Here’s a way to frame the display of futility that the Falcons treated their fans to Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
There have been more than 18,000 NFL games in the league’s history. A week ago, the Carolina Panthers gave up 59 points, which was in the highest .2 percentile of most points allowed in a game, according to Stathead.
Seven days later, the same Panthers held the Falcons to three points, a total that rates in the latter franchise’s lowest sixth percentile for points scored in a regular-season game, also according to Stathead.
From weakling to bully, while the Falcons transformed from laughingstock to punch line.
In front of a partially-filled Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Falcons and new coach Kevin Stefanski signed their names to just a staggeringly deflating performance.
“Obviously, extremely disappointed in that game and extremely disappointed in how that game started,” Stefanski said.
Beforehand, I surmised that the Falcons should be fine Sunday, even after quarterback Cooper Rush’s abysmal performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the season opener. It was a forecast that likewise proved in the lowest .2 percentile for accuracy.
From the very first snap of the game, which Rush fumbled away, the Falcons were a gusher of mistakes, penalties and physical and mental errors.
The Falcons slipped and budged for 60 minutes, giving way to the Panthers series by series until the scoreboard read 34-3, the Falcons’ worst loss inside owner Arthur Blank’s sports palace.
After Rush’s interception, cornerback A.J. Terrell — whom defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich called the best boundary cornerback in the NFL earlier this week — appeared to make an assignment error that enabled the Panthers to complete a 26-yard pass on second-and-17 from the Falcons 31-yard line.
The Panthers scored on fourth-and-goal when the Falcons botched the coverage and had two defenders both follow tight end Darren Waller, allowing running back Chuba Hubbard to be wide open for a throw from quarterback Bryce Young for a touchdown.
On the Falcons’ next possession, Rush was intercepted when he hesitated on a throw to running back Bijan Robinson and then threw anyway, leading to an interception off a deflection by linebacker Devin Lloyd.
“If you feel hesitation, sometimes as a QB, you can move on,” Rush said. “I knew Lloyd was in there. He made a good play, dived for the ball. It tipped up and they got it.”
Down 10-0 near the end of the first quarter, the Falcons went for it on fourth-and-1 at the Carolina 31 but botched the play. On an end-around for wide receiver Drake London, the Falcons did not block Lloyd, who shot into the backfield as if fired by a cannon and brought down London for a loss. I asked Stefanski if Lloyd was supposed to be blocked.
“Not going to get into the specifics of the play, but they certainly made a play and we did not,” he said.
On it went. Still down 10-0 in the second quarter, the Falcons gave up a combined 64 yards on three consecutive plays on passes by Young, setting up another field goal for a 13-0 lead in the second quarter.
After Nick Folk’s field goal closed the lead to 13-3 with 1:07 left in the half and provided a glimmer of hope, the Falcons doused it by allowing the Panthers to drive 73 yards in 47 seconds for a touchdown and a 20-3 lead going into halftime. The backbreaker was a 55-yard pass by Young on a second-and-16 at the Carolina 35 in which safety Xavier Watts appeared to misread the play and failed to give cornerback Mike Hughes over-the-top help.
Folk, signed this offseason for his supposed trustworthiness, missed a third field goal try in the young season. Rookie quarterback Jack Strand, thrown into the fray in the third quarter with Rush going down in flames, threw a pick-six on his first NFL pass attempt. (Strand can take a small consolation from the fact that another one-time Falcons rookie quarterback had his first NFL pass returned for a touchdown — Brett Favre.)
This is not a good team to start with and the necessity of playing Rush at quarterback has only lowered its potential output. Needing to play a clean game, the Falcons were the belle of the pig pen. A ninth consecutive season without a postseason appearance looks more likely than ever.
“A lot of it is self-inflicted,” Robinson said. “But for us, that’s what this game’s about. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and we have to stop letting those mistakes happen because if we keep on just letting them slide, we’re not going to be at our full potential and we’re not going to get the result that we want.”
Playing short-handed and lacking depth and talent, losing is understandable and maybe even expected.
But not like this.
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