Kirk Cousins on losing Falcons debut - 'Needed to play better' - ESPN

The debut of quarterback Kirk Cousins with the new-look Atlanta Falcons did not go the way they hoped.

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Falcons 18-10 on Sunday in Atlanta's Week 1 home opener and made what some expected to be a high-powered offense look pretty pedestrian.

Cousins was 16 of 26 for 155 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. The latter interception killed a fourth-quarter drive in a one-score game. Cousins had just 19 yards passing in the second half, the lowest total of his 13-year career.

«I was disappointed,» Cousins said. «Certainly disappointed. 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.»

The team's defense allowed just 18 points, but its offense looked out of sorts throughout. There was a bad-snap fumble that hit tight end Charlie Woerner while he was in motion. Penalties killed promising drives. It definitely appears like there will be an adjustment period with first-year offensive coordinator Zac Robinson's system.

«Needed to play better,» Cousins said. «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.»

The Falcons signed Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract in the offseason with the hopes of ending their recent quarterback woes. Cousins has been a productive quarterback in the NFL for more than a decade and led the league in touchdown passes (18) before going down with a season-ending torn Achilles in Week 8 last season.

With the addition of Cousins, there was excitement for what the Atlanta offense could be. The Falcons drafted running back Bijan Robinson, wide receiver Drake London and