The Kirk Cousins’ era with the Atlanta Falcons appeared to be on the brink Monday night in Philadelphia.
Atlanta trailed, 18-15, with 1:51 seconds left, and the Eagles possessed the football facing a third-and-3 on the Falcons 10-yard line. If they got the first down, the game would be over. If they failed to do so by running the ball, then they’d kick the field goal to go up six points with just over one minute to play.
However, Eagles new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore got galaxy-brained, and he decided to call a play-action pass to Pro Bowl running back Saquon Barkley. Philadelphia’s newest offensive weapon got open and the ball hit him in the hands, but he dropped the pass. That incompletion stopped the clock with 1:46 left to play, and the Eagles settled for a 28-yard field goal to extend their lead to six with 1:42 left to go.
That gave Cousins, who admitted to ESPN’s Troy Aikman that he is “not 100%,” one last chance. He made the most of it, leading Atlanta on a six-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that concluded with a seven-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Drake London in 1:05 without any timeouts. Cousins’ game-winning drive resulted in a 22-21 Atlanta win and the NFL’s Next Gen Stats’ seventh-most improbable comeback since they began tracking win probability in 2016. The Falcons had less than a 1% chance of victory (0.7% to be exact) after the two-minute warning.
One of the most important offensive plays of the night for Atlanta was Cousins’ first throw of the drive, a pass over the middle to tight end Kyle Pitts for a gain of 11 yards and a first down. That play kickstarted a string of 63 yards of offense, including that completion to Pitts, over the drive’s first four plays, which spanned just 51 seconds. Those plays featured consecutive deep throws to free agent addition Darnell Mooney for a combined 33 yards and then the first of two completions on the possession to London for five yards to get Atlanta down to the Eagles’ seven. A quick incompletion to Ray-Ray McCloud briefly halted the momentum before Cousins threw the scoring strike to London.
However, the Falcons taking the lead wasn’t guaranteed. Kicker Younghoe Koo was tasked with draining a 48-yard kick for the extra point instead of the default 33 yards because London got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct following his seven-yard touchdown catch. Koo drilled it.
Two plays later, second-team All-Pro safety Jessie Bates III proved he was worth every penny of his four-year, $64 million contract he signed in free agency in March of 2023, materializing out of thin air to seal the game with an interception of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts.
With the comeback complete, Cousins discarded his big-game, prime-time choker’s label, leaving that knock behind in Minnesota. He has now won consecutive “Monday Night Football” games as an underdog, going back to the Vikings’ 22-17 upset win over the 49ers in Week 7 last season. Cousins’ nine game-winning drives since 2022 are tied for the most in the league along with Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, a tally that includes an NFL single-season record eight in 2022. He also improved to 4-1 in his past five “Monday Night Football” starts after beginning his career 0-9 under the bright lights. Maybe the most important stat since 2022: Cousins improved to 7-4 against teams entering with a winning record since after being 17-33-1 in such games in his first 10 seasons. He also endeared himself to a locker room that also contains 2024 eighth overall pick quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who was the 2023 Heisman Trophy runner-up with Washington.
Not only did Cousins’ personal reputation receive a boost inside and outside of his franchise from Monday’s heroics; so did the Falcons’ playoff chances in 2024. Their playoff odds nearly doubled from 24% to 44%, according to CBS Sports data scientist Stephen Oh. Atlanta improved to 1-1 on Monday instead of falling to 0-2, which may not sound like a big deal, but definitely is. Since the NFL playoffs grew to 14 teams in 2020, only two squads across the last four seasons have begun 0-2 and made the postseason: the 2022 Cincinnati Bengals and 2023 Houston Texans. Only five 0-2 teams since 2020 even finished their respective campaigns with winning records.
The Falcons have a murderer’s row of a schedule the next three weeks, facing the 2-0 back-to-back Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in Week 3, the 2-0 New Orleans Saints in Week 4 and the 2-0 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 5. Instead of entering that stretch with their heads down, Cousins and the Falcons are entering their upcoming gauntlet fired up. Everyone in Atlanta definitely likes that.
