Kirk Cousins, Falcons shock Eagles; UEFA Champions League starts on Paramount+

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🏈 Good morning to all, but especially to …

KIRK COUSINS AND THE ATLANTA FALCONS

With 106 seconds left, things looked dire for the Falcons.

With 27 seconds left, they were in victory formation, with a shocking and potentially season-saving win in the bag.

Kirk Cousins directed a six-play, 70-yard drive to lead the Falcons to a shocking 22-21 road win over the Eagles. How did the turnaround happen?

• With 1:46 left and leading 18-15, the Eagles faced third and 3. The Falcons had no timeouts. A first down meant game over. Jalen Hurts rolled out and threw to a wide-open Saquon Barkley … who dropped it. Philadelphia settled for a field goal.
• Then came Cousins, who completed five of six passes for all 70 yards on the game-winning drive. Two passes and 47 yards went to Darnell Mooney, who also scored a touchdown earlier in the night. The game-tying touchdown pass went to Drake London, who burnt Darius Slay.
• Younghoe Koo deserves credit, too, for the game-winning 48-yard extra point, lengthened after London’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
• Jessie Bates III intercepted Hurts to clinch the win.

Cousins, who admitted he isn’t 100% coming off an Achilles tear, was much, much better compared to his Week 1 stinker. He was under center — where he thrives — on 60% of his snaps, compared to 4% a week earlier. Over a quarter of his throws came off play action — also where he thrives — after none of them did in Week 1.

Oh yeah, and the “Cousins isn’t clutch” narrative took another hit: His nine game-winning drives since 2022 are tied for most of any quarterback.

Atlanta was staring down the barrel of an unsavory 0-2 start and major questions after a big offseason. Cousins stepped up when his team needed him most, which is exactly why Atlanta got him.

👍 Honorable mentions

🤕 And not such a good morning for …

THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

We’ll be quick here: Barkley had the win in his hands. Catch a ball he’s caught thousands of times, turn upfield, fall down and win.

I don’t blame Barkley too much. He had 116 total yards. I don’t blame the play call. It was right there. Was it a hair aggressive? Sure. Could the Eagles have played it simpler and tried to get the first down on the ground? Sure. But hindsight is 20/20. Even Barkley thought it was a good call.

With A.J. Brown out, the Eagles leaned on Hurts’ legs, DeVonta Smith‘s catching and Barkley’s all-around skills. Unfortunately for them, that third part came up one play short. Then the defense melted down.

Garrett Podell broke down the anatomy of the loss.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

🏈 NFL injuries piling up

There are injuries all over the NFL, but we have to start with the Rams, who are coming off a 41-10 loss to the Cardinals and will be without Cooper Kupp (ankle) for “extended time,” according to Sean McVay. Here other notable injured Rams:

• WR Puka Nacua (knee, IR)
• TE Tyler Higbee (knee, PUP)
• G Jonah Jackson (shoulder, IR candidate)
• G Steve Avila (knee)
• T Joe Noteboom (ankle, IR)
• CB Darious Williams (hamstring, IR)
• CB Derion Kendrick (knee, IR)
• S John Johnson III (shoulder)

One season after the Rams were the least-injured team in the league, the pendulum has swung in the other direction, and the prospect of Matthew Stafford surrounded by this group is a scary one.

The Rams face the 49ers in Week 3, and San Francisco isn’t exactly a picture of health, either. Already without Christian McCaffrey, they’ll be without Deebo Samuel (calf strain) for several weeks. This matchup is becoming a war of attrition.

Elsewhere …

🏈 Bryce Young benched: Panthers turn to Andy Dalton amid dismal start

The Panthers are starting over again, just months after they started over … again. Carolina benched Bryce Young for Andy Dalton at quarterback.

This is devastating. Flat-out.

A year and a half ago, Carolina sent DJ Moore, two first-round picks (Darnell Wright and Caleb Williams) and two second-round picks (Tyrique Stevenson and another next year) to move up to No. 1 and select Young, the Heisman-winning Alabama product. It looks like one of the worst trades ever, and Young looks like one of the biggest busts ever.

