The Falcons had a reeling Carolina team at home. We all know there are limitations to how high this Atlanta team is going to go in 2021 owing to talent and a first-year coaching staff finding its way, but this certainly seemed like a manageable matchup, and it seemed that Atlanta’s savvy in recent weeks despite personnel losses would help them carry the day.
Instead, the Falcons lost Calvin Ridley again before kickoff, failed to take advantage of a recovered fumble on Carolina’s opening play, and spent the rest of the day stumbling. Atlanta lost 19-13 in a game they led at multiple points because they had uncharacteristic errors mixed with couple of bad interceptions and consistently lousy run defense, with the fluky Kyle Pitts drop and Younghoe Koo miss mixing with a lot of very familiar mistakes.