Five turnovers, starting on the first snap, sink Falcons in 34-3 home loss to Panthers

There was never much of a game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday. The Falcons turned the ball over on their first snap and four more times after that, and the Carolina Panthers left with a 34-3 win that dropped Atlanta to 0-2 and left its quarterback situation more unsettled than it was a week ago.

The closest thing to a turning point came in the 47 seconds before halftime, and by then the margin was already 10. Atlanta had just gotten a 41-yard Nick Folk field goal with 1:07 left for 13-3. John Metchie III returned the kickoff 26 yards to the Carolina 27. Bryce Young hit Darren Waller for 14, lost six on a sack split by Za'Darius Smith and Cameron Thomas, then on second-and-16 from his own 35 threw 55 yards to Xavier Legette to the Atlanta 10. Three plays later, on third-and-goal from the 7 with 20 seconds left, Waller caught the touchdown that made it 20-3. A deficit Atlanta could still argue with became one it could not.

The third quarter closed it. Carolina opened with a 10-play, 73-yard drive that ended in Waller's second touchdown, from 12 yards, for 27-3 with 9:38 left. Devin Lloyd then intercepted Cooper Rush and returned it 53 yards to the Atlanta 20, and when undrafted rookie Jack Strand threw his first career pass on third-and-2 from the Atlanta 10, Lloyd stepped in front of Jahan Dotson and took it back 16 yards for a touchdown. It was 34-3 with 2:58 left in the quarter, and the scoring was over.

Offense

Atlanta finished with 286 yards at 4.3 a play, converted 4 of 13 third downs and never reached the red zone. Three points.

The quarterbacks are the reason. With Tua Tagovailoa (oblique) and Michael Penix Jr. (recovering from left ACL surgery) inactive for a second straight week, Rush made his second start and went 10 of 17 for 86 yards with two interceptions, a lost fumble and a 32.6 rating. Strand was 8 of 15 for 59 yards with the pick six and a fumble lost on a sack with 50 seconds to go. Together: 18 of 32 for 145 yards, three sacks, three interceptions.

The first snap set the tone. On first-and-10 from the Atlanta 20, Rush scrambled right for 9 yards and lost the ball when Zakee Wheatley hit him. Nick Scott recovered at the Atlanta 35, the call survived replay, and Carolina scored eight plays later on Young's 3-yard fourth-and-goal throw to Chuba Hubbard. The second series lasted four plays, ending when Rush threw toward Bijan Robinson on third-and-5 and Bobby Okereke intercepted at the Carolina 41. The first boos came about six minutes in.

What makes that harder to accept is that the running game worked. Atlanta ran for 157 yards at 4.9 a carry, outgained Carolina on the ground by 89 and held the ball 30:29 across 67 plays. Bijan Robinson had 72 yards on 16 carries, Brian Robinson Jr. 51 on 11. Neither reached the end zone, because every time the offense needed the quarterback to move it, it stalled or gave the ball away.

The one long drive of the first half showed the pattern: 13 plays and 65 yards from the Atlanta 12, a face mask on Jake Matthews, a false start on Kyle Pitts, and on third-and-4 from the Carolina 23 a Rush throw Okereke intercepted before replay reversed it. Folk kicked the field goal on the next snap. Drake London caught four passes for 51 yards and chased down Lloyd to end his long return. Jaelan Phillips had a sack and two quarterback hits, and Lloyd sacked Rush on third-and-5 in the second quarter.

Defense

The defense spent much of the day on short fields and still did more than the score suggests. Carolina ran for 68 yards on 22 carries at 3.1, went 3 for 6 in the red zone and converted 6 of 14 third downs. After Lloyd's 53-yard return gave the Panthers the ball at the Atlanta 20, they ran seven plays and scored nothing, Gervon Dexter breaking up Young's fourth-and-goal throw from the 2 with Divine Deablo closing.

