1) Rust
The Atlanta Falcons barely played starters during the 3-game preseason. And yes, that did help prevent injuries. However, that added 3 more weeks of guys not getting real game reps.
Which is fine, I think. But there is an outside shot that guys come in looking rusty or not fully in synch with each other.
2) The offensive line
The Falcons are ushering a new era of quarterback with Kirkpatrick Cousins, which is so exciting. However, Cousins is an older quarterback and coming off a season-ending Achilles injury. Those two things aren’t necessarily an issue, but it does mean he’s more likely to be a sitting duck in the pocket vs a very potent Pittsburgh Steelers pass rush led by Cam Heyward, Alex Highsmith, and TJ Watt. That pass rush group and DL rotation for Pittsburgh is a potential nightmare for the Falcons' offensive line as they look to start the season off right.
3. Will Arthur Smith get the last laugh?
Arthur Smith. The former prize jewel of his head coaching cycle was a massive flameout here in Atlanta and ended up getting fired after three straight seasons of 7-10. He now gets the chance to start off his redemption tour as an OC against the team that fired him.
Smith can showcase some utterly insane and downright grotesque offensive schemes as we saw when he had no established quarterback presence in Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder. Even now Pittsburgh is in a similar spot and we could see some similar concepts used against the Falcons. If the defense isn’t ready, there is a real shot that the coach, formerly known as FedEx Boy to Falcons Twitter, could lead the Steelers to a strong week 1 outing against our Falcons.
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