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Major Takeaways
- The Atlanta Falcons are 3 and 5, yet they sit just a half game out of first place in the wide open NFC South.
- Atlanta meets Joe Burrow and the 5 and 2 Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. Kickoff is 9:30 a.m. Eastern on NFL Network.
- Burrow leads the league with 20 touchdown passes. Bijan Robinson leads the league with 780 rushing yards. Something has to give.
- Running back Brian Robinson Jr. and receiver Zachariah Branch are out for Sunday. The ground game belongs to Bijan Robinson and Khalil Herbert.
- A win steadies the season before Kansas City visits next week. A loss drops Atlanta to 3 and 6 with the margin for error nearly gone.
The Atlanta Falcons have spent eight games showing the league two completely different teams. On Sunday morning in Madrid, Spain, they have to pick one.
Atlanta faces the Cincinnati Bengals at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in the NFL International Series. The Falcons are the designated home team in one of the most famous soccer stadiums on earth.
Kickoff is set for 9:30 a.m. Eastern on NFL Network. For fans back home in Atlanta, breakfast comes with a season on the line.
Two Sundays, Two Different Teams
Start with the good version. On October 25, Atlanta walked into its own building and handed the San Francisco 49ers their first loss of the season, 29 to 20.
Michael Penix Jr. completed 25 of 34 passes for three touchdowns without an interception. The defense took the ball away four times, and Penix walked off with NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors.
Seven days later came the other version. In heavy rain at Tampa Bay, the Falcons lost 16 to 0 and never scored a single point.
Penix threw a career high four interceptions. Atlanta managed just 224 total yards all afternoon and watched a division lead slip away.
The strangest part is what Tampa Bay did. The Buccaneers won without completing one pass, the first team to pull that off since 1974, and ran for a franchise record 324 yards.
Bijan Robinson was held to 76 yards on 19 carries. A win would have put Atlanta in first place in the NFC South. Instead the Falcons fell back into the pack.
The Hottest Quarterback in Football Is Waiting
Cincinnati arrives in Madrid at 5 and 2 with three straight wins. It is the best start for the Bengals since their Super Bowl season of 2021.
Joe Burrow is the engine. He has thrown for 2,115 yards and a league best 20 touchdowns against just six interceptions.
Last Sunday against Tennessee, Burrow tied his career high with five touchdown passes. He then ran in the winning score himself in overtime to close a 43 to 36 classic.
That makes nine touchdown passes in his last two games. Atlanta is walking into the fire at the worst possible moment.
Burrow also has two top receivers playing at full speed. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have 43 catches apiece, with Higgins at 726 yards and Chase at six touchdowns.
Cincinnati scores 29.4 points per game. Atlanta’s secondary, led by safety Jessie Bates III, has to hold up without much room for mistakes.
What Atlanta Has to Get Right
It starts with protecting Penix. He has been sacked nine times in six starts, and Cincinnati knows he will give the ball away if the pocket caves in.
It continues with feeding Bijan. Robinson leads the NFL with 780 rushing yards at 5.2 yards per carry, and the Bengals just gave up 158 rushing yards to Tennessee.
There is no relief coming behind him. Brian Robinson Jr. will miss his third straight game with a hamstring injury, so Khalil Herbert steps up as the second back.
Receiver Zachariah Branch is also out with a hamstring injury. Edge rusher James Pearce Jr. is questionable with a back injury, and linebacker Divine Deablo is questionable as well.
There is one opening. Bengals safety Kyle Dugger is out, and the Cincinnati back seven has been the soft spot of its defense all season.
Drake London, who leads Atlanta with 624 receiving yards, and tight end Kyle Pitts have to cash that in. Atlanta cannot win a shootout by settling for field goals.
The run defense has to answer too. After giving up 324 yards on the ground in Tampa, the Falcons now face Chase Brown behind a Bengals line that just powered a comeback win.
Why This Game Belongs to Atlanta
Atlanta is a Black football city, and this team is built in its image. The present and the future of the franchise wear numbers 9, 7, 5 and 8.
Penix, the eighth pick in the 2024 draft, is the young Black quarterback this city has rallied behind. Robinson, the eighth pick a year earlier, just signed an extension carrying 51 million dollars in guarantees.
London and Pitts give Penix two towering targets. Bates runs the back end of the defense. The core is young, Black and locked in together.
That is why a 3 and 5 record stings so much in this city. The talent says contender. The last two Sundays say something else entirely.
Sunday morning in Madrid, Atlanta gets to write the next line. A win sends the Falcons home at 4 and 5, with Kansas City coming to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on November 15 and a bye week right after.
A loss makes it 3 and 6 and turns the rest of the schedule into a climb. The division is still there for the taking, but only for a team willing to take it.
This is the first story from Urban City Podcast Atlanta, and we will be riding with this team all season. Find every snap in our Football coverage all year long.