Carolina also drove 73 yards three separate times, so this was not only a field position problem. Young was 23 of 36 for 287 yards and three touchdowns with a 116.3 rating and no turnovers. Tetairoa McMillan caught five for 101 yards on 10 targets, with gains of 26, 27 and 28 in three different quarters. Jalen Coker had eight catches for 66. Waller, who is 34 and signed with Carolina on Aug. 13, caught three for 33 and both of his touchdowns.

Mike Hughes was in coverage on the 55-yard throw to Legette that broke the first half open. A.J. Terrell Jr., questionable all week with a shoulder injury, left in the first quarter with a groin injury, and the secondary finished without him. Xavier Watts led Atlanta with seven tackles and knocked the ball from Tommy Tremble at the Atlanta 11 on a drive Carolina settled for a field goal on. Jessie Bates III had six tackles. Atlanta managed two sacks.

Special teams

This was a loss on the margins too. Jake Bailey punted three times for a 50.3-yard average, including a 62-yarder that pinned Carolina at its 7, and Coker ran that one back 13 yards. Earlier, Coker returned a Bailey punt 36 yards to the Atlanta 34, and an illegal formation penalty on Harold Perkins Jr. moved it to the 29. Carolina turned that field into Ryan Fitzgerald's 37-yard field goal. Coker finished with 49 yards on two returns, Zachariah Branch 7 on one.

Olamide Zaccheaus averaged 19.8 yards on four kickoff returns to Metchie's 26.5, and a holding penalty on Kendal Daniels turned a 22-yard return into a possession that began at the Atlanta 12.

Folk made from 41 and missed from 53, wide right, with 5:50 left, an attempt that existed only because a holding penalty on Michael Jerrell erased Strand's 8-yard scramble on fourth-and-7. Fitzgerald was 2 for 2 and 4 for 4.

Coaching

Dave Canales said Carolina expected the run. "We knew they were going to try to run the ball after last week," he said, a week after his defense set franchise records for points and rushing touchdowns allowed in a 59-37 loss to Chicago. Atlanta ran for 4.9 a carry into a defense waiting for it, and still asked a backup quarterback to throw 32 times for 145 yards. Bijan Robinson had 19 touches across 67 offensive plays.

Kevin Stefanski, in his first regular-season home game as Atlanta's coach, declined to put it on Rush. "Cooper's giving us everything he's got," he said, adding that the Falcons turned it over "including on the first play, which should never be a turnover. Those are correctable. We've got to get them fixed."

Atlanta went 1 for 2 on fourth down. The failure came with 46 seconds left in the first quarter, on fourth-and-1 at the Carolina 31, when Drake London took an end around and lost 2 yards with Lloyd making the tackle. A field goal from there would have been 48 yards. Going to Strand late in the third at 27-3 was defensible; that his first throw came back for a touchdown is the risk in that decision, not an argument against it.

What it means

Two games in, the Falcons have scored 16 points, have not had a red zone possession and have turned the ball over seven times. In the 20-13 loss at Pittsburgh in Week 1, Rush was 12 of 22 for 143 yards with two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown, and Atlanta did not reach the red zone. This is the same problem, only larger.

The running game has held up both weeks. The passing game has neither moved the ball nor protected it, and that is the whole of it. Carolina is 1-1 and has won four straight in the series, with Young now 5-1 against Atlanta.

Bijan Robinson addressed the booing directly. "I love our fans a lot, every single one of them," he said. "If we let ourselves focus on the boos and things like that, that will creep into our mind."

The injuries add to the week. Samson Ebukam left late in the first half with a hamstring injury, right tackle Jawaan Taylor was listed as questionable with a rib injury in the fourth quarter, and Brandon Dorlus was questionable with a hand injury. Right guard Chris Lindstrom, listed as questionable while in the concussion protocol, started.

What is next

Green Bay, on the road, Thursday night at 8:15 p.m. Eastern on Prime Video, four days after this one. Stefanski did not name a starter. Asked whether Penix could play, he said, "I don't think now's the time to know." Whoever starts at Lambeau Field, the first requirement is the one this team has not met in two weeks: keep the ball.