Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons placed cornerback Mike Hughes on injured reserve, the team announced on Thursday.

Hughes injured his ankle in the first quarter of the Falcons’ Week 15 win over the Buccaneers. He has missed the Falcons’ past three games.

C.J. Henderson and Cobee Bryant have seen more reps in Hughes’ absence.

In a corresponding move, the Falcons signed edge rusher Khalid Kareem to the 53-player roster from the practice squad. Kareem was elevated from the practice squad for the past two games and for three games this season, so he was out of elevations.

He has five tackles and a pass defensed this season.

The Falcons also announced they signed punter Trenton Gill to the practice squad.

Falcons running back Bijan Robinson had a major impact in Monday night’s victory over the Rams and now he’s been recognized for it.

Robinson has been named NFC offensive player of the week.

Robinson finished with a career-high 195 rushing yards on Monday night, including a 93-yard rushing touchdown. He also had 34 receiving yards to lead the league in Week 17 with 229 yards from scrimmage.

His 93-yard touchdown was the longest rushing touchdown since 2020.

Robinson has now earned two career player of the week awards, both of which have come in 2025.

The Falcons have developed a habit of showing up in prime time. The rest of the time, they often don’t.

Consider this: Atlanta has a 4-1 record in 2025 night games. They upset the Vikings on Sunday night in Week 2, the Bills on Monday night in Week 6, the Buccaneers on Thursday night in Week 15, and the Rams on Monday night in Week 17. (The Falcons’ only prime-time loss happened in Week 7, on a Sunday night in San Francisco.)

In 11 day games, the Falcons are 3-8. The eight losses include Ls dealt by the 3-13 Jets, 4-12 Commanders, and 7-9 Dolphins (who were 1-6 when they beat the Falcons in Atlanta).

What gives? Why are they so good under the lights, and so underwhelming in the light of day?

It requires a full diagnosis of the organization. Top to bottom. Every nook. Every cranny. They’ve got a Ferrari of a roster, headlined by running back Bijan Robinson. However, the car seems to only run right in the dark. What keeps it from firing on all cylinders when the sun is in the sky?

Something is off. Something is keeping the Falcons from showing more consistently the kind of sizzle we’ve all seen in night games.

Before it can be fixed, owner Arthur Blank needs to figure out what it is. And he needs to do it himself, hiring an outside entity if necessary to get to the bottom of it. Indeed, it’s possible that whoever within the organization is whispering to him is part of the problem.

The Falcons have missed the playoffs for eight straight seasons. It’s the longest current postseason drought in the NFC. This year, the NFC South was there for the taking.

They have the talent. They just aren’t getting enough out of it, not nearly often enough.

The fact that they can consistently maximize the players’ skills and abilities in prime time shows it’s possible. It can’t be impossible to get to the bottom of whatever is keeping them from winning more games when they aren’t playing at night.

Currently, Blank is reportedly talking to former Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan about a potentially “significant” front-office role. If Ryan takes the job, his first order of business (if he accepts the assignment) should be to diagnose the source of the day/night disconnect that has derailed what could have been a very good season.

The NFL has an ongoing officiating crisis, one that it will never publicly admit. The problem becomes most conspicuous as to the issue of pass interference.

In both Week 16 and Week 17, key late drives in prime-time games were marred by the failure of the officials to call defensive pass interference. It happened late in the Sunday night game between the Patriots and Ravens, when Baltimore cornerback Marlon Humphrey dragged New England receiver Kayshon Boutte to the ground before the ball arrived. (The Patriots overcame the clear error and won.)

Last night, a long throw from Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford to receiver Tutu Atwell didn’t connect, because Falcons cornerback Dee Alford hooked Atwell’s arm, preventing him from getting a second hand on the ball. Again, no flag. The miss was critical, and multiple folks on the broadcast weren’t afraid to criticize it.

If Atwell had caught the ball, he would have landed in bounds at the Atlanta 10. The play started on the Rams’ 35. The offense would have had to sprint 45 yards and kill the clock, in 10 seconds. The game likely would have ended. If the officials had thrown the flag, the Rams would have had the ball inside the Atlanta 15, with enough time to take a shot at the end zone before trying a field goal that would have forced overtime.

Of course, Saints fans will have no sympathy for the Rams. It was an uncalled DPI foul against L.A. in January 2019 that propelled the Rams to Super Bowl LIII over the Saints. The reaction nudged the NFL to include pass interference calls and non-calls within the orbit of replay review.

And then the NFL, during the one-year experiment of 2019, completely screwed it up. It was so bad that it almost seemed as if they were trying to make it a complete mess, in the hopes of keeping it to a one-year-only project.

