Cousins disappointed with Falcons debut: 'Needed to play better'
Kirk Cousins was upset with how his Atlanta Falcons debut went Sunday.
"I was disappointed," Cousins said after the team's 18-10 season-opening loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, per Michael Baca of NFL Network. "You always go out there with an expectation that you're going to play at a high level, and we didn't play up to our standard today."
Atlanta's offense struggled mightily, totaling only 226 yards and 15 first downs. Cousins finished the contest 16 of 26 for 155 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.
Pittsburgh's defense consistently got after the veteran signal-caller, with every Falcons offensive lineman allowing at least two pressures. Guard Chris Lindstrom surrendered six, the most in a single game in his career, according to Next Gen Stats.
The Steelers' defense seemed to key in on the Falcons' predictable offense. Atlanta had zero designed runs out of 22 shotgun snaps, and the team ran the ball on 21 of its 26 snaps out of the pistol formation, per Field Yates of ESPN.
"Needed to play better," Cousins added. "That's the bottom line. I thought our defense played very well, I thought our special teams played very well. We didn't complement that enough on offense."
Cousins only had 19 passing yards in the second half as Atlanta's offense was shut out in the final 30 minutes.
"We know he has to play better," head coach Raheem Morris said postgame. "There's no doubt about that, and we look forward to him doing that. He's played in the league for a long time. I look forward to him bouncing back from a rough outing. I'm not overly concerned with that."
The Falcons will face off against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2 on Monday Night Football.