The Falcons are NOT a playoff team after loss to Dolphins | Concern level for Atlanta moving forward

The Falcons are NOT a playoff team after loss to Dolphins | Concern level for Atlanta moving forward

Let’s talk about the Dolphins. I I don’t raise your hand if you thought that the Dolphins were going to win today. Nobody uh thought they did. And not only Pete did they win, it was almost like R.J. said this um earlier when we were watching the games. It was almost like they dressed up for one another as Halloween and the Falcons played like the Dolphins were supposed to and the Dolphins played the way we expected the Falcons to. Um Pete, as our Miami fan here on set, what did you think of Tua Tonga’s swollen eye and the Dolphins winning today? Well, he plays better with one eye than he does with two, I guess. I mean, look, he was good and the Falcons were not. And I don’t know what’s happened with that defense. They were missing a couple guys, but it shouldn’t have mattered that much. But the thing that bothered me most about this game was Miami’s run defense has been awful with a capital A. And Bejon, how do we say it now? This week, Bjon. Bejan. Producer Jack says it depends on if he had a good game or not. So, if he had a good game, it’s Bjon. If it was no good, it’s bean. Well, he’s bean today. He only carried the ball nine times. I would have come out if I’m playing Miami and he would have had the first 10 touches from the line of scrimmage because they can’t stop the run. Nine carries when you have Kirk Cousins playing quarterback. That makes no sense to me. So, I didn’t like the plan for the Falcons. I didn’t like the way they played and I didn’t like the fact that their defense, which the last couple weeks has been an issue for them. Let me give the people out there some context for what Pete’s talking about in terms of what this Miami defense has given up on the ground and then it makes sense why he’s so worked up about Ban. Quinn Sean Juckkins, he had 84 rush yards, three touchdowns. Kamani Vidal 138 rush yards, one touchdown. Rico Dattle 234 a touchdown. Bree Hall 111 yards. James Cook 118 a touchdown. Raandre Stevenson 142 yards. And then you look at Bjon with 14 yards on nine carries and you’re just like question mark question mark question mark. This doesn’t make any sense. So to your point Pete, terrible game plan, especially when you don’t have Pennix, especially when you’ve got Kurt Cousins, you have to depend on your best player. I I do want to give the Dolphins some love here though. We’re going to talk about the Falcons and what went wrong for them. But this is a team that every single week when we talk about the Dolphins, it’s never positive. I mean, I feel like even when they picked up the win over the Jets, we were still like, it’s not good enough. So, when you think about the timeline of events to get us to this point, last week they had that horrible showing. Everyone said, “We said it on this show that we should bench Tua, send a message, Mike McDaniel’s got to go.” Um, so Pete, when they come out today and they play the way they do, and maybe it’s a fluke game, maybe today they were just fired up and they came out and they had a will to win. I guess how does the mentality shift? How do they build on this if you’re Miami? And is this something in your opinion that you think is sustainable? Well, look, you got to give them all the credit in the world. They could have folded up and gone home. I mean, after what happened last week and he kind of said, they asked him this week and he kind of threw his quarterback under the bus a little bit. So, I hope he’s not going to throw 10 interceptions. And so, he came out, the quarterback played well, the team played well, and the fact that they were ready to play on the road. That can be an environment. You guys played in a league, you know, you go on an environment like that sometimes you look around, you go, “What are we doing here?” You know, and and they responded. So, props to them. Let’s see if they can build on it. That’s the biggest thing. One game does not decide anything. Build on it. show more. Tua needs to continue to play like he did today. And Mike McDaniel needs to continue to coach like he did today. Then maybe they can start winning some games and maybe they can save some jobs. Yeah. And I I’ll say this in in terms of the Dolphins performance today. You were three for five in the red zone. You didn’t turn the ball over, right? And that’s what’s plagued this team, the amount of turnovers, particularly from Tua. The amount of turnovers that have come and they only allowed one sack on the day. And so that usually leads to some type of success, especially with an offense that has explosive playmakers, right? Do you have more time to get those guys the ball? But then they this this defense that has been an issue for the Miami Dolphins organization, they held the Falcons to two of 11 on third down and the Falcons only ran 49 plays. So it’s really it’s really hard to get anybody going when you only have the ball 40 you only have the ball for 49 plays. So to Pete’s point, let’s give the Dolphins their credit and now let’s see moving forward how they build off of this. They play Thursday, so we’ll know. We’ll know real quick. They play the Ravens this week on a Thursday. Yeah. I mean, my note from the game, I just thought it was cool that Tua and Jaylen Waldo recreated that moment from the SEC Championship. Same field, same spot on the field. It looked like the same throw, the same route, same result. Ended up in six. That was I mean as a as a former Alabama running back I played with both of those guys. It made my heart happy. It took you back. Right. It did. It did. Did you wish you were out there with them? Why did you make that like this this whole Bama thing just Oh, you’re over Bama. Okay. Jealous over there. Oh my god. Um real quick closing the book on the Atlanta Falcons here. Kurt Cousins was behind center. I’m not sure what we expected but he was not great today. It wasn’t all his fault. um concern level, Pete, when it comes to the Falcons. I think they said Michael Pennix, if it was a playoff game, he would have played. This was more precautionary than anything. Wasn’t like he played well the last time out against the 49ers. I mean, you know, he’s had some games, the the Carolina Panthers game, he’s had some bad games and this team has been up and down. They look like at times they’re going to be really good team and then they get back down. I think this is about who they are and they’re not a playoff team. They’re not catching they’re not catching Tampa Bay in the division and I don’t think they’re going to be a wild card team. So, I think this is one of those years. Forget about it. You got to worry about next year. Yeah, I was going No, no, no. Go ahead, buddy. No, no, no. You got it. You got it, GM. This is This is why I think we just take each win each week at face value because the Falcons had that big win a couple weeks ago and everyone was ready to make Buffalo. Yeah. Was ready to make them the class of the uh NFC, right? And it was just just pipe down, hold on, let it happen. But this is a classic, and Ryan Wilson talks about this all the time. Don’t overthink it. This is a classic case of overthinking it. You have one of the better, well, I’ll say one of the top five players in the league on your football team in Bjan Robinson. He just give him the football. Whether you’re handing the ball off, create ways to get him the ball in space, he is going to be the reason why this offense is going to be able to be consistent. But that can’t happen. If you’re trying to throw the ball around, you think you’re tricking people by giving other people. Give this man the football and let the offense run through him.

Damien Harris, Ran Carthon and Pete Prisco join CBS Sports HQ to recap Dolphins-Falcons in Week 8. Who picked the Dolphins to win this one? Are the Falcons a playoff team after this loss?

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