Falcons play-calling leads to big questions about Kirk Cousins' health

Atlanta Falcons QB Kirk Cousins' team debut was not a particularly strong one, with the Falcons falling in an 18-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon to open their 2024 season.

The veteran signal-caller completed just 16-of-26 passes for 155 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions while rarely pushing the ball down the field. He also threw at least two other passes that easily could have been intercepted.

While the production was disappointing, the Falcons' play-calling and overall offensive approach was just as concerning. Mostly because it raises some concerns as to how healthy Cousins might actually be after suffering an Achilles injury that cut his 2023 season short.

Consider these numbers on the Falcons' play-calling on Sunday from Field Yates.

There are a few things that stand out about those splits.

The first is that it probably did not take the Steelers coaching staff and players very long to pick up on those trends. The ineffectiveness of the Falcons offense in the second half is a pretty good indicator of what Pittsburgh might have discussed at halftime. If the other team knows what you are doing and when you are doing it, that is a huge advantage in their favor.

The second is that Cousins has never been particularly effective when running out of the pistol formation in his career. The fact the Falcons went with that formation so often — and ran almost exclusively out of it — is where the concern with Cousins' health comes in.

Going almost exclusively out of the shotgun and having that sort of play-calling split could be a sign that Cousins is struggling to move and is not fully comfortable dropping back. That is not something that is likely to change anytime soon.

With Cousins one of the league's oldest starting quarterbacks (36), all of this should be a pretty big concern for the Falcons and their fans this season. The organization gave him a massive contract in free agency, including more than $100 million in guarantees, in the hopes he could solve their quarterback situation.

They then followed that up a month and a half later by using their first-round pick on Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. Did they know something about Cousins' health after signing him that scared them into taking another quarterback?
Being willing to use a premium pick on a quarterback so soon after signing Cousins to that contract should have been the first indication of some concern on Cousins' long-term outlook. The play-calling on Sunday only adds to that.