Thursday Night Football Takeaways: Kirk Cousins Justifies Falcons’ Investment
The Atlanta Falcons moved into a first-place tie in the NFC South with a thrilling 36-30 overtime win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night.
Kirk Cousins threw a 45-yard touchdown to KhaDarel Hodge on the fourth play of overtime for the win.
Here are four takeaways from The Falcons’ win.
1. This is why the Falcons paid Kirk Cousins
When the Falcons signed Cousins to a $180 million contract in free agency, the hope was that he could turn them into an instant contender in the NFC South.
He has, and games like this validate the entire process.
Cousins was in a groove all night, completing 42 of 58 passes for 509 yards and four touchdowns.
He also completed passes to seven different pass-catchers.
Along with the game-winning drive in overtime, he also engineered a game-tying drive with less than a minute-and-a-half to play in the fourth quarter with zero timeouts to get the Falcons into field-goal range to send the game to overtime.
You need a big-time quarterback to win in the NFL. On Thursday, Cousins played like one.
2. Kyle Pitts gets involved
After catching zero passes on only three targets a week ago, the Falcons made sure to get Pitts involved early and often on Thursday. He caught seven passes for 88 yards, including a 32-yard big play on the Falcons’ opening scoring drive.
Pitts is one of the most talented players on the Falcons offense, but multiple quarterbacks, head coaches and offensive coordinators have struggled to consistently get him the football. At some point when that happens, you have to start asking if the player is the problem. Perhaps Thursday is a turning point for Pitts and the Falcons offense this season.
3. Jessie Bates III is a game-changer
The Falcons’ best player on defense is safety Jessie Bates, and he showed why again on Thursday.
You do not normally think of defensive players in a game where both teams scored more than 30 points, but Bates led the Falcons with eight tackles and forced two fumbles, including a massive one late in the fourth quarter when it appeared as if Tampa Bay was driving for a score that could have put the game away.
The Falcons did not capitalize on that turnover, as Tampa Bay intercepted Atlanta minutes later. But that sequence of plays significantly swung the field-position game, with Tampa Bay having to punt the football after the interception instead of getting points. Atlanta then took the football down the field and tied the game.
If Bates does not force that fumble, there is a very good chance the Buccaneers get points out of that drive — or run the clock down and win the game.
4. The NFC South is extremely competitive and wide-open
With Thursday’s result, the Buccaneers and Falcons are now tied atop the NFC South at 3-2, while the 2-2 New Orleans Saints will have a chance to match them on Monday night when they visit the Kansas City Chiefs.
The division does not get a lot of respect around the NFL because it doesn’t often have a dominant team, but there’s something to be said for a division that has three evenly matched teams, all fighting for the top spot where the standings can completely change every week. The only team that really does not have a chance in the division is the Carolina Panthers, but any of the Falcons, Buccaneers and Saints have a chance. All three had similar records in 2023, and it is very likely that happens again in the 2024 season.
