Will Atlanta Falcons' Pass-Happy Approach vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Continue?

Historically productive but numerically imbalanced against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Atlanta Falcons' offense bucked many trends on Thursday Night Football.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins attempted 58 passes Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Falcons had their most productive offensive performance since 2016, notching 550 net yards in Thursday night's 36-30 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But Atlanta's offense had its monstrous game behind the arm of quarterback Kirk Cousins, who went 42-of-58 for 509 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. He set single-game franchise records in completions and yards.

The Falcons' rushing attack, meanwhile, held a minimal presence. Running backs Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier saw only 18 combined carries, mustering 73 yards and no scores.

Robinson took 12 carries for 61 yards, an average of 5.1 yards per carry. Allgeier struggled, rushing six times for 12 yards. His longest run went for eight yards, meaning he gained just four yards on his other five carries.

Atlanta's lack of balance -- its passing offense made up 73% of the total plays -- was part of offensive coordinator Zac Robinson's gameplan, Cousins said postgame.

"I think Zac was planning to sling it around," Cousins said. "As we got going, he felt like that was our best chance tonight. When you do that, you open yourself up a little bit to some sacks and some challenges that come with throwing the football.

"But [we] tried to stay in positive down and distances to keep giving us that chance. You ask a lot of the O-line when you have 58 pass attempts, so those guys really handled that and just did a great job protecting all night."

The Falcons Podcast: Spotify | Apple Pods | iHeart

The Buccaneers recorded four sacks and 11 hits on Cousins. Entering the game, Atlanta's offensive line had allowed only six sacks all season.

Exposing the 36-year-old Cousins to such hits is far from ideal for the Falcons' offense, especially considering the four-time Pro Bowler is still less than a year removed from tearing his right Achilles in Week 8 last season.

As such, the Falcons don't expect Thursday night's imbalance to continue -- head coach Raheem Morris cited Tampa Bay's defensive style as the root cause of the pass-heavy approach.

"Every game is different," Morris said Friday. "The things the [Buccaneers] do, they do a nice job of taking away your run or limiting the amount of runs and really doing some things that cause a lot of issues within the run, and at some points, almost daring you to pass.

"They dared us a little bit last night. Kirk made some plays early and often. And it continued throughout the game, opened up a couple of things in the run game, probably a couple of other things opened up."

Atlanta's rushing offense produced better in the second half, tallying 47 yards on 10 carries, but gained just one first down. Morris noted a holding call on center Ryan Neuzil negated a seven-yard pick-up by Allgeier, which Morris said would have helped with balance -- be it because of the run itself or the positive momentum it provided the rushing attack.

The overarching theme, however, remains that Tampa Bay's defense dictated Atlanta's offensive run/pass splits.

"When you go play certain games, you go out there and try to win, it's always going to be done differently," Morris said. "This week it happened to include more Kyle Pitts. It happened to get the ball spread around. We were able to get some of the stuff that we wanted to get across.

"You'll never win a game the same way. We had to go out there and throw the ball a bunch of times this time, and it worked out for us."

The Falcons had four different receivers catch at least six passes, while five eclipsed 65 yards. Their passing offense Thursday night was more proficient than it's ever been.

But that, in the eyes of Morris and Cousins, isn't necessarily an indication of the Falcons becoming an aerially-enamored offense.