Now, there’s no way to fix it, without bringing back a more effective way to review such plays. Given that defensive pass interference is a spot foul, the consequences of a miss are massive. Last night, the Rams lost 45 yards of field position based on the failure of the officials to do what they should have done.

The NFL should find a way to fix it. Prediction? They’ll continue to ignore the situation until it decides a Super Bowl. And then they’ll scramble to find a solution, acting as if they weren’t aware of the potential problem.

Until then, it remains the biggest way for one or more officials to directly impact the outcome of a game. That’s too much influence, especially in the age of bet! bet! bet!

There’s one possible way to neutralize the consequences of a defensive pass interference foul, and in turn the power of a single official. If it’s only a 15-yard (or 10-yard) penalty and an automatic first down, the officials have less influence over a situation that does, or doesn’t, deliver a gigantic chunk of field position and, in turn, potentially determine the outcome of a game.

Falcons running back Bijan Robinson set team and league records during his dazzling performance against the Rams on Monday night.

Robinson ran 22 times for 195 yards and a touchdown while also catching five passes for 34 yards and another score. The rushing touchdown covered 93 yards, which set a Falcons record and gave him two touchdowns of more than 80 yards in Monday night games this season.

The 229 total yards from scrimmage gives him 2,255 for the year, which is also a franchise record. Robinson now has 5,605 yards from scrimmage for his career, which is the most that any player has picked up before the age of 24.

Robinson’s 2,255 yards from scrimmage are the most in the league this season and all of that gave cause for head coach Raheem Morris to repeat his oft-stated opinion that Robinson is the best player in the league.

Morris’ pick for the top player will miss the playoffs for the third time in his three NFL seasons, which will lead to questions about whether the Falcons have the right pieces in place on the roster and coaching staff to make the most of what Robinson has brought to the team.

A rare NFL three-way is now firmly in play.

With the Falcons beating the Rams on Monday night, 27-24, Saturday’s standalone Buccaneers-Panthers game is no longer a true NFC South championship game.

Yes, Carolina wins the division with a victory in Tampa. If the Bucs win, however, the division won’t be decided until the next day, when the Falcons host the Saints.

If the Buccaneers beat the Panthers on Saturday and the Falcons beat the Saints on Sunday, Tampa Bay, Carolina, and Atlanta would each finish 8-9. The ensuring three-team tie would go to the Panthers, based on a 3-1 record in the round robin among the division rivals.

A three-team tie atop a division last happened in 2011, when the Broncos won the AFC West at 8-8. The Chargers and Raiders also finished 8-8, with the Chiefs at 7-9.

A loss by Atlanta on Sunday (following a Tampa win on Saturday) would leave only Carolina and Tampa Bay tied. The two-way tiebreaker goes to the Bucs, based on record against common opponents. That would give Tampa Bay it’s fifth straight division tile and sixth consecutive playoff berth.

For that reason alone, some thought the NFL would schedule Panthers-Bucs and Saints-Falcons for 1:00 p.m. ET (or 4:25 p.m. ET) on Sunday. Instead, the Panthers will face with Buccaneers, with the possibility of a major asterisk being applied to the outcome, if the Bucs snap out of a four-game funk and get the win.

The Falcons led the Rams 21-0 at halftime, and yet, they had to rally to win. But a win is a win is a win. . . .

Zane Gonzalez, who had a field goal blocked by Jared Verse and returned for a touchdown earlier in the game, kicked a 51-yarder with 21 seconds left to give the Falcons a 27-24 victory.

The Rams fell to 11-5 with a second consecutive loss, while the Falcons won their third consecutive game to move to 7-9.

No one was celebrating more than the Panthers, who will win the NFC South with a Falcons’ victory over the Saints next week regardless how they do against Tampa Bay on Saturday.

The Rams had three great chances to get in position to tie it or win it in the final seconds after Gonzalez’s field goal: Matthew Stafford missed a wide-open Xavier Smith on first down; officials then missed a blatant interference penalty on Falcons defensive back Dee Alford on wide receiver Tutu Atwell with 10 seconds left that would have set up a chip-shot field goal; and Puka Nacua nearly made a miraculous one-handed catch that would have had the Rams in field-goal range with five seconds left.

Instead, the Falcons closed it out.

Bijan Robinson rushed 22 times for 195 yards, including a 93-yard touchdown run that gave the Falcons a 21-0 halftime lead. He also caught five passes for 34 yards and a touchdown.

Kirk Cousins was 13-of-20 for 126 yards and a touchdown.

It was a second consecutive gut-wrenching, heart-breaking loss for the Rams. They blew the last game they played, failing to hold onto a 30-14 fourth-quarter lead in a 38-37 loss to the Seahawks 11 days ago. It cost them a shot at the NFC West title and the No. 1 overall seed.

