FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- The Atlanta Falcons were riding high after a Week 9 win over the Dallas Cowboys. They upped their record to 6-3, the team's best start since 2016, the season in which they went to the Super Bowl.
At the time, the Falcons boasted a 4-0 division record, including a sweep of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, their next closest NFC South rival in the standings. Atlanta's rallying cry of "Outrun the South" was coming to fruition.
Over the last month, though, the South has caught up.
The Falcons are on a three-game losing streak and now statistically tied atop the division at 6-6 with the Buccaneers. Atlanta still holds the tiebreaker, but has a more difficult schedule in its final five games, starting with Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings (1 p.m. ET, Fox).
Furthermore, the last two games especially have been rife with red flags. In Week 11, the Falcons were drubbed by the Denver Broncos, 38-6, the franchise's worst loss in three seasons. Coming off a bye in Week 13, quarterback Kirk Cousins threw four interceptions in a 17-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
During the Falcons' three-game losing streak, Cousins has thrown six interceptions and no touchdown passes. He has the third worst quarterback EPA in the NFL during that stretch.
Where are the areas the Cousins and Falcons can improve to save their playoff hopes? Let's take a look at significant stats and trends, courtesy of ESPN Research.
Long-distance plan
The most glaring difference between Cousins over the first nine games of the season and in the last three has been his inability to get the ball down field. That has been a strength of Cousins throughout his career. But during Atlanta's losing streak, Cousins is 10-of-24 for 217 yards with three interceptions and no touchdowns on throws of 15 air yards or more. Cousins was 32-of-61 for 821 yards and five touchdowns, though still five interceptions, through Week 9.
Cousins and offensive coordinator Zac Robinson either need to figure out the issue with chunk-yardage throws or dial things back to a more conservative offense.
Lean on Bijan
If Cousins' struggles getting the ball down the field to wide receivers like Drake London, Darnell Mooney and Ray-Ray McCloud III persist, the Falcons can always continue to feature running back Bijan Robinson. Not only in the running game, but also as a pass catcher out of the backfield. Robinson has the fourth most yards after the catch (477) in the entire NFL. Zac Robinson clearly saw that coming off the bye week, because Robinson had a season-high 26 carries as well as six catches against the Chargers in Week 13.
Limit turnovers
This is an obvious one. Cousins will be the first person to admit his decision-making needs to get better. He has the most interceptions (13) in the league, as well as the most fumbles (12).
The odd thing is teams haven't really been blitzing him, but they have been getting enough pressure to at least rattle Cousins lately and force him into a mistake. Against a standard pass rush (four defenders or fewer) over the first nine weeks, Cousins completed 72% of his passes with 15 touchdowns and six interceptions. During the losing streak, he's completed just 61% against a standard pass rush with six interceptions. When pressured by the Chargers, Cousins was 3-of-9 for 10 yards and two interceptions.
Seeing red
Cousins is fifth in the NFL in passing yards (3,052). Robinson, London, Mooney and McCloud are all having strong seasons in terms of yardage. But once they get close to the red zone, things seem to fall apart.
Atlanta has the third worst goal-to-go touchdown percentage in the league (56.3%) and is tied for the seventh worst red zone touchdown percentage (50%). Head coach Raheem Morris and Zac Robinson have both talked over the last few weeks about fixing the red zone offense. It'll be necessary down the stretch.
Re-establish Pitts
Perhaps an antidote to the Falcons' red zone woes could be tight end Kyle Pitts, who was drafted No. 4 overall in 2021 in large part because of his size (6-feet-6), length and his ample physical abilities.
Pitts could be a frequent Cousins goal-line target, but has not been. In fact, he's kind of disappeared since catching for passes for 91 yards and two touchdowns against the Bucs in Week 8. Pitts has a combined five targets over the last two games with just one reception. He has one reception or less in three of Atlanta's last four games.
Pitts has had ups and downs in his four-year career, but the Falcons need to hope that another upswing is coming over the last five games.