Kirk Cousins helps Falcons snap five-game losing streak

Almost exactly a year ago, the Falcons walked into New Orleans as heavy favorites with a 6-3 record and a quarterback in Kirk Cousins who was playing like a top-10 signal caller. Atlanta was comfortably sitting in first place, eyeing its first postseason berth since 2017. It was on that day, though, that things began to unravel in a miserable fashion few could have ever seen coming.

The Falcons went on to lose to the 2-7 Saints by three in a game where Cousins threw a back-breaking interception and Younghoe Koo missed three field goals. It marked the beginning of a four-game losing streak that wiped out their playoff chances and ultimately resulted in the benching of Cousins in favor of Michael Penix Jr., where the veteran has spent most of the last year.

But on Sunday, the Falcons returned to the scene of the crime with Cousins under center in his likely final opportunity to prove he can still be a starting quarterback in this league after Penix went down with a partially torn ACL. And ironically, Atlanta’s offense finally looked like what fans expected it to look like when the team signed Cousins in free agency 18 months ago.

Despite also being without top receiving threat Drake London, the Falcons managed over 300 yards of offense. Cousins threw two touchdown passes, including a game-sealing 49-yard strike to Darnell Mooney — his first touchdown catch of the season — while the Falcons’ one-two punch in the backfield combined for 114 rushing yards.

Most notably, Atlanta went back to the basics with Cousins under center. They ran a ton of plays from under center and leaned heavily on play-action — two staples that had essentially disappeared from the offense since the start of the 2024 season. Last year, Cousins wasn’t fully right coming off the torn Achilles, and with Penix, the offense shifted to more pistol looks because that’s where he was most comfortable. But that preference clearly limited what the Falcons could do offensively — more an indictment of the young quarterback than the play-calling.

On top of the refreshing offensive performance, the Falcons defense once again played spectacularly, nearly pitching a shutout on the road against their division rivals. They allowed just three points and recorded five sacks, bringing their total to 23 sacks over the last four games — a stretch nobody would’ve believed possible entering the season.

The win, combined with what happened around the league on Sunday — the Panthers idle on their bye, the Bucs getting clobbered on Sunday Night Football by the Rams with Baker Mayfield injured — gives Atlanta one last glimmer of hope with six games left. The Falcons will need help, no doubt, but it was in New Orleans last year where their unthinkable spiral began. Maybe this time a win in the Big Easy can be the catalyst that saves not only the season, but Kirk Cousins’ career as well.