Falcons Won't Let Late-Season Loss Impact Upcoming Carolina Matchup

The Atlanta Falcons (1-1) are set to face off against the Carolina Panthers (0-2) in a road divisional matchup. The last time the two teams played was in Week 18, and it was an overtime bout with serious implications for the Falcons. 

Atlanta was 8-8 heading into the game; they needed a win and a loss by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to make the postseason for the first time since 2017. Neither occurred, as the Falcons ultimately fell 44-38, and the Buccaneers squeaked by with a 27-19 win over the Saints to take the south.

Head coach Raheem Morris said he wasn’t going to let the crushing loss linger in the back of their heads. 

“No, I don't carry things like that. That's not my deal,” Morris said.

“I think all of the games that you win, lose, draw stick with you in the offseason. You take those things, and you learn from them, you grow from them. You get a chance to go back and look at the season and evaluate all those things. Obviously, you're not supposed to like the Panthers, and we don't. That's easy. So, it doesn't matter what week it was or what happened… You win from losses, you win from wins, and you've got to find ways to get better every single week.”

No single loss and no single win sticks out for the Falcons' head coach. All that matters is getting better next week. The team has already shown growth from Week 1 to Week 2. 

While the Falcons got consistent pressure in their first game of the season, a 23-20 loss to the Buccaneers, Atlanta finished the game with just one sack. In their second game of the season, a 22-6 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, the Falcons registered six sacks, including five in the first half. 

A place the Falcons would like to see improvement from last week would be the red-zone offense. The Falcons scored just one touchdown in their second game of the season and settled for five field goals. The Falcons have scored just two touchdowns in the red zone this season: a four-yard rush by quarterback Michael Penix Jr. in Week 1 and a five-yard rush by running back Tyler Allgeier in Week 2.

“ Now, what do we have to do better on offense is punch it in the red zone,” Morris said Wednesday. “We're only able to get in there once, and you would like to see those guys get in the red zone. That's just part of daily improvement, our own improvement. But I think our offense did a nice job of going out there.”

Getting the ball into the endzone is certainly something that the Falcons need to improve on this season. The Falcons averaged 38 points per game against the Panthers last season.

The Falcons’ Week 3 matchup in Carolina will offer an early chance to show whether this team is learning from each week, as Morris hopes to do. For the head coach, the focus isn’t avenging the Week 18 loss, but getting better with each game as the Falcons aim to finally break through and make the playoffs.

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