Falcons Offense Rolls Past Commanders (9-28-25)
By: Jaden Golding
Headline Photo Credit: Yahoo Sports
ATLANTA, GA— After scoring 0 points in week three against the Carolina Panthers, the Atlanta Falcons knew they had to regroup and refocus when hosting the visiting Washington Commanders Sunday afternoon. That they did, Michael Penix and the Atlanta (2-2) offense scored 34 points and had 435 total yards of offense in their 34-27 victory at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Washington (2-2) had no answer for the Falcons’ offense all day; they allowed Penix to toss four scores, two different receivers to eclipse 100 yards or more, Drake London (110) and Bijan Robinson (106), two rushing touchdowns, one by Robinson and Tyler Allgeier.
Offensively, the Commanders weren’t perfect by any stretch. There were a couple of penalties, missed throws, and negative plays. But despite that and the key missing starters, the Marcus Mariota-led offense kept Washington in the game and scored 27 points with young players forced to step up.
Mariota completed 16-of-27 passes for 156 yards, two passing touchdowns, an interception, and 20 rushing yards.
The top wideout for Washington was Deebo Samuel, who had six catches for 72 yards, including a key 24-yard touchdown catch down the left sideline on fourth down in the final quarter to cut the Atlanta lead down to one score.
Mariota capped off the score with a two-point conversion, finding Ertz on a gutsy playcall to make it 24-31 with 8:48 remaining in the game.
However, Atlanta would respond like they did all game, going on a 14-play, nearly seven-minute drive that resulted in a field goal to make it a two-score game with two minutes and no timeouts for Washington, ending the game essentially. The Falcons converted on three third-downs during the drive, against a defense ranked first in third-down percentage heading into today’s matchup.
Duds
● Marshon Lattimore: Lattimore struggled today. He was getting picked on by Penix today, but he was able to find London numerous times when lined up with Lattimore. Lattimore got beat by the duo in the second quarter, where London got behind Lattimore for a 43-yard catch despite being held by Lattimore, who was flagged for defensive holding. In the fourth quarter, on Atlanta’s first drive, it was third-and-seven from the WSH 47, the Commanders down 31-24, Lattimore gets beat on a route by London to the outside, who makes a tough low-diving catch to the sidelines for a first down, extending the drive. Lattimore has struggled in coverage and looked a step off; it’s hurting his team, and he has to figure out how to get back to his Pro Bowl level of play.
● Coverage: The Atlanta receivers could get open fairly easily, there were too many moments where the coverage was broken down and had about 3-5 yards of separation from the defenders. Pre-snap motion killed the secondary and caused a lot of confusion, and the bunch set stretched out the Washington linebackers in unfavorable matchups; such as Bobby Wagner having to leak out and try to cover Robinson on a wheel route in which he gained 69 yards in the third quarter.
● Tackling: Robinson on the season had 4.2 yards per carry after contact, which the Washington defense struggled mightily with. Whether it was Robinson and Allgeier, the defenders struggled to bring them down, as they could extend plays outside if the hash.
Running by committee continues to impress
Chris Rodriguez: seven carries for 59 yards, 8.4 yards per carry, and a run of 48 yards.
Jacory Croskey-Merritt: seven carries for 47 yards, 6.7 yards per carry.
Chris Moore: one carry for nine yards
Deebo Samuel: three carries for nine yards
6.7 yards per carry when Washington ran the ball. It was a highly effective day for the team when running the ball, at times I felt there were drives when they weren’t using the run enough. I would like to see in the upcoming games for them to give Croskey-Merritt and Rodriguez more carries.
Up Next
Washington heads west for a matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers, the kickoff is at 4:25 p.m. ET. Atlanta has a bye in week five.
