NE Atlanta News

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris stated there was no connection between quarterback Kirk Cousins' health and the play-calling decisions made during last Sunday's game.

Cousins, who tore his Achilles tendon in Week 8 of the 2023 season while with the Minnesota Vikings, signed with the Falcons in March. Both Morris and Cousins have consistently emphasized that the 36-year-old quarterback is physically fit. Morris reiterated this point following the team's 18-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1.

"I feel like Kirk is healthy," Morris said. "He's been healthy since he's been here, since he's been back... We had restrictions we obviously put on him when he first got here, being smart with the OTA days. Obviously when we came into training camp, he was full-go and able to move other than the scrambles and some of those things that we limited. Towards the end of training camp, we allowed those things to happen, got him ready to go. We got into a game yesterday, and we gotta get better."

Cousins completed 16 of his 26 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown but was sacked twice and intercepted twice, finishing with a quarterback rating of 59.0—the eighth lowest of his starting career.

The 155 passing yards were also Cousins' second-lowest total in a season opener and ninth-lowest total in any game since becoming a full-time starter in 2015.

Responding to questions about whether Cousins' health influenced play-calling decisions, Morris stated: "Everything is going to be situational to the game plan for who you're playing against... When you go out and you put those guys in what we do and how we want to play and try to put those guys in good positions to get those guys blocked, the aliens the Pittsburgh Steelers have, you gotta try to figure those things out."

Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt posed significant challenges during the game. While officially recording only one sack due to penalties negating two others, Watt's presence was strongly felt on defense.

Defensive tackle Montravius Adams also contributed a sack for Pittsburgh as part of their overall defensive effort that included two sacks and seven quarterback hits.

"It exposed some things inside for us," Morris said. "We had a tough day inside... That's a good football team... but with our plan to go out there, we have to execute it better in order to get (Kirk) protected a little bit better... They definitely hit us too much when it came to some of the drop-back passes."

Of Atlanta's total offensive output of 226 net yards—89 were rushing while 137 were passing—the team ran 50 offensive plays comprising roughly equal proportions of rushing (44%) and passing (52%).

Running back Bijan Robinson led Atlanta’s ground game with 18 carries for 68 yards. Wide receivers Drake London and Darnell Mooney combined for three receptions totaling 30 yards; Ray-Ray McCloud III led with four receptions for 52 yards.

Tight end Kyle Pitts scored Atlanta's sole touchdown on a first-half reception spanning twelve yards.

"We want to get better," Morris concluded. "But we got to play better at the (quarterback) position; we got to play better around him."

---