After what happened against Chicago, the Panthers are walking into Atlanta with plenty to clean up.
Dave Canales’s team was flattened 59-37 at home, surrendering a single-game franchise record for points in the process. The game was still tied 31-31 in the third quarter, but Caleb Williams and the Bears ripped off a 28-6 run from there and never let go.
Carolina did have some offense to hang its hat on. The Panthers piled up 478 yards and 37 points, their highest scoring output of 2025. Bryce Young threw a first-half interception, but he also finished with 361 passing yards, three touchdown throws and a rushing score.
The defensive side told a much uglier story. Ejiro Evero’s reworked unit gave up 552 total yards and eight offensive touchdowns, and Chicago put up at least 14 points in every quarter.
Now the focus shifts to a Falcons team Carolina has handled well lately. The Panthers are riding a three-game winning streak in the series, including back-to-back overtime wins at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Carolina has won the last three meetings overall and is 4-1 in the last five matchups between the teams.
The history between these franchises goes all the way back to 1995, when the Panthers played the Falcons in their first regular-season game at the since-demolished Georgia Dome. Atlanta won that one 23-20 in overtime and still leads the all-time series 37-25. Even so, Carolina swept the season series a year ago for the first time since 2013, blanking Atlanta 30-0 in Week 3 of 2025 before coming back eight weeks later for a 30-27 overtime win on the road.
One of the biggest bright spots for Carolina last week was Jalen Coker. The former undrafted free agent opened his third NFL season by catching eight of nine targets for 138 yards and two touchdowns against the Bears. Over his last seven games, including the playoffs, he has 36 catches for 516 yards and six scores.
Atlanta’s biggest weapon remains Bijan Robinson. In 2025, he piled up an NFL-high 2,298 yards from scrimmage, scored 11 touchdowns and earned First Team All-Pro honors. He was heavily involved in last Sunday’s 20-13 loss to the Steelers, touching the ball 29 times for 173 total yards and scoring the Falcons’ only touchdown.
The Panthers also got a major workload out of Devin Lloyd in his debut. The linebacker led the team with 13 tackles, including nine solo stops, but Pro Football Focus wasn’t impressed. Among 58 qualifying linebackers in Week 1, his 31.9 overall grade ranked 55th.
Atlanta’s pass rush is also worth watching. With Jalon Walker out because of a torn ACL and James Pearce Jr. suspended, the Falcons brought in veteran Za’Darius Smith in mid-August. He responded against Pittsburgh with three tackles and both of Atlanta’s sacks, and he’ll be looking to keep Bryce Young under pressure.
In Other News...
Falcons Captain Had A Blunt Response To Fans Booing Sunday
The Falcons home opener at Mercedes-Benz Stadium went sideways quickly, and the crowd let the team hear it during a 34-3 loss to the Panthers. Afterward, linebacker Divine Deablo, one of the team captains, did not waste time defending the fans or softening the moment. He took the criticism as part of what comes with a performance that fell far short of the standard Atlanta expected at home.
Jessie Bates III, another captain, echoed the same general sentiment about the reaction in the stands, framing the boos as a reflection of how the afternoon unfolded rather than a separate issue. For the Falcons, the bigger concern is not the noise from the crowd but the response inside the locker room after a loss that made the building feel restless early and left plenty of accountability to go around. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Suddenly Have A Bigger Problem Than Just An 0-2 Start
The Falcons 0-2 start is already an unwelcome rerun from 2020, but Sundays home loss to Carolina brought a far more immediate concern to the front of the conversation. Atlanta was beaten soundly by the Panthers, and the afternoon never settled into anything resembling control, with Cooper Rush struggling enough to force a quarterback change before the game was over.
A.J. Terrells groin injury only added to the sense of damage piling up around the roster. Atlanta also had trouble slowing Bryce Young, who continued his success against the Falcons and helped Carolina dictate the game from start to finish, leaving the Falcons with both an ugly defeat and a growing injury list to sort through. [Read more 🡒]
Falcons Created A Quarterback Problem They Never Should Have Had
The Falcons walked into Week 2 already juggling an uneasy quarterback situation, with injuries limiting both Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa and forcing the team to lean on Cooper Rush against the Panthers. It was the kind of setup that usually begs for caution, patience and a clear emergency plan, especially with a backup trying to steady an offense that never looked fully settled.
Instead, Atlanta ended up turning to undrafted rookie Jack Strand late in the game, a move that only sharpened the questions around how the position was handled. Strands first meaningful action went sideways quickly with a pick-six, and the whole sequence left the Falcons facing criticism not just for the result, but for creating a quarterback mess that should not have existed in the first place. [Read more 🡒]