The Falcons Beat the Saints, Then Cleaned House Immediately
One thing that I was committed to doing in 2026 was branching out, doing some things that I’ve never done before. Therefore, I started my very own Falcons podcast. This is one that I am very serious about doing. I think this has the potential to completely jumpstart my career in sports media. But I don’t want to be known as one dimensional. So, for every episode of my podcast that I release, I will release a new piece of writing, that basically summarizes what I talked about in that week’s episode. This will not only help my writing, but my note taking, because if you can write about something for hours, then you really know what you’re talking about.
So let’s get into what we have on tap this week. First and foremost, the Atlanta Falcons finish the season on a 4-game winning streak after defeating the Swamp Dwellers 19–17 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday. If you watched the game, then you’ll know that it basically was a perfect way to describe the Falcons 2025 season. A stagnant offensive performance, coupled with an amazing defensive day from James Pearce Jr and company, and you have just described 90% of games this past season from the Atlanta Falcons. The only thing that it was missing was some special teams meltdown where we get a kick blocked, or give up a big return, or forget the rules to an onside kick. But luckily, none of that happened, and we were able to escape with a win.
On New Orleans’ first drive of the game, AJ Terrell strips Juwan Johnson, Xavier Watts picks it up and gives Kirk Cousins and company the ball on the +39 yard line, well within Zane Gonzalez range. That was, until Kirk Cousins throws an interception to Saints DL Carl Granderson, who read the Kyle Pitts screen play like it was the work of Shakespeare. So, needless to say, that was a drive killer. After trading punts, the special teams unit actually does the impossible and makes a great play, blocking the Saints punt and giving the offense the ball on the 5 yard line. After a Bijan touchdown run gets called back for holding, Kirk Cousins takes what seems like ages to hit Drake London in the back of the endzone for finally put the Falcons on the board. Then nothing all that eventful happened. A Zane Gonzalez 40 yard field goal to extend the lead to 10 before Saints QB Tyler Shough barely beat out Jalon Walker to the front pylon on a bootleg touchdown. Then it was halftime. Coming out of the break, James Pearce Jr made some Falcons history. He sacked Tyler Shough on back to back plays, to set the Falcons franchise record for sacks at 57. If you would have told Falcons fans at the beginning of the season that the defense was going to get the most sacks in the 60 year history of this franchise, we would’ve thought that we were a top 3 seed in the NFC. But anyways, I digress. It took until there was 3:25 left in the 4th quarter for some more fireworks, and they came by way of Dee Alford. Dee was one of the most hated Falcons last season, but he really turned it up this year, capping it off with a 59 yard interception to basically seal the win for the Falcons. The Saints would score once more to make it a 2 point game, but after Kyle Pitts recovered the onside kick, it was time for victory formation.
Kirk Cousins finished the day completing 18 passes for 180 yards, 1 touchdown, and that horrible pick to the defensive lineman. Tyler Shough, on the other hand, had 23 completions for 259 yards, 1 touchdown, and that interception to Dee Alford that sealed the game. Not going to lie, the Saints might have found something good with Shough. I don’t watch too many Saints games (I mean, who would willingly subject themselves to that?), but in the bit that I’ve seen him play, I’m lowkey scared about what he could become. The Saints did a great job at making sure the Falcons couldn’t do anything by taking away Bijan Robinson, who finished the day with 43 scrimmage yards. But that’s basically been the story of the Falcons offense all season. They will go as far as Bijan takes them. There was an incident after the Drake London touchdown, where we storms to bench, and seems to get into some kind of verbal altercation with QB coach TJ Yates. Postgame, Drake dismissed it, saying that he pretty much just got to into the game, and let his competitive nature get the best of him. I’m not buying it. I think there was more to it, and we saw the aftermath a few hours later.
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Everyone thought that the team did just enough in the 4 game winning streak to keep some jobs safe, but inevitably, it wasn’t. Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot were fired late Sunday night. Raheem was fired after a 16–18 stint as the Falcon coach. However, most of his issues were in clock management. We’ve seen it a handful of times where we had a chance to go down the field and score at the end of games or halves, and Raheem just keeps the timeouts in his pocket the whole time, not using one, staying conservative, and losing us games. You just can’t do that as an NFL head coach. Terry is the more head scratching of the two. He did finish 37–48 in his 5 years as general manager with no playoff appearances. He drafted particularly well, mainly Allgeier, Bijan, Drake, JPJ, Jalon Walker, Xavier Watts. But, he did pay Kirk Cousins $180 million, then turned around and drafted Michael Penix with the 8th overall pick. He knew his job was on thin ice this offseason. When he traded up for JPJ this past draft, he sent a message to himself and Raheem saying that if we don’t win, we do not get to make a pick next year. Raheem was the 2nd head coach fired under Terry, and over the Taylor Smith and Arthur Blank era’s of the franchise, the GMs only get 2 head coaches before they get fired.
But it didn’t stop their. Blank woke up Monday morning and released a statement, saying that he relieved CEO Rich McKay of his duties with the team. He promoted Greg Beadles from president to president and CEO, and this was something that Falcons fans had been calling for years. They got tired of McKay having a say with how the team was constructed and apparently, so did Arthur Blank. However, this does open up a door for a certain familiar face to come back into Flowery Branch. In that same statement, Blank said that he would be making a President of Football Operations role, and that the head coach and GM would report directly to this new president about football-related issues. And there has been a certain hall of fame quarterback who has been in the rumor mill as of late who would do this job perfectly. Of course, I’m talking about Matt Ryan himself. He would be perfect. He’s already been talking about how to fix the Falcons on CBS and his podcast all season. He still loves the team and the city, so why not bring him back in an elevated role where he doesn’t have to worry about Cam Jordan or Thomas Davis breathing down his neck every Sunday.
But what do all these moves tell us about the state of Falcons football right now? It’s a pretty easy answer, and it is that Arthur Blank wants to win. Blank is 83 years old, and loves the Falcons as much as the guy who saved up all year just to afford his PSL. Before Atlanta United and the new NWSL team that is supposed to be coming in 2028 (I’m still so excited for that. You guys have no idea.), it was the Home Depot, and the Falcons. He wants to win an NFL championship, not just for himself and his legacy, but for the city of Atlanta.
The Falcons have already gotten to work on finding a new head coach and GM. ZRG Partners is helping with the head coach search, and Sportsology Group is helping find the next general manager. The Falcons have already requested interviews for Miami defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver and Seattle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. They are also expected to be one of the teams who interview former Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski.
With all the buzz surrounding the Falcons, including rumors about new uniforms being on the way, you won’t want to miss anything, so consider dropping a follow to the Facebook, and the new podcast, Get Falcon Set. I’ll leave all the socials and everything in the link tree. Thank you for reading, and I will talk to you all next week with the 2026 Falcons Season Autopsy.