It might be hard to remember, but Young was once the preternaturally calm, smart, accurate leader supposed to bring stability to a franchise that badly needed it. Instead, he was thrown to the wolves as a rookie, surrounded by a discombobulated coaching staff and an awful roster. That was the first restart. Restart No. 2 came this offseason, when Carolina hired Dave Canales and added to its offensive line and receiving corps.

Though issues remain around him, Young looked awful: inaccurate, turnover-prone and essentially as bad as he was last year, which shouldn’t have been possible. His physical limitations (size, arm strength) make him look, frankly, overwhelmed. The Panthers are 0-2 and have been outscored by 60 points.

So the Bryce Young era appears over after 18 starts. Will Brinson sums up the switch to Dalton well: It makes some sense, but it doesn’t really matter. The Panthers are hopeless. They lost their best player, Derrick Brown, for the season in Week 1. They have alarmingly little talent on both sides, in part a product of the Young trade. They’re an NFL-worst 31-70 since 2018, when David Tepper became the owner.

The more things — quarterbacks, coaches, players — change, the more they stay the same.

🏈 Texas tops CBS Sports 134; Billy Napier era nearing end at Florida?

Just like in the latest AP Top 25, Texas jumped Georgia for No. 1 in the CBS Sports 134, and the SEC now has four of the top six in our ranking of every single team:

1. Texas (previous: 2)
2. Georgia (1)
3. Ohio State (3)
4. Alabama (4)
5. Tennessee (7)
6. Ole Miss (5)

However, the other top super conference — the Big Ten — has the biggest riser of the week, notes Chip Patterson.

• Patterson: “No. 37 Indiana (+26): Curt Cignetti‘s group needed a power conference win to solidify the results that so far had pointed to a strong start to his first year with Indiana. The Hoosiers have actually moved up 36 spots in the last two weeks, but a majority of that came after a 42-13 win on the road at UCLA.”

Washington State, meanwhile, jumped 24 spots from 57th to 33rd after beating Washington in the Apple Cup. That cemented an outstanding week for the Cougars, who also beat Texas Tech in Week 2 and spearheaded the Pac-12’s comeback of adding Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State. Dennis Dodd has more on what’s next for the conference.

Of course, not everything is sunshine and rainbows, especially in the Sunshine State. Both Florida State and Florida make John Talty’s five most disappointing teams through three weeks, and Richard Johnson has more on Billy Napier‘s Gators in “The Monday Read.”

• Johnson: “It certainly isn’t Napier’s job to quality control every little thing in-game like substitutions, but it is on the people he hired and empowers, which points to a lack of organization … Excuses were made in 2023 about being one of the youngest teams in the country and time needed to develop into a championship program, but Florida continues into this season with procedural issues still under the hood.”

Here’s more:

⚽ New-look UEFA Champions League returns; expert picks for Matchday 1

The UEFA Champions League is back and (in my opinion) better than ever thanks to a new format. We have a full explanation here, but quickly …

• 36-team “league” ranked by a single table
• Eight games played — against two teams from four different pots
• Top eight teams advance to the regular UCL round of 16.
• Teams 9-24 go into a two-legged playoff to reach the round of 16.

OK, now that that’s out of the way, here are the games for Matchday 1, and the undoubted Game of the Day today is AC Milan vs. Liverpool (preview here). Our experts have made their picks for that game and every game of Matchday 1, and James Benge anticipates a big game for Christian Pulisic.

Remember, you can watch every game on Paramount+.

Here’s more:

📺 What we’re watching Tuesday

⚽ We’re watching the UEFA Champions League on Paramount+ and CBS. Here’s how.
🏀 Liberty at Mystics, 7 p.m. on NBA TV
⚾ Phillies at Brewers, 7:40 p.m. on TBS
⚾ Astros at Padres, 9:40 p.m. on truTV
🏀 Aces at Storm, 10 p.m. on NBA TV
🏀 Mercury at Sparks, 10:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network