The Rams opened Monday Night Football as if they had a hangover from that game.

They rallied with 21 consecutive points in the second half. Terrance Ferguson caught a 27-yard touchdown pass; Verse blocked Gonzalez’s 37-yard try and returned it 76 yards for a touchdown; and Nacua had an 11-yard touchdown run. The Falcons, though, had 2:46 left to go win it after Nacua’s run tied it 24-24.

Stafford, a leading MVP candidate, threw three interceptions after throwing only five in the first 15 games. Jessie Bates returned one 34 yards for a touchdown, the 32nd pick-six in Stafford’s career to tie him with Brett Favre for the most in NFL history.

Xavier Watts had the other two interceptions of Stafford, one of which set up a touchdown.

Nacua had receptions of 36 and 41 yards overturned by penalties on backup left tackle D.J. Humphries. Humphries, who started for injured starter Alaric Jackson, had an illegal formation penalty that negated a Stafford-to-Nacua pass to the Atlanta 2 in the first half.

Humphries’ holding penalty in the fourth quarter nullified a touchdown by Nacua, though Nacua tied the game only four plays later on his 11-yard run.

Stafford was 22-of-38 for 269 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Kyren Williams rushed for 92 yards on 13 carries, and Nacua had five catches for 47 yards.

The Rams can still secure the No. 5 seed with a win over the Cardinals and a 49ers’ loss to the Seahawks.

Don’t count out the Rams yet.

The Falcons were a chip-shot field goal from making Monday Night Football a three-score game. Instead, it’s a one-score game.

Jared Verse burst through the Falcons’ line and blocked Zane Gonzalez’s 37-yard field goal. The ball bounced off the turf and into Verse’s hands, and the outside linebacker ran 76 yards for a touchdown.

The Falcons would have led 27-10 with a made field goal. They now lead 24-17.

Verse had enough time on his run to the end zone to throw up a peace sign at the Falcons’ sideline. Officials did not penalize him for taunting, but the NFL surely will fine him.

It was the Rams’ first blocked kick returned for a touchdown since 1986.

Verse also has four tackles, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit.

The Falcons have ruled out defensive lineman Brandon Dorlus with a knee injury.

The Rams trailed the Falcons 21-0 at halftime. They got on the scoreboard on their first drive of the second half and then scored their first touchdown of the night on their second possession of the second half.

Los Angeles and Atlanta traded field goals to open the second half.

Harrison Mevis’ 35-yarder came after the Rams stalled at the Atlanta 17 for Los Angeles’ first points, but Zane Gonzalez answered with a 56-yarder.

The Rams pulled to within 21-10 on Terrance Ferguson’s 27-yard touchdown reception with 4:59 remaining in the third quarter.

Matthew Stafford was 15-of-25 for 196 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, with Xavier Smith catching four for 67.

The Rams are averaging 30.5 points per game. They scored none in the first half against the Falcons.

Atlanta dominated the first half, intercepting Matthew Stafford twice while gaining 211 yards to take a 21-0 lead into the locker room. It was only the third first-half shutout in the Sean McVay era.

Safety Jessie Bates had a 34-yard, pick-six of Stafford, who threw only five interceptions in the first 15 games. Xavier Watts had an interception of Stafford with 1:41 remaining in the half, and Bijan Robinson ripped off a 93-yard touchdown run.

Robinson earlier had a 4-yard touchdown reception from Kirk Cousins on third down.

Robinson has 11 carries for 125 yards and a touchdown and two catches for 13 yards and a score. Cousins is 7-of-11 for 68 yards and a touchdown.

The Rams look like they have a hangover from their last game. They led the Seahawks 30-14 in the fourth quarter, but blew the game, 38-37, and a shot at the NFC West title and the No. 1 overall seed in the process.

They gained only 113 yards in the first half, with their biggest play overturned by an illegal formation penalty on left tackle D.J. Humphries. Humphries, who started for injured starter Alaric Jackson, did not line up on the line of scrimmage. That negated a 36-yard throw from Stafford to Puka Nacua to the Atlanta 2.

Stafford is 9-of-17 for 96 yards and two interceptions, an ugly performance for one of the betting favorites for the MVP award. Nacua has two catches for only 18 yards.

Rams running back Blake Corum is questionable to return with a right ankle injury. Falcons cornerback Mike Ford also has an ankle injury and is questionable to come back tonight.

If the Falcons win tonight and next week against the Saints, the Panthers will win the NFC South regardless how Carolina fares in its game against Tampa Bay on Saturday.