The Atlanta Falcons continued their 2024-2025 regular season at home on Sunday evening against Patrick Mahomes and the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. 

Heading into this game, the Falcons mounted an inspiring game-winning drive with 1:39 left and no timeouts against the Philadelphia Eagles last Monday. Kirk Cousins looked healthier compared to Week 1’s abysmal loss and wide receiver Drake London was able to have a bit better of a performance, including catching the go-ahead touchdown pass from Cousins. For the Chiefs, they left a little bit of meat on the bone in their matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals the week prior – Mahomes threw for only 151 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. 

In the third edition of this regular season series, we will recap Atlanta’s second home matchup and focus on a few of their players who had standout performances (studs) and players who may have struggled (duds). 

So, without further ado:

Game Recap

Chiefs def. Falcons 22-17

This was a game that came down to the wire, with Atlanta’s defense keeping their offense in it and being able to compete with a very tough team. At the end of the night, however, Kansas City came out with the victory to advance to 3-0 on the year and sending Atlanta to a 1-2 record. 

Falcons receiver London opened the game with a wide open touchdown catch to give Atlanta the first lead of the game. Cousins finished the night with 230 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception that came in the second half. On the other side of the ball, Mahomes racked up 217 passing yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Wide receiver Rashee Rice led the way for Kansas City, as the second-year receiver recorded 110 yards and a touchdown on 12 catches. 

Atlanta will stay in Flowery Branch for the next two weeks as they will play host to their division rivals, where they hope to regain some sort of momentum after this loss. 

Studs

S Justin Simmons

Superman’s Kryptonite strikes again. 

I spoke about it in my bold predictions last week; no one has intercepted Mahomes more in the quarterback’s career than Justin Simmons. On Kansas City’s opening drive on offense, Simmons would make magic happen once again as he picked off the 3x Super Bowl champion near the endzone, by seemingly reading the play from a mile away. Simmons has now been able to intercept Mahomes six times since 2018 and if you can do that against the face of the NFL, you have to be in the ‘studs’ category, right? 

WR Drake London

Two weeks in a row that Atlanta’s star receiver lands in this category. 

This was the most Drake London has been targeted in a game since the start of the season. The former USC standout was targeted nine times and London hauled in six of those for 67 yards, including the opening drive touchdown catch where he was left wide open. 

It was yet another day where London failed to achieve over 100 yards, but each week he continues to get more involved even if it isn’t as much as he should be. This now marks back-to-back weeks where the WR1 has gotten a touchdown, so he deserves his flowers in that aspect. 

Duds

Offensive Line Injuries

Not an ideal situation you want to be in. 

Right tackle Kaleb McGary (knee) and center Drew Dalman (ankle) both came out of the game in the second quarter before ultimately being ruled out after halftime. Storm Norton and Ryan Neuzil were the replacements and they were able to hold their own the best that they could at times. However, Atlanta’s offense looked to have stalled in the third quarter once the starters exited the game and their presence was definitely missing. You could argue that these injuries are what catapulted the slow burn for the Falcons in this matchup. 

Losing two key starters certainly wasn’t what Atlanta needed when going against a feisty Kansas City team. 

Keep an eye on the injury report throughout the week for the Falcons in regards to both McGary and Dalman’s health heading into Week 4. 

OC Zac Robinson

A new offensive coordinator that many had high hopes and expectations for. 

While Zac Robinson isn’t a player, his playcalling still needs to be highlighted because it was, well, disappointing. Atlanta had a chance to take the lead and presumably come away with the win with under a minute remaining – much like they did in Week 2 against the Eagles. But, it looks like lightning doesn’t strike twice for the Dirty Birds. On 4th-and-Inches, the Falcons were in a “gotta have it” situation with the game on the line, and Robinson called an outside run (a play that didn’t seem to work all game long) to Bijan Robinson, who ended up getting stopped well behind the line of scrimmage. This was seemingly a head-scratching play call considering Atlanta wasn’t really able to establish the run game at any point in this contest. 

The first-time play caller had many questionable calls throughout the evening, but the decision on 4th down is enough to sum it all up and put the icing on the cake.

Robinson should hopefully learn from this game and continue to to grow as the season rolls on…right?

RB Bijan Robinson 

I did not see this one coming. 

For the first two weeks, I had Robinson as a mainstay in the ‘studs’ section and I even predicted for the second-year running back to just be a no-brainer stud each and every week. 

Well, I was wrong here. 

Both Bijan Robinson and his running mate Tyler Allgeier had rather underwhelming performances. Robinson carried the ball 16 times and only had 31 yards to show for it, while Allgeier notched 31 yards on seven carries. Atlanta’s rushing offense averaged just 3.3 yards per carry in this outing. The former Texas Longhorn was able to record his first touchdown of the season, but this was not a day for Robinson to write home about. 

Granted, the offensive line suffered two key injuries that could have played a part in the run game, or lack thereof. Make no mistake about it, there will be better days for Atlanta’s best skill player, this is just one that he will hope to forget. 

The next chance for the Falcons to get back on track will be next Sunday afternoon when they take on division rival — and once red hot — New Orleans Saints LIVE on FOX, NFL Sunday Ticket and more.

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