On a night when the Super Bowl champion Chiefs struggled to score, the Atlanta Falcons had a great chance to give Kansas City its first loss on Sunday.
Injuries to the offensive line were costly at the end, as the Falcons couldn’t convert on a crucial fourth-and-1, allowing the Chiefs to win 22-17.
With about a minute left, the Falcons and quarterback Kirk Cousins had the Chiefs in a tough spot. They faced third-and-1 at the Kansas City 13-yard line, knowing a touchdown would put Atlanta (1-2) ahead. However, they couldn’t gain any yards.
Tyler Allgeier was stopped for no gain on a third-down run. On fourth down, Cousins handed the ball to Bijan Robinson, who attempted to run around the left side of the Chiefs’ defense but lost 3 yards, sealing the victory for the Chiefs (3-0).
“I don’t feel good (about the play calling now), they didn’t work,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “You run one up the middle with Tyler Allgeier, you don’t get it. You get no yards on that play.
You get one on fourth down with Bijan, you get no yards on that play. You don’t like the calls, you don’t like the results, but that was our plan. We were decisive, we called them. We were very aggressive.”
In the first half, Atlanta lost starting center Drew Dalmon to an ankle injury, and starting right tackle Kaleb McGary was out with a knee injury. Their absence was felt, as Cousins was sacked twice and hit 10 more times after throwing the ball.
“We won’t make excuses about that,” Morris said. “I got a 69-man roster. I love the guys I got and the guys that went up there and they fought for us against whoever. I’ll go out and battle with whoever we got on our football team.”
