Falcons - Eagles live online: stats, scores and highlights | NFL Week 2
Falcons thin at WR
We can blame Kirk Cousins all we want for his subpar performance and the Falcons offense looking like they were stuck in the mud for the first 60 minutes of the season, but has Atlanta provided their QB with enough fire power at the WR position? With all due respect to Drake London and Darnell Mooney and Ray-Ray McCloud, there aren’t many people lining up to take any of those receivers in the first round of fantasy drafts. Mooney is the only one who has had a 1,000 yard season and that was once back in 2021. It was McCloud who led the team in receiving last week, catching four balls for 52 yard.
Tush push disappearing?
There is a changing of the guard (or center rather) in Philly and that has hindered one of their secret weapons. Jason Kelce, the Eagles long time center retired after the end of last season and with him went the unshakeable, always defender Tush Push or Brotherly Shove. Whatever you call it, it may be a thing of the past. With Kelce out, it’s Cam Jurgens in, and Jurgens almost fumbled a snap to Hurts late in the game on what could have been a game winning Tush Push play. Last week the Eagles tried the Brother Shove four times with a success rate of 50%.
Pitts homecoming
The Falcons Tight End is making a homecoming tonight has the Philly kid is back in the City of Brotherly Love tonight. After attracting attention from across the nation in high school Pitts signed with the Florida Gators where he was able to show just how dominant he could be even on a team that wasn’t very good. He was taken fourth overall by the Falcons, and was expected to be a big time piece of the puzzle to bring Atlanta back on the map, but QB problems have prevented Pitts from repeating a 1,000 yard season like he had his rookie year. He will no doubt have some family and friends at the Link tonight, and he’ll be looking to put on a show in his city.
Brown out
While the Philly offense looked like it was in mid season form to start the season from Sao Paolo, there will be a big absence in wide receiver for Jalen Hurts. AJ Brown has been downgraded to out after experiencing from hamstring tightness on Friday. He sat out practice Saturday and was ruled out yesterday. Hurts has other options at WR, but you could see those two were clicking from the very start in this Kellen Moore offense in Week 1. Brown had 119 yards and a TD on 5 catches against the Packers last week.
Time to panic?
It’s way too early in the season to panic, but if the Falcons don’t start to win soon there could be some alarm bells sounding around Mercedes Benz Stadium. This was one of those ALL-IN seasons for the Falcons who took a chance on some big summer deals hoping that they would be in a position to win now like the Rams did with Matthew Stafford a few years ago. Often times the ALL IN projects make a team good for a while but leave them in shambles in the aftermath. The way things have been going for the Falcons, they might stink now and stink later. Obviously they can calm the nerves of their fans with a primetime win in a tough venue from Philly.
Penix sitting and waiting
If, and that’s a big if, the Cousins project doesn’t work out, there is a contingency plan. It may not have made Cousins very happy after singing with the Falcons, but Atlanta took Michael Penix Jr. out of the University of Washington with their first round pick in the draft. He played just one preseason game, but impressed with his arm and accuracy. It’s much too early to go scraping their $180 million man under center, but if Cousins continues to struggle many Atlanta fans who questioned the signing of Kirk in the first place will be wanting to see the rookie as the QB1.
Cousins history
It was one of the headlines of the offseason as the Atlanta Falcons laid out a staggering amount of money to a 36 year old quarterback who is coming off of an achilles injury that kept him out for the second half of last year. The $180 million contract did’t look like the best investment in the Falcons game against the Steelers, but it is still very early in the season. When healthy Cousins has shown he can run an offense like some of the best in the game. He has had 7 4,000 yard seasons and 8 seasons throwing 25 TDs or more while maintaining one of the best TD to INT ratios in the game.
New coordinators in Philly
After last year’s late season collapse, the Eagles off loaded their offensive and defensive coordinators and brought in some fresh faces to try and revamp the image and the DNA of this team. Vic Fangio was brought in on the defensive end and Kellen Moore was named the offensive coordinator. None of the starters played in preseason so we didn’t get a glimpse of how things were looking in Philly but if Week 1 is any indication the offense looks like a well oiled machine. The defense still has some kinks to work out after giving up 29 points, but as long as Hurts, Barkley and the rest of the offense put up those kinds of numbers this is going to be a tough team to beat.
Saquon and only
It was the signing of the offseason and it’s already paying dividends for the Philadelphia Eagles. The New York Giants weren’t willing to pay Saquon Barkley after splashing cash for their franchise QB Daniel Jones. The Eagles were right there in the waiting as Barkley parted ways with the Giants. He signed with NYG’s division rival and eternal enemy the Eagles, and now has Philly looking like one of the contenders in the NFC. If his debut is any indicator than watch out NFC and NFL.
