“I need to play better, I don’t think it’s a mystery”

Cousins ​​found Drake London for a 30-yard touchdown pass to open the game’s scoring Monday night, but the Falcons ended up short of the end zone for the remaining 45 minutes, 14 seconds of regulation time. It ended a 17-quarter drought without a TD strike for Cousins, marking the first time in his career that he had gone four games without a score.

During the Falcons’ four-game skid in which Cousins ​​threw zero touchdowns and eight interceptions, head coach Raheem Morris was steadfast in his support for the veteran free-agent acquisition despite an outcry about first-round rookie Michael Penix Jr. to get a shot.

However, Morris’ tune was a bit different after Monday’s win, emphasizing the need to improve play at the QB position.

“He’s got to play better,” Morris said. “And you know obviously you have to go back and look at everything, but he wants to play better, he has to play better, we have to find a way to make him play better and obviously we have to work tomorrow, it’s part of our process, right?

“You go, you look at the tape, you go over it with the people it’s going to go over with. We get all the coordinators in the room, we talk to everybody, and we’ve got to play better at the quarterback position.”

Speaking to reporters at the podium shortly after his head coach, Cousins ​​didn’t hesitate when asked about Morris’ comments. It’s hardly a mystery he knows he needs to up his game.

“Yeah, I think I need to play better, I don’t think it’s a mystery,” Cousins ​​said. “I think the last few weeks I would say I have to play better. Raheem says that but it’s obvious and every week you go through your process and you plan to go out there and play the very best you can , and so this week will be no different.”

Asked where he thinks he needs to improve, Cousins ​​once again asked a no-brainer not long after throwing his league-leading 16.^th interception of the season — which is already a career high with three games left to play.

“I think it’s always just decision making so you don’t put the ball in danger,” he said. “And not trying to be too aggressive, and I think that’s really the key to protecting the football.”

After the London touchdown gave Atlanta a 7-0 lead with 14 seconds left to play in the first quarter, Atlanta eventually built a 15-3 lead early in the fourth quarter. Still, the Falcons were forced to settle for a pair of Younghoe Koo field goals as their only other offense (the defense recorded a safety) allowed Las Vegas to hang on. Fortunately, Atlanta held on, but it wasn’t because of any heroics from Cousins.

Thus, when pressed to be prepared to replace Cousins ​​with Penix, Morris was somewhat diplomatic but left room for interpretation.

“You know we have everybody on our list for a reason,” Morris said. “We have so much to get better at and those things are always going to be discussed, that’s just the nature of the beast in football. It just gets talked about so much at the quarterback position because there’s only one guy out there. So for us, man, our mentality is to find a way to win the next game, that’s just the mentality we’re going to have.

Cousins ​​has now thrown for 3,508 yards, 18 touchdowns, those eye-popping 16 picks and quarterbacked the Falcons to a .500 record 14 games into the first season of a lucrative free-agent contract.

Atlanta came back to win and Cousins ​​found the end zone after a painful and prolonged absence.

However, much still needs to be improved going forward as the Falcons prepare for games against the New York Giants, Washington Commanders and Carolina Panthers with an uphill battle in the postseason.

“I think the interception at the start of the second half was bad, that’s the part you don’t want at all,” Cousins ​​said when asked if he thought Monday was a step forward or a step back. “The defense did a great job up there and then the special teams showed up so it didn’t end up hurting us, but you know, it still happened. I think there were just those third downs where we would love being able to convert, stay on the field and that’s really where the work would have been in the passing game and it just wasn’t able to do that tonight.”