Kirk Cousins' issues have already sent Atlanta Falcons' hype train off track

ATLANTA — For first impressions, what a nightmare.

The Atlanta Falcons supplied so much hope and hype in luring Kirk Cousins to town in March with a massive $180 million contract. For those type of bucks, with $100 million guaranteed on a four-year deal, prayers are supposed to be answered.

Instead, Cousins looked too much like his discarded predecessors, Desmond Ridder and Marcus Mariota, as he stumbled and bumbled during his debut in a Falcons uniform.

What an embarrassment.

"We know he has to play better," Falcons coach Raheem Morris said, making his debut, too, with the 18-10 setback to the Pittsburgh Steelers. "There's no doubt about that. I look forward to him bouncing back from a rough game and a rough outing. I'm not overly concerned about it."

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Sure, it was one week, one game. Overreactions can be more intense than usual in Week 1. It was the first live game action for the quarterback since Cousins, 36, tore his Achilles tendon last October. The rust showed.

Yet the two ugly picks can't be ignored. The first one, by safety DeShon Elliott, came on the second series in the first quarter, when Cousins said he tried to throw the ball away over the middle as receiver Drake London seemingly stopped running his route. The next one was even worse, near midfield with under three minutes to play and Atlanta looking to go ahead with a touchdown. Cousins, under heavy pressure, threw a wobbly pass toward Ray-Ray McCloud III that Donte Jackson stepped in front of to set up the last of Chris Boswell's six field goals.

"Just couldn't get anything on the ball," said Cousins, who finished 16-for-26 for 155 yards, with a paltry 59.0 passer rating.

It wouldn't get better as the game progressed. The Falcons were shut out in the second half.

"Need to play better," Cousins said. "That's the bottom line."

The Falcons lost to a team that didn't score a touchdown while managing just 10 points of their own from an offense with so many first-round weapons. It went deeper than the quarterback merely getting off on the wrong foot. The pass-protection was so suspect, allowing T.J. Watt and several of his defensive brethren to consistently harass and pummel Cousins, who was sacked twice and hit seven other times.

The pressure was even more glaring, given how the Falcons need to protect a quarterback never known for his mobility. While Steelers quarterback Justin Fields escaped several would-be sacks and kept plays alive with his legs (and threw for 1 more yard, with no turnovers), that's hardly the formula for Cousins.

For Cousins to succeed, he needs a clean pocket and precise timing. Connect the dots. That surely wasn't the case at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, and especially on the money downs as Atlanta converted just two of nine third downs (22%).

The Steelers knew. Pittsburgh kept Cousins in check largely with a four-man rush, wary of his knack for beating blitzes. Along the way, the Steelers exposed pass-protection issues. 

"We had to create pressure in a non-blitz structure," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "We know that about him. Last year, he was good against five or more rushers. Over the course of his career, he's great against five or more rushers. He's been good against us, specifically, against five or more rushers. That wasn't our agenda. We needed to do it with four, and we were able to do that. We were able to pace him. We were able to get him off his spot."

Watt certainly had a key role in disrupting the timing. The All-Pro linebacker notched a sack, two tackles for losses, three quarterback hits and a fumble recovery – and had two other sacks that caused fumbles, including one that he recovered, wiped out by penalties.

Yet the timing issues were more widespread than that. The most glaring example came just after halftime, when a shotgun snap caromed off tight end Ross Dwelley as he ran in motion. The fumble, recovered by Watt, led to a field goal.

"The timing was off," Cousins said, blaming himself for asking for the ball off the motion. "It's my fault. It's something that you have to bat 1.000 and you can't have a mistake, and we paid for it today."

Cousins was one of 10 quarterbacks across the NFL pegged to start in Week 1 who didn't play a snap during the preseason. It's fair to wonder whether some of the timing issues evident in the Falcons' opening act – when they totaled just 226 yards of offense – might have been reduced had Cousins played during the preseason. Remember, Cousins lobbied Morris to play during the exhibition slate, but the idea was flatly rejected.

"I think the key is that we're healthy for Week 1 and that was really the focus," Cousins said of the preseason inactivity. "There's never excuses. You have to be ready when your number is called."

The Falcons surely weren't ready to start their new era with a bang. The omen may have come with Cousins' first pass, which was way wide of intended receiver Darnell Mooney (1 catch, 15 yards) and hit Jackson, the Steelers cornerback, in the chest before falling incomplete. Timing or just a bad throw?

Morris, who replaced Arthur Smith, downplayed a question about his approach in preserving key players during preseason. The Kansas City Chiefs, for example, got exhibition snaps for Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes (although they also lost recently-acquired receiver Marquise "Hollywood" Brown to a shoulder injury) and other key players. And the Steelers played several starters during their third preseason game. Conversely, Morris is far from the only NFL coach to put key players in bubble wrap during the preseason.

"I'm not really concerned about that," Morris said. "I think that is especially about mitigating injuries. So, we wouldn't be playing nothing but 10 snaps anyway, if we did play. I don't even value that as much as you do."

In any event, it doesn't get any easier. After a Monday night clash at the Philadelphia Eagles – and hey, Cousins is 3-10 on Monday nights – the Falcons host the two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs in a prime-time game in Week 3.

In other words, the hype and hope could sure use some better bang for the bucks.