Five things we learned in Falcons' 41-17 loss to the Steelers

PITTSBURGH — The Falcons have never won a football game in the Steel City and didn’t come close on Sunday.

The injury-ravaged defense continued to be major liability as the Steelers pummeled the Falcons 41-17 before more than 64,000 towel-waving fans on Sunday at Heinz Field.

Running back James Conner, who’s filling in for Le’Veon Bell while he’s holding out, ran for 110 yards on 21 carries and two touchdowns to power the Steelers’ offense. He added four catches for 75 yards and wide receiver Antonio Brown caught six passes for 101 yards and touchdowns.

The Steelers improved to 2-2-1 while the Falcons dropped to 1-4.

The Steelers avoided starting 0-3 at home for the first time since 1986. The Falcons are now 0-7-1 in Pittsburgh.

It was only 13-10 at halftime, but things got away from the Falcons in the second half as the offense went cold.

Here are the five things we learned from the loss:

1. Defense is not very good. After giving up touchdowns on the first two possessions of the game, the Falcons defense began to settle down.

Before getting a stop in the second quarter, the defense had allowed points on 12 of the previous 15 possessions, including 11 touchdowns.  After the Falcons scored to make it 13-7, the defense got a three-and-out. After a field goal, the defense got another stop.

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But then the offense went cold.

2. Penalty-filled contest. The Steelers and the Falcons entered the game as two of the most penalized teams in the NFL and they didn’t disappoint.

The Steelers entered the game with an NFL-high 42 penalties and the Falcons were seventh at 32.

In addition to Pittsburgh, only Philadelphia (35), Jacksonville (35), Indianapolis (34), Houston (34) and Kansas City (34) had more accepted penalties than the Falcons.

Entering the fourth quarter, the Falcons had seven penalties for 75 yards and the Steelers had seven for 58.

Rookies were a part of the problem.

Rookie wide receiver Russell Gage had a fair catch interference penalty in the second quarter. Falcons linebacker Foyesade Oluokun had a ridiculous unnecessary roughness penalty in the third quarter.

Also, the Falcons had two procedural penalties. An illegal formation on a wildcat play and a defensive offside by Vic Beasley as their first two penalties.

Trailing 34-17 in the fourth quarter, the Falcons had a 12-man on the field penalty.

3. Jones vs. Brown. Perhaps the two best receivers of the last decade, Julio Jones and Brown, did not have super spectacular games.

It was the first time the two played in an NFL game together. In the previous meeting between the teams in 2014, Jones did not play.

Jones didn’t get his first catch in the game until 13:34 was left in the game.

Jones finished with five catches for 62 yards.

The Falcons were down 17 by the time they got the ball to Jones.

4. Return of Freeman. The return of running back Devonta Freeman didn’t help much.

Freeman rushed eight times for 32 yards, including a 20-yard gain. He caught two passes for nine yards.

Freeman missed the previous three games with a knee contusion.

With no rushing attack, Ryan was sacked six times included a fourth quarter sack by T.J. Watt that led to the Steelers final touchdown.

5. Injury report. Falcons defensive tackle Takk McKinley left the game in the second quarter with cramps. He later returned to the game.

Cornerback Desmond Trufant was evaluated for a concussion in the third quarter. The Steelers took advantage of his absence and tossed a touchdown pass to Brown with rookie Isaiah Oliver in coverage.

The 9-yard touchdown pass gave the Steelers a 20-10 lead with 3:42 left in the third quarter.

Cox Media Group