The Atlanta Falcons didn’t get the outcome they were after in Sunday’s season-opening matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers, falling 18-10 in front of their home crowd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
While the offense on both sidelines failed to get much of anything going, the Falcons turned in a sound defensive effort that the team can build around going forward. Atlanta did not allow a touchdown from its opponent for the first time since Week 15 of the 2023 season. The Steelers’ 18 points came exclusively from field goals.
Several members of the defense performed well, with defensive lineman Grady Jarrett particularly standing out with 1.5 sacks. This included a solo sack in the third quarter for an eight-yard loss and a half-sack in the fourth quarter combined with outside linebacker Matthew Judon for an eight-yard loss.
Jarrett moves to 35.5 career sacks with the performance, also surpassing former Falcons defensive end John Abraham’s franchise record for quarterback hits. Jarrett recorded three QB hits against the Steelers to bring his career total to 117.
Inside linebacker Kaden Elliss led the Falcons with a total of nine tackles (five solo). Head coach Raheem Morris liked a lot of what he saw from his defensive unit but still sees plenty of room for improvement after the disappointing results of the first game.
“You can’t just necessarily go off of what happened with the results,” Morris said. “They had some success running the football on it us, but I was really proud of those guys and what they were able to do with their resiliency in the red zone and after those turnovers. You’ve got to give those guys that type of credit… I was very proud of how they stood up and showed mental toughness and real grit down the stretch.”
It will be interesting to see what adjustments the Falcons make this week and how those pay off as the team prepares to battle the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night football.
