**Ten points** wasn’t what **Raheem Morris** and **Kirk Cousins** had in mind for their **first game** with the Atlanta Falcons.
Even with a **backup quarterback** leading the Pittsburgh Steelers, there was never an obvious comfort zone for the Falcons and Morris in Sunday’s **regular-season opener**.
“We turned the ball over in the second half, hit people in the face and stuff like that. **We can’t do that**,” Morris said after the **18-10 loss**. “We’ve got to play better in every aspect: blocking, guarding, being comfortable. All those things come into play.”
Morris said the frustration of **wide receiver Drake London** and **tight end Kyle Pitts** won’t register as anything negative, but rather as competitors “wanting to make a difference.”
**Cousins** debuted with the Falcons and was intercepted twice and sacked twice. **Pitts scored** the Falcons’ only touchdown (a 12-yard reception) and had three receptions for 26 yards. **London caught** two passes for 15 yards.
“All of these things are the same thing. They’re **learning episodes**. They’re learning opportunities,” Morris said. “**Win or lose**, it’s the same thing for us as coaches, right? We have to learn from wins, we have to learn from losses, and we’re definitely going to learn from this loss.”
Atlanta led **10-9 at halftime**, but did not score in the final 30 minutes.
Morris wasn’t ready to offer an **individual performance assessment** for either player after the game. He said Cousins’ discomfort in the pocket isn’t a problem unique to the Falcons.
On **Monday night**, the Falcons face the Philadelphia Eagles, an environment **Cousins knows well** from his days with the Minnesota Vikings and Washington.
On Sunday night he will examine himself and prepare to **turn the page** in Philadelphia.
“I’ll watch it quickly and try to start analyzing what happened. I’ll probably send a couple of voice messages to the coaches to give them some off-the-cuff thoughts after I watch it. Maybe they’ll talk about it and we’ll start doing that analysis,” Cousins said.
“But it’s a process that will happen tomorrow. I never sleep well after games, win or lose. Now you just have to keep going, and that’s the mental, physical and **emotional strength** needed to play in. We have to keep going and play our best next week, regardless of what happened today.”
If the Falcons are looking for something positive, they can start with their **36-year-old quarterback’s** final game against the Eagles.
In Week 2 of last season with the Vikings, Cousins threw **four touchdown passes** and completed **31 of 44 attempts for 364 yards** in a **34-28 loss** at Philadelphia.
