Three obvious truths revealed in Falcons loss to Dolphins

Any confidence the Falcons may have inspired a couple of weeks ago with their convincing win over the Bills has quickly fizzled out following back-to-back losses, highlighted by yesterday’s completely incompetent looking defeat at the hands of the 1-6 Dolphins. The same questions that have haunted this organization in the past have returned, as the fan base wonders if the Falcons will ever get it right.

JD Bertrand is not a starting linebacker

Divine Deablo was one of the stories of the first six weeks of the season, playing like one of the league’s best linebackers after signing a two-year contract with the Falcons this offseason. Losing him was a massive blow to a vastly improved defense, but few realized just how big that loss would be. The Dolphins feasted on second-year linebacker JD Bertrand, living around the line of scrimmage in the passing game and ripping off chunk plays on the ground. He’s simply not a starting-caliber linebacker in this league, and it’s an issue the Falcons need to address immediately.

Zac Robinson is the offensive Jimmy Lake

The Falcons don’t have to look far into their past to remember how much of an impact a coordinator change can have. The defense has completely transformed since firing Jimmy Lake and replacing him with Jeff Ulbrich — even if Sunday wasn’t the best example of that. What Sunday did confirm, though, is that Zac Robinson isn’t cut out to be an NFL offensive coordinator, at least not yet.

There’s far too much talent on that side of the ball for the offense to look this lifeless, scoring just 23 points over their last 10 quarters. If you don’t want to take my word for it, take Kurt Warner’s.

“I love this game & breaking down tape, but I’m struggling to watch the ATL O tape!!! Predictable… boring (same plays over and over)… don’t like the spacing often… lots of miscommunication… just don’t really get it??!” Warner said on Twitter/X following yesterday’s game.

No more need for Kirk Cousins trade speculation

Sunday was the perfect opportunity for Kirk Cousins to show the rest of the NFL that he could still play at a high level ahead of the trade deadline. Teams have been shredding the Dolphins’ defense all year. Instead, Cousins looked slow, old, and completely out of sync. He finished with just 173 passing yards on 5.6 yards per attempt, and his deep balls weren’t even close. The performance was eerily similar to the ones that got him benched last year.

Cousins is cooked — and so are the Falcons’ chances of trading him. Even keeping him on the roster as a backup feels like a painful reminder of the front office’s decision to hand him $100 million in guaranteed money last offseason.

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