NFC Standings
After the second Sunday of the NFL season, the NFC provided us with a few surprises. Some teams that we thought were going to among the best in the league have already started to show vulnerabilities, while other teams we didn’t expect much from are undefeated and leading the division after the first couple weeks. Here is how the NFC is looking coming into this game.
Last season: Eagles
Eagles fans look away now. Philly started the season looking like one of the best teams in the league. They won their first five and rattled off 10 wins in 11 games to start the season, but somehow there was a lack of belief behind this team in the City of Brotherly Love. That cloud of doubt was well founded because the Eagles got smacked by the Niners in Week 13 to start the beginning of the end for the Eagles. They went from a guaranteed one seed in the NFC to a Wild Card team that just snuck into the playoffs after losing five of their last six and got demolished by the Bucs to bring their miserable collapse to an abrupt end in the first round of the playoffs.
Last season: Falcons
The Falcons weren’t a good team last year, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have a chance to make the playoffs. With Desmond Ridder as their QB they won the first two games of the season and there was suddenly hope in ATL, but the joy wouldn’t last long. They would lose six of their next eight, but coming down to the final stretch of the season they still had a shot at the division title in an NFC South that was sub par to say the least. They lost four of their last five games, three of those Ls coming to division opponents including the lowly Panthers and missed out on the playoffs for a seventh straight season.
Star watch: Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons have floated in no mans land for the better part of the last decade as they continue to try to recover from their Super Bowl nightmare in 2016. Since then they have been to the playoffs only once, and that might be a problem that you can chalk up to personnel. Bijan Robinson is trying to change that narrative for the Falcons who have been one of the least exciting teams to watch over the last few seasons. Robinson is the spark plug out of the backfield and can do it on the ground or through the air. He is going to have to be Cousins best friend and biggest ally if the Falcons are going to have any sort of success this year.
Star watch: Eagles
It wasn’t so long ago that Jalen Hurts was thought of as a primer QB in this league. The late season collapse last season seems to have erased our memory of a QB that put up record setting numbers in his first trip to the Super Bowl a few years ago. He’s got weapons all around him, and Barkley in the backfield is going to take some of the pressure off of him with a more balanced offensive attack. There is a long way to go between now and then, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hurts back in the MVP conversation at the end of this season.
Last game: Eagles
It was a shootout in Sao Paolo as the Eagles posted 34 points thanks to a monster debut from Saquon Barkley who scored three TDs in his first game in a Philly jersey. Despite the big game from their new RB, the Packers led for most of the first half. After the halftime break, Jalen Hurts hit AJ Brown on a 67 yard TD pass to take a lead that they would hang on to for the rest of the night. Hurts had 278 yards with 2 TDs and 2 INTs, Saquon had 109 rushing yards and two TD and another 23 yards and a TD receiving, and Brown finished the night with 119 yards as the Eagles held off the Packers for a Week 1 win.
Last game: Falcons
It wasn’t the Falcons that fans envisioned when they heard the news that Kirk Cousins was coming to town. The offense only put up 230 yards, turned the ball over three times and scored just 10 points as the Steelers defense shut down this new look offense in Atlanta. Pittsburgh didn’t do much on the offensive end thanks partially because of their struggles at the QB position, but partially because of the Falcons defense. Unfortunately for Falcons fans, the offense was held to less than 30 yards in the second half and shut out as the Steelers won the game with six field goals.
We are live from the Link
Hello everyone and welcome to Philly where this new look Eagles team gave an great first impression to their fans with a big win over a good Packers team in Sao Paolo last Friday. There were plenty of question surrounding this side after a disastrous end to last season, but after Week 1 the waters have calmed a bit in the City of Brotherly Love. Things are not as calm in Atlanta after the Falcons opening week performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kirk Cousins and the offense looked underwhelming in their first game of the season and now things in the ATL have been turned upside down as people are already turning on their $180 million QB.
Falcons vs. Eagles
It’s a battle of the birds tonight from the City of Brotherly Love. Philadelphia return home flying high after a win in Sao Paolo to open the season and they welcome an Atlanta team that flat lined in Week 1 after making a big splash for an all-in season. It’s the Eagles hosting the Falcons on Monday Night Football and AS English will be with you all night providing live coverage, stats, highlights and analysis of tonight’s game from Lincoln Financial Field.