stat wouldn't be as detrimental if the Falcons were running the ball into the endzone at a high rate, but that's not happening either. Michael Penix Jr., Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier have one rushing touchdown a piece. And when you're not consistently able to kick the ball through the uprights, either, it's not a recipe for success.
"Full transparency, we didn't play well as a team. We didn't play well particularly at the quarterback position," head coach Raheem Morris said Monday. "I love the accountability by Mike. I love the accountability by the guys around him. We didn't play well enough around him. We didn't play well enough for him. We didn't give him the help that was required to go out there and win that football game from a special teams standpoint or offensive standpoint."
Points and possession are the kings and queens of NFL football. Without either, it goes without saying it is difficult to succeed.
Now, all of this doesn't mean the Falcons never will. It just means they have a ways to go to reach the standard and goal of being one of the most fun and explosive offenses in the league which is the expectation they set for themselves in the preseason and through training camp. They have the potential to be. You don't have the likes of Robinson, Drake London, Penix, Kyle Pitts, Darnell Mooney and others on this offense and not have that potential.
The Falcons, though, need to turn that potential into reality. Because right now, reality is that this team is in the midst of a make-or-break week.
"For us," Robinson said, "this loss right here, when people look back at it, this needs to be the week where we come together and it changed everything so we can become the team we want to become